Yesterday was my first day at the Olathe Farmer’s Market this year. My fifth year at this market, but the first time at our new location – the Mahaffie Historic Center parking lot. It’s a brand new space, about a mile from our old location in downtown Olathe. The parking area is a bit smaller now, and I’m wondering where all the customers will be able to park when the peak of our season hits. We had a slow, but steady stream of customers all morning, and I had my best first market day ever! Not only did I have the best sales, but one of the employees from Mahaffie talked to me about getting a wholesale account to buy the Old-Fashioned Lye Soap for their gift shop inside the Historic Center.

The only “hitch” of the day was all of the girl scouts and junior league girls who came through after camping out at Mahaffie the night before. At one point, I had about 12 girls hovering over my tables, reaching over one another to smell the soap samples, and nearly knocking over my display. I was trying very hard to stay calm and not appear as paranoid as I felt.

The older girls were “loosely supervised” by their troop leaders. One of the girls felt the need to apply the Lava Lip Gloss I had out as a “sample” directly to her lips. Not once. Not twice. Not three times. But FOUR times. And the fourth time was AFTER she had finally decided to buy one of her own. She even offered it to one of her friends, who said, “I wouldn’t do that if I were you.” Smart friend.

Lavender Lemon was my top selling soap, followed closely by Jasmine Rose. It’s so different to sell face-to-face where customers can see, feel, and smell the product compared to selling on the web where my descriptions and customer testimonials are the main selling points. But it was so great to see my “regulars” again!!

I handed out facial moisturizer samples to ten volunteers who will test it for me over the next two weeks, and I’ll be mailing out a couple more tomorrow. I’ll be anxious to hear their feedback (be honest, testers!).

Those of you who came to the market yesterday – how did you like the new location? Do you think it will be a good move for the market?