Art Shows: What Sells?

I was talking with Wanda, she has a booth at the Granville Island Market in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. She has a booth of mostly wildlife photos from her husband and as the conversation went, we ended talking about print sizes.

She said that the 8 by 10s were her best sellers. She makes most of her own prints, Epson paper, mostly Premium Luster and an Epson 3880. She farms out the 20 by 30s prints.

1. She said that the vast majority of her sales were the 8 by 10 photos.
2. She said that she occasionally sells the 16 by 20.
3. She said that she very rarely sells the 20 by 30, but the large canvases and the large prints are the most important. It's the 20 to 30s that bring the people to come and see her booth. Without these huge prints that rarely sell, she wouldn't be able to sell her “meat and potatoes” 8 by 10 photos.

She also sell a few canvas and framed print, but those are only “occasional.” Most of her customers are Amercian tourists that came to Vancouver on an Alaska cruise ship.

It's no easy becoming a vendor at the Granville Island Market. There's a competition in February, each year, then “they” decide in March, and then you are in from May to the next April, for a maximum of 5 days per month, including at least one weekend per month. The price of the table is $30 per day during the week and $50 per day during the weekends. This includes a table, electricity and wireless Internet.