“uncommon finds” (432 common street, belmont, 617- 484-1895) sells vintage home decor in cushing square. the belmont art association will have some display space there.
– the store is made up of a number of individual vendors who rent space to show their wares.
– we have agreed to take 2 walls for $100/month. (approx 8-10 feet each). one wall is perpendicular to the window display and visible from window. the second wall will be my display racks parallel to and visible from the front window. i will hang fabric on it to make it look “softer”.
– for now, we will plan on having one artist per wall, rotating artists every month.
– it will cost $50 per artist displaying/month. all proceeds of sales go directly to the artist. the shop will charge sales tax which is also passed on to artist who is then responsible for paying it to the appropriate authorities. if the customer uses a credit card, the store will deduct the credit card fee.
– each artist will be trained to “shop-sit” and will sit for one afternoon during the month they show. weekend time may be substituted. similar to gallery sitting, the shop sitter is minding the store as salesperson and responsible for taking sales throughout the store.
– the shop holds events every month, but we may try to add our own event to highlight the artists. i like the idea of a “third thursday” event which would include the “spirited gourmet” wine store who does tastings, and the restaurant “kitchen on common” and other shops.
– we will not have shelves or tables, so if an artist wants to display jewelry, we can discuss with donata if they could take the display rack to hang their work. the artist must figure out for themselves how to keep the jewelry safe and secure. donata has other spaces available for jewelry as well, and i encourage you to talk directly to her. helen morse will also be renting a small space in a display case.
– we have to figure out how to sell cards. i can get baskets to place on the rack, but part of the issue is payment to the artist and how to keep it simple for donata. we don’t want to add too much bookkeeping for her, as she will be noting sales for each vendor separately. i would like to offer cards all the time, but perhaps it will work out that we offer cards only for the artist who is displaying.
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