The Board Chronicles is an ongoing series of articles about the adventures of Mrs M’s Handmade as a vendor at community festivals & craft fairs. Mrs M’s subsidiary, Mr M’s Woodshop, has been approved to create this chronicle for the good of vendorkind.
Trailer Park is a company you’ve probably never heard of … but you’ve seen their work. This company makes movie trailers, and also does in-theater marketing (the posters & stand-up pieces that you see in the theater).
They open their cafeteria up in December to do a holiday boutique for their employees, and I was invited to take my stuff, and Mrs M’s stuff, to the boutique.
The office is in downtown Hollywood – opposite the Chinese Theater – so traffic was a challenge. It was especially so, given that the new Star Wars movie opens tomorrow, and workers were on Hollywood Boulevard rolling out the red carpet on the afternoon of this event. I walked through the chaos that is Hollywood & Highland, and took a couple of pictures of what was going on:
From the cafeteria window, I could see the Chinese Theater courtyard that had C3PO & R2D2 posing for pictures. The area was blocked off … and security was handled by 2 storm troopers. Good choice, that.
It’s just another day in Hollywood.
New Ideas
- A double table top display on a Thursday afternoon in an office … haven’t done that before!
- I showed up in the loading zone behind the building, and Trailer Park sent escorts with rolling carts to take everything up in the elevator. They were required to “badge” the elevator so it would go to the 7th floor.
Observations
- Event # 14 of 15 in our 4th quarter. I am so done.
- I am so done.
- I arrived on time (of course), but that was too early. They needed more time to clear the cafeteria from lunch so we could have the tables. No problem … I can set up in 45 minutes. I think.
- I could.
- Constant traffic, and small sales, as expected at an in-office event like this. Worth my time, probably, but no one is getting rich here.
The Food
Thursday Lunch: a peanut butter sandwich, on the road. Of course.
Thursday Snack: nope.
Thursday Dinner: Tomato rice soup & grilled cheese from Mrs M. Yum.
The Facts
- Total miles driven: 52
- Booth cost: $0
- Food cost: $0
- Travel cost: $27
- Total sales: $402
- Net Revenue (does not include product cost): $375
- # of people we met during the event from the producer: 2
- Visits in our booth by a promoter’s representative: many
- Saturday alarm: nope
- # transactions: 13x
- # soap & lotion vendors: One other, doing an all-natural presentation with bars selling for $14 (!).
- # woodworking vendors: just me
- Edge grain vs. end grain: 4:1
- Returning next year? maybe
Boards sold: 5
Small Boards: 2
Cheese Board: 1
Magic Bottle Opener: 1
Trivet: 1
