Artisan craft traders are a desirable ingredient for any market.
Social media and travel sites are full of consumers looking for the real hand
made experience.
However, artisan businesses are quite different from your standard
market business. For a start they require manufacturing time so they can't be
expected to trade everyday in a 5 day market. They rely on expensive hand
labour to produce their goods so prices are generally well above the mass
produced norm. They survive on lower sales volumes (generally), with restricted
trading opportunities (generally) and they are therefore more financially
fragile (generally).
Some successful artisan craft businesses do exist and we have a
few examples in the top end of QVM - including Intone Photography, Andrews Wood
Burning, and Aminalee.
So how do we introduce more of the artisan element into a
professional 5 day CBD market and make it work? Well one way is to do what QVM
are already doing, and that is introduce specialised craft markets on weekends
and at night. Successful craft markets will help fill that artisan gap in our
stall mix and create the well rounded offer that customers and commentators are
looking for. The best part is that creating a more attractive offer at QVM will
benefit every single trader.
