markets

I’m quite disappointed today as I had cleared my schedule with the intention to work productively on my conference presentation and spend the evening at an old friend’s to celebrate Winter Solstice with a dinner party, but I spent it instead nursing a killer migraine. I hoped it would go away but ended up admitting defeat at around 3, when I took some painkillers, and crawled back in bed. Days like this you’re even more grateful for the cats in your life who take care of you. Salmon is taking a bath on my lap now and keeping my legs warm in the process, while The Cat is on his way home from work and will make me potato bake with some organic russet potatoes we bought from the market last weekend.

I mentioned the farmers’ market in my Monday Moments post briefly, but I think it deserves a little more attention. On Saturday, I went to the Eveleigh Markets here in Sydney with The Cat and a friend who was a little more of a pro than we were to the art of market shopping. Turns out his experience and guidance were more valuable than we could imagine as we found market shopping harder than it looks! First of all, I found it incredibly confronting that the people who harvest and create the products are right there, watching your every reaction as you sample their food. I found myself nodding fervently and making “mmm” sounds when I wasn’t even particularly finding the thing I was tasting delicious, which meant that when they announced the price, I felt cornered into either coming up with a thinly veiled excuse of how I didn’t want it to go bad in my bag and will come back around to pick it up on my way out or the more likely scenario, buying something. One thing I found myself doing a lot to counteract feeling pressured into buying something I didn’t need or want was the browse-from-afar tactic. More than once, I caught myself straining my neck on my tippy-toes, trying to read the distant signs and make out the wares before I approached and got myself caught in a sticky web of white lies.

You’ll also remember my recent post about how I’m a hopeless anti-spender who suffers from chronic buyers’ remorse, well, I’m trying to remedy that but I still need to take baby steps. The Cat and I were walking past one stall when one of the owners called us over to try. They make pastes and sauces and offered us some to taste. They were cooking some rendang at the time, a Malaysian dish that The Cat actually knows how to make and has successfully pulled off a few times already. It was yummy but I didn’t think it was as good as what The Cat makes, and even though The Cat is adverse to pre-mixed ingredients from a jar, he’s even more of a pushover than I am and I believe (even though he denies it) that he bought a jar because the stall owners were friendly and not because he actually intends to use it.

I think about it from the stall owners’ perspectives and can see how if I had a stall selling perfumes and offered free samples and testing, I would have absolutely no problems with people trying all of my perfumes yet not purchase anything. If they didn’t like any of my scents or thought my prices were too high, big whoop. I would still rather them try and decide they didn’t want to buy any, than admire my perfumes from afar but remained too shy to come up and speak to me. I’m definitely going to need to learn to build a thicker skin about these things if I want to go back!

While I was there, I noticed some posters advertising an arts and craft market they run on the first Sunday of every month. I asked around, did some research, and read up on craft shows on the Etsy website. The general consensus seems to be that the Eveleigh Markets are still quite new and not as busy as some of the more establishes ones, but the crowd is really good and well-targeted to those who appreciate handmade. I’m pretty keen to try running a market stall, simply out of curiosity for the experience rather than any motivation to make sales. The biggest hurdle it appears is in the need to apply for public and product liability insurance, and although I have done a bit of research and it seem to be a small amount (a hundred or so a year), that’s a fortune for someone who may very well only be doing one market.

I’m going to do a lot more research and report back when I’m ready to take the leap!