You know what they say about assumptions!

They make an arse out of you and me, but in this case it is just me;)

I have had a wry chuckle tonight over public liability insurance! I had made the assumption that most of the businesses would have their own cover. Turns out I am an arse and only one business that has registered thus far has their own cover. I will now have to crunch some more figures and get back to you all!

Online registration for stall holders is now up and running .... there are a few questions that I make you answer but I promise it is a fairly painless process. Are you super keen to become a stall holder? then show some link love and register your interest here!

A few questions that have been thrown at me have been great and I thought I would share their anwers here.

1. Will there be coffee? Absolutely, I can not function without some decent coffee at markets. I have my eye on one that also does yummy hot chocs for those of you who are not coffee addicts :)
2. Will there be second hand goods for sale? Absolutely not. You will only find new beautiful kids products - admittedly some of them will be made from upcycled fabrics, but that just makes them even more unique in my books
3. Will there be any of my competitors there too? Well without knowing exactly who your competitors are this is a hard question to answer. Stall holders will be hand picked by moi, and I will be doing my utmost to have a variety of stalls.
4. What are you doing to advertise the market? I am in the process of getting my head around sponsorship of the market, so I am really hoping that though the businesses that are interested in sponsoring us I will be able to afford a decent advertising campaign. On the wishlist at the moment is a flyer mail out, print ads and editorial in local newspapers, as well as lots of good word of mouth. Oh and all of the usual social media thingies too. I am working with a marketing guru (my words not hers) on this project, but if anyone out there would like to help out in this department I would love to hear from you. In return you would get my undying love ...... but not much else (ie this would be a voluntary position, just like I am running the market voluntarily)

Oh speaking of voluntary ... if there are any super talented web designers that would love to put a fantastic website together for Sugar & Spice definitely email me. Again I can offer undying love .........

Who knew ....

..... that finding the perfect venue for Sugar & Spice was going to be so time consuming? I certainly didn't! My problem is that I want the venue to be absolutely perfect, not pretty close to perfect. I have at least narrowed it down to two different buildings in Woodend but I am struggling to choose between the two as there are pros and cons for both. Here is a break down of both of them, I would love to hear peoples thoughts.

Option 1-Pro's
- It is located on the main road into town right next to the main shopping strip
- I will be able to annex onto the public liability insurance of the building thereby allowing me to donate more to local charities
- It is recognised as a market location within the town
- easy access for prams

Con's
- It is not the prettiest building either inside or out (that sounds shallow I know, but it is an important element)
- We are not able to use the main doors that face the main road, instead we would have to use the back door
- The internal layout is not going to work well with how I would like to set out the market (you would have to be able to see inside my head to understand completely)

Option 2 - Pros
- It is gorgeous building one street back from the main road
- The internal space will work really really well with how I would like to set out the market
- Easy access for prams
- It has central heating so it will be nice and warm in the winter market :)


Con's
- It is not on main road so there is an extra layer of complexity to find and not as "visible" for people just to walk up to
- It will cost more to run the market here due to public liability so less to donate to local charities

Just when I think I have finally made up my mind, I start thinking about them again. I am going around and around in my head but I am only making myself dizzy! So I thought I would appeal to you for some sensible advice.

The exciting news is that we have a couple of lovely sponsors for the market. I am itching to tell you all about them, but I am going to have to wait for a few more weeks yet!

Ali xx