Boutique Show like Pinterest with walls

Saturday, November 10, 2012

— K.C. Pummill wants her NWA Boutique Show to be considered more than just a routine arts and craft fair.

“We are used to the big craft fairs like War Eagle. We all know what a craft fair is. What we needed was a shopping event,” she said.

The show runs from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. today at the Northwest Arkansas Convention Center in Springdale. Tickets are $2.

This is Pummill’s eighth show, and it features more than 150 merchants specializing in everything from home decor and holiday gifts to clothes and cupcakes. Each merchant is handpicked with special attention to ensure each is unique, said Susan Huey, the event’s sponsor andmedia coordinator.

Pummill has four paid employees who help organize the show, and she uses almost 50 volunteers during the event. Volunteers receive free passes to all events and two $15 gift certificates from vendors.

Each merchant supplies the show with two gift certificates. Pummill said it is one way she can help keep booth costs low. Huey said booth space is based on a $350 fee for a 10-by-10-foot space.

“We want the vendors to come to the show and make a profit,” Huey said.

More than 5,000 people, mainly women, attended last year. Huey expects that number to be close to 8,000 this year.

The show continues to evolve as it grows. Pummill said this year is the first time it stretches across two full days. It is also the first year that a men’s high-end fashion store, The Independent, has participated.

“We want to encourage and promote local businesses,” she said. “We also take input from our shoppers, and many wanted a men’s store so they could buy fortheir husbands.”

Less than 25 percent of the vendors have bricks-andmortar stores, Huey said.

“It’s not a craft show, but probably 60 to 70 percent of our merchants’ products are handmade,” Huey said. “It’s like Pinterest coming to life.”

Pinterest is an online sharing platform that allows people to show their work and promote sales. The site started in 2010 andhas more than 4 million users, according to Jeff Bullas, a social media and online marketing consultant. He said 83 percent of Pinterest users are women, and the most popular categories are fashion, desserts, clothes and birthdays.

Pinterest users are also well educated, with more than 80 percent having at least a bachelor’s degree, according to inc.com.

Pummill said most Boutique Show attendees are women of all ages. It also attracts a lot of young mothers.

The increasing popularity of handmade items means more sales for vendors and gives shoppers a chance to get ideas to try on their own.

Emily Moore of Springdale was at Friday’s VIP Shopping event to browse and get ideas. It was her third year.

“You see many thingsfrom Pinterest, and I know I can make some of those things,” she said.

She likes to buy some of the unusual products for Christmas gifts and said some of the bricks-andmortar retailers at the show offer discounts she can’t get at the store.

Trista Morrison, owner of Wit & Whimsy in Fayetteville, was offering 15 percent off, and customers of Friday’s VIP event received a $20 gift certificate to be used in the store.

Wit & Whimsy has been open less than a year, and Morrison said the show is introducing the clothing and gift store to a new customers.

“You just can’t get store traffic like this,” she said.

Gravel Road Art is back for its fifth show. Owner Misty Collins traveled from Proctor, near West Memphis, to sell her hand-painted wood art.

She sells most of her goods through Etsy, a website focused on handmade or vintage items.

Etsy started in 2005 and has more than 19 million members with close to 800,000 active shops, according to company statistics.

Sales through the website hit $436.9 million throughJuly. Last year sales were $525.6 million.

Sellers pay a 20-cent fee to list an item, and once it sells, pay the site 3.5 percent of the sale price.

“I hear shoppers say [the Boutique Show is] like walking through a real-life Etsy page,” Pummill said.

Angie Tuck of Farmington has been creating furniture, home decor and bracelets on nights and weekends for about a year. She sells goods through Etsy and her Facebook page. She also has a booth at The Locals, a craft and flea market in Prairie Grove.

This is her second year at the Boutique Show. It also marks her second year of being in business. She participated in five arts and craft shows this year.

“For me this is one of the best shopping events under one roof,” she said.

Lane Barrows Crosno, owner of Ruelle Designs in Farmington, said this is her first year to do a show, and it will be the only show she attends. She owned a tanning salon and boutique in Fort Smith a few years ago and enjoys the flexibility of selling online.

“It is fun, though, to have a storefront again for a couple of days,” she said.

Business, Pages 29 on 11/10/2012