This
article is not about some fictional western movie. It is about the real thing -
dirt & dust.
Ok,
there are more serious issues for our market like wish-washy consumer demand (look that up in your business dictionary) but grimy dirt and dust is an issue
for open air markets and some of our traders might need strategies.
Presenting
your stock in pristine condition is important and there are signs if something is not right in your stock presentation. When a customer handles one
of your items and then wipes their hands, there may be an issue. When they rub
their fingers together and inspect for dirt, it is a dead giveaway.
Ironically,
set-up and pack-down stalls already have a great strategy. The simple action of
handling every stock item during the set-up/pack-down process usually keeps it
dust free, and that is a plus. More permanent locations like Victoria Street, F
Shed and String Bean Alley shops, with exposure to the street, are havens for dust,
and that is not good for business.
So
what are the techniques for avoiding dust and dirt? You could simply move the
dust and dirt on with a duster or a blower. Blowers are great, because they get
the job done in seconds and many of us love the power of noise and force from a
blower (ok it is probably a macho thing). We have seen traders use old
fashioned feather dusters, more modern “static lint” dusters, and even baby
wipes to keep things clean. One trader says he doesn’t have a problem with dust
- his wife does the cleaning (sigh!).
But
vacuuming makes a lot of sense. You clean and remove the offending dust, and
with a regular cleaning schedule, your stall/shop and your stock should be free
from contamination. In these difficult times we don’t want to give our
customers any excuse to move on. Of course the perfect strategy is to sell everything
so quickly that there isn’t time for dust to settle, but that is the subject
for another article.
In
the meantime, regular checks on the accumulation of dust in your display is
just another joy of trading in an open air market.