Navigating Nostalgia & New Ideas

When I decided to re-open a storefront earlier this year, a lot of factors came into play including a sharing of staff between my shop and the new Global Thrift & More. Since our opening in March, so many changes have taken place. Most difficult to adjust to and overcome was a change in staffing as Global Thrift & More dipped their toes in a retail storefront and discovered that staffing expenses and time needed to maintain the thrift shop far exceeded original expectations and profits didn’t meet expectations. Fairly quickly, the decision to bring in outside vendors to rent space came about, which helped with The Warehouse overhead but required additional open hours (more staff time!). Following an exhausting August, Global Thrift & More owner, Nancy Bell, planned the closing of the thrift store’s storefront—opting to take her thrift store online (currently in progress—stay tuned to her Facebook page for details!). It was a difficult decision but ultimately the best for her family and her other small business. In the meantime, it meant that The Second Knob had to navigate a future which now looked much different than we’d originally hoped. With a successful few months under our belt offering space to outside vendors and the very positive community response, we’ve continued to move forward as a vendor mall. 

If you grew up in the 70’s-80’s, like me, you likely have fond memories of “the mall.”  Nowadays, with retail chain malls slowly becoming almost non-existent, we are seeing more and more vendor malls emerging to feed our teenage nostalgia.

Vendor malls, featuring a mix of vendors and merchandise, have become a trendy place, not only to shop, but to sell. Jumping on the thrifting and junkin’ bandwagons, crafters, re-purposers and resellers are enjoying incredible success as small business owners without the costly overhead commitment required for a private storefront (especially staffing!). However, make no mistake; plenty of work goes into creating, setting up and maintaining a vendor booth. However, a lot of the very costly day-to-day operating expenses such as staffing, cash management point of sale, building maintenance, plowing, mowing, and utilities aren’t a concern.

Here at The Second Knob at The Warehouse, we offer vendors space starting at 25 sq feet. Most often, vendors opt for the standard 10×10 (100 sq ft). Unlike some vendor malls, we do not require vendors to sign up for more than one month when starting. As we move forward and grow, we will offer discounted space in exchange for volunteering time at the sales counter on weekends.