It was so slow Saturday and Sunday at Big Al's Fan Fanatic Spectacular Sun-Times Show (Nov. 22 & 23, 2014) that they turned out the lights in the hall, played some John Mayer, and I slow danced with my honey.
I am not quite sure what the deal was but I had an absolutely lousy show. So bad that it gave me flashbacks to the first few times I set up at this show back in the day. My brother and I would split one table. I would put out a few display cases, a few binders and a few cheapy boxes of cards. My brother had absolute crap but he was willing to split the table fee. He is also an excellent salesman and was able to sell a bunch of his crap by harassing people as they walked by. I never made much money at those shows. At some point I ditched my brother and took the whole booth for myself and started to do much better with my sales. Well, I might as well have had my brother take half my booth this weekend because my sales were poor at best.
I can attribute the slow sales to a whole lot of different things. For example, there were quite a few regular customers missing this weekend. Then there were quite a few regular customers who did not buy anything from me this weekend. Though, I know plenty of folks in the room had good shows. So I think maybe I need to rethink my approach to this show.
I always have difficulty figuring out what to bring and how to set up for this show because the customers are generally different than the guys I normally see in Milwaukee, Schaumburg and Bloomingdale. There are a great many out-of-towners, along with locals who only go to this show and no other. I just don't have the pulse of this show like I do at my other shows. I decided to put out a few more display cases than usual this time. On Friday, I filled one case with Exhibits but did not get any sales. So on Saturday, I switched out the Exhibits and replaced them with basketball cards. This turned out to be a winning move because I sold quite a few basketball cards on Saturday and Sunday. Also, on Friday, I forgot to bring my hockey binders. On Saturday, I switched out a couple of football binders that are in desperate need of reloads and put out the hockey binders. I had decent sales out the hockey binders all weekend. I had very slow sales out of the football binders. Sales out of the binders in general were much slower than usual. Sales out of my display cases were slow as well. I sold a bunch of graded cards on Friday but none on Saturday or Sunday. I did not sell much in the way of pre-War which was very surprising.
I think I need to take a different approach for the March show. I think I will have a few less display cases and replace them with my cheapy boxes -- the 10-cent, 25-cent, 50-cent and dollar boxes. I also have a bunch of complete sets from the 1970s that I think I need to break out. Hopefully the cheapy boxes and the sets will give me a boost. I have four months to think about it. I definitely need some different material for this show. I should probably focus on more oddball stuff as well.
I should mention that on Saturday, I think either I got sick from one of the crappy hot dogs from the concession stand or the beef sandwich with giardiniera I ate from Giordano's. I spent the end of the show on Saturday just sitting on the toilet. I had plans to take Mark and Craig for dinner after the show. I showed up at their booth with a stomach ache. It did not help that they pointed out a whole lot of vomit on the floor just a few tables down. I guess a patron got a little too drunk and spilled his cookies near Mark's booth.
I offered to drive Mark and Craig. I stopped off at Jewel to get something for my stomach. I popped some pills but only made it a few blocks before I had to pull over at a Dunkin Donuts to use the bathroom. I should have warned the folks working at Dunkin Donuts to avoid entering the Men's bathroom anytime that evening. I may have changed that bathroom forever.
Anyway, I was going to take Mark and Craig to Morretti's but with my shaky stomach, I opted for Goody's on Belmont near Cumberland -- one of my old haunts from when I lived in the neighborhood. As we were walking in, we saw Willie walking out. I think this gave me some street cred with Mark and Craig. I had to use the bathroom again at Goody's but this trip was a little more subdued that Dunkin Donuts... but enough about my bowel movements.
Man, I miss eating at Goody's. It is just some good, home-made Chicago-style grub. I had the chicken-kabob plate which was as good as I remember. There is actually a decent kabob place near my new digs in Buffalo Grove but that place is a little more Middle Eastern while Goody's is Greek. I really like the Greek-style of cooking. The kabobs are always moist and served with that awesome cucumber sauce. You never get that cucumber sauce at the middle eastern places.
My stomach felt much better on Sunday and I was careful to avoid the concession stand. I walked over to the Hyatt on Sunday to get lunch. I picked up some turkey club sandwiches for the guys. The sandwiches were pretty good. The day went quickly. Actually the weekend went by pretty fast. Getting out of the show was fairly easy for a change. I'm glad the show is over. I am happy to report that it was a Steve-free weekend. So except for my sales, I had a good time. I am a glutton for punishment and will probably be back in March.
Next up is Corky's show in Elgin on Saturday. This will be my first Corky show. I do not know what to expect. I will only have two tables. I am thinking of just bringing out my display cases and cheapy boxes. The binders are in desperate need of restocking. I starting reloading 1971 Topps baseball tonight. I am not sure if I have any customers in the Elgin area. If there is anybody planning to attend the show Saturday, drop me a line and let me know what you would like me to bring out. It was nice seeing a bunch of folks from the Orland area who made the trip to Rosement. I probably won't see you guys again for a while. I hope everyone has a safe and happy Thanksgiving and I am hopeful that some folks join me in trucking out to Elgin on Saturday. Maybe we can find some decent grub out there. Come on out to the show!!!
