Hello everyone,
I want address some of the questions that have been coming up lately about the Erlanger Market and it’s future path throughout this new year. I know that change, especially when it affects your business and livelihood, is not something people tend to greet with open arms. As a past business owner and Market vendor myself I can sympathize with that sentiment. However change can often be a good thing and bring a revitalization to a stale situation.
Over the past few years the Erlanger Market has been a closed, invite only affair. I received countless emails and took part in numerous conversations in that time in which vendors who were not included often felt like second class citizens. The system in which this was allowed to occur was a carry over from earlier days and one that I felt was outdated and unfair. Last October I brought this to attention of Chris and Melissa and they agreed that the Erlanger Market should be open to anyone who wanted to attend.
With that decision made we decided to allow 10 vendors to sign up each week. This would allow new vendors to try out a Market they had been barred from for years. This has been very well received to date and I have been in contact with Erlanger throughout the process and it is something that they wish to see continue.
We are trialing a new sign up system internally and to a few select vendors today. This new system should be much easier to use and should help our older, less tech savvy crowd get signed up for everything they wish with greater ease. Chris will be pushing this out full scale to everyone in the coming days and weeks for your use with future Markets. With this new change however we will be removing the old system entirely. Erlanger and all other Markets will now be accessible through the same, easier to use system. This means that the old “reserved” system will be going away and everyone who wants to attend will need to sign up. Here are a few key points with how the flow of the Erlanger Market is going to change:
- The booth fee is increasing to $10 up from $5. Most of this fee is donated to the Children’s Hospital as Erlanger does not require us to pay any fee or commission for our presence there.
- There is a monthly pass option for $40. This monthly pass will act as a month to month reserved booth guarantee. If you pick this option you will be given the ability to pick your spot for the month. This will allow you to setup before the 9:30 roll call. If you are not setup before then your spot will be given up that day. This reserve booth is free of charge and it will be determined off of your priority points like every other reserve booth. (Note: This reserved booth is only available to vendors above 15 priority points)
- Roll call will be at 9:30 for all non reserved booth vendors.
- The sign up limit will be 20 people but is subject to change.
- A weekly list of vendors will be sent to the Erlanger event coordinator which will be sent in an email to all Erlanger employees to help promote traffic.
I want to personally thank all the vendors who have helped this Market stay strong over the years. Your hard work and dedication have not gone unnoticed and we truly appreciate the investment you have made in us and all of our Markets. Know that I will work with all of you to make sure this transition goes smoothly and we can all benefit from a more vibrant and diverse environment. If any of you have questions you can email me directly at gib.jones@publicmarkets.us.
We hope that going forward these changes will help drive more traffic to us by increasing vendor variety and thus help to increase sales for everyone.