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When I started Wabisabi Brooklyn I spent a lot of time and energy selling at markets. I was a regular at the now defunct Brooklyn Indie Market, and also sold occasionally at other local markets.

Last Christmas season I shared a booth with several others at the super high-traffic Union Square Holiday market. It was an awesome experience in every sense of the word, and I would never do it again while working full time.

This past spring I decided to focus on selling to wholesale customers and to selling directly to retail customers online. I set up my Etsy shop as a place for sale items only.  I decided to pull back from the intense work of being a director of my Etsy street team, a move which in itself opened up vast savannahs of free time to use strategizing how to redirect the business end of things, and to recover from a burnout that had crept in after four years of more or less nonstop market selling.

I miss the camaraderie of being with other vendors on a regular basis, but I do not miss the fatigue. And I do not miss the political machinations of trying to sell at some of the harder-to-get-into markets in the NYC area. The following quote is excerpted from an email sent to regular vendors at a prominent NYC market, and it epitomizes the worst side of market organizers:

“Once again, we request that if you are considering selling at another
NYC market that you consult with us first.

So you know, we generally avoid overlap with weekly venues like Hester
St. Fair, Dekalb Market, and New Amsterdam Market—as well as onetime
and seasonal events with similar feels—so if you’re thinking about
selling at those places while also doing REDACTED, we prefer to
discuss it with you in advance. We curate the market incredibly
selectively, turning away 90% of applicants, to protect longtime
vendors like you, and of course constantly promote to keep the market
profitable for you every week.

In exchange for that we do expect some market loyalty. We know vendors
need to make money, but the reality is that REDACTED is a local,
regional, and international destination, and protecting the markets
from competition has to be part of our core duties. Please be
respectful of our professional relationship and communicate with us
about your market-related plans outside REDACTED. ”

The notoriously overbearing REDACTED ratchets up its bad behavior from ridiculous to totally unacceptable. If I were not already stepping back from doing markets, I would certainly refuse to kowtow to these power-mad marketeers, who one friend nicknamed the Wal-Mart of NYC markets.