Pictured below are hoards of patrons eating the crappy food from the Rosemont concession stand. I am quite sure they all got terribly sick later that evening.
I am not quite sure what the deal was but I had an absolutely lousy show. So bad that it gave me flashbacks to the first few times I set up at this show back in the day. My brother and I would split one table. I would put out a few display cases, a few binders and a few cheapy boxes of cards. My brother had absolute crap but he was willing to split the table fee. He is also an excellent salesman and was able to sell a bunch of his crap by harassing people as they walked by. I never made much money at those shows. At some point I ditched my brother and took the whole booth for myself and started to do much better with my sales. Well, I might as well have had my brother take half my booth this weekend because my sales were poor at best.
I can attribute the slow sales to a whole lot of different things. For example, there were quite a few regular customers missing this weekend. Then there were quite a few regular customers who did not buy anything from me this weekend. Though, I know plenty of folks in the room had good shows. So I think maybe I need to rethink my approach to this show.
I always have difficulty figuring out what to bring and how to set up for this show because the customers are generally different than the guys I normally see in Milwaukee, Schaumburg and Bloomingdale. There are a great many out-of-towners, along with locals who only go to this show and no other. I just don't have the pulse of this show like I do at my other shows. I decided to put out a few more display cases than usual this time. On Friday, I filled one case with Exhibits but did not get any sales. So on Saturday, I switched out the Exhibits and replaced them with basketball cards. This turned out to be a winning move because I sold quite a few basketball cards on Saturday and Sunday. Also, on Friday, I forgot to bring my hockey binders. On Saturday, I switched out a couple of football binders that are in desperate need of reloads and put out the hockey binders. I had decent sales out the hockey binders all weekend. I had very slow sales out of the football binders. Sales out of the binders in general were much slower than usual. Sales out of my display cases were slow as well. I sold a bunch of graded cards on Friday but none on Saturday or Sunday. I did not sell much in the way of pre-War which was very surprising.
I think I need to take a different approach for the March show. I think I will have a few less display cases and replace them with my cheapy boxes -- the 10-cent, 25-cent, 50-cent and dollar boxes. I also have a bunch of complete sets from the 1970s that I think I need to break out. Hopefully the cheapy boxes and the sets will give me a boost. I have four months to think about it. I definitely need some different material for this show. I should probably focus on more oddball stuff as well.
I should mention that on Saturday, I think either I got sick from one of the crappy hot dogs from the concession stand or the beef sandwich with giardiniera I ate from Giordano's. I spent the end of the show on Saturday just sitting on the toilet. I had plans to take Mark and Craig for dinner after the show. I showed up at their booth with a stomach ache. It did not help that they pointed out a whole lot of vomit on the floor just a few tables down. I guess a patron got a little too drunk and spilled his cookies near Mark's booth.
I offered to drive Mark and Craig. I stopped off at Jewel to get something for my stomach. I popped some pills but only made it a few blocks before I had to pull over at a Dunkin Donuts to use the bathroom. I should have warned the folks working at Dunkin Donuts to avoid entering the Men's bathroom anytime that evening. I may have changed that bathroom forever.
Anyway, I was going to take Mark and Craig to Morretti's but with my shaky stomach, I opted for Goody's on Belmont near Cumberland -- one of my old haunts from when I lived in the neighborhood. As we were walking in, we saw Willie walking out. I think this gave me some street cred with Mark and Craig. I had to use the bathroom again at Goody's but this trip was a little more subdued that Dunkin Donuts... but enough about my bowel movements.
Man, I miss eating at Goody's. It is just some good, home-made Chicago-style grub. I had the chicken-kabob plate which was as good as I remember. There is actually a decent kabob place near my new digs in Buffalo Grove but that place is a little more Middle Eastern while Goody's is Greek. I really like the Greek-style of cooking. The kabobs are always moist and served with that awesome cucumber sauce. You never get that cucumber sauce at the middle eastern places.
My stomach felt much better on Sunday and I was careful to avoid the concession stand. I walked over to the Hyatt on Sunday to get lunch. I picked up some turkey club sandwiches for the guys. The sandwiches were pretty good. The day went quickly. Actually the weekend went by pretty fast. Getting out of the show was fairly easy for a change. I'm glad the show is over. I am happy to report that it was a Steve-free weekend. So except for my sales, I had a good time. I am a glutton for punishment and will probably be back in March.
Next up is Corky's show in Elgin on Saturday. This will be my first Corky show. I do not know what to expect. I will only have two tables. I am thinking of just bringing out my display cases and cheapy boxes. The binders are in desperate need of restocking. I starting reloading 1971 Topps baseball tonight. I am not sure if I have any customers in the Elgin area. If there is anybody planning to attend the show Saturday, drop me a line and let me know what you would like me to bring out. It was nice seeing a bunch of folks from the Orland area who made the trip to Rosement. I probably won't see you guys again for a while. I hope everyone has a safe and happy Thanksgiving and I am hopeful that some folks join me in trucking out to Elgin on Saturday. Maybe we can find some decent grub out there. Come on out to the show!!!
Pictured below are hoards of patrons eating the crappy food from the Rosemont concession stand. I am quite sure they all got terribly sick later that evening.
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