South Bay SF Etsy Meet Up at Empire Vintage

Last weekend, some of our South Bay members got together at Empire Vintage in Mountain View to meet with owner Tiffany about Pop-Up Shop possibilities. I was impressed by Tiffany's passion for supporting local makers and artists. It's even painted in bold on the front windows of her space!

At the meet up, Tiffany shared some of her tips for selling retail. She has had a retail shop for 9 years, and she's clearly savvy about the psychology and nitty gritty of selling. She encouraged those of us who are new to in-person sales to "fake it 'til you make it," and her positive attitude was contagious. Tiffany spoke at length with us about how opening her own shop was the realization of her dream, and she wants to help support other local indie folks with following their own dreams. Having a pop-up shop for a few days can be a first step on that path for many people. By the end of our meeting, we were talking excitedly about what sorts of events we might host in her cozy space right off the main street in Mountain View.

Big thanks to Trish of Poppy Peach for introducing the group to Tiffany! Her persistence made this meet up possible. 

Trish and Tiffany posing next to fabulous vintage lights in the event space!

It was so great to meet some new folks and to reconnect with old friends. We had a great turn out, with the following members represented: Trish from Poppy Peach, Rossella from Ross Lab, Jen from Stylish Canine, Kathryn from Splendid Colors, Mary from Cornelia Paper Co, Cristina from Pebble and Fire, Betsy from Wanderlust Designer, Kate from Enlightened Pieces, Pearl from Bella and Spike Skincare, Heidi from Picture Me Smiling, Nennie from Mia View Design, and yours truly, Jen from Mama's Magic Studio. 

SF Etsians in the South Bay got together to chat about hosting a pop-up shop at Empire Vintage

We are still exploring possibilities for SF Etsy connections to this space. If you would like to be part of that conversation, you can contact me to be put on the targeted email list for those discussions. We will definitely keep the group posted as plans progress. In the meantime, if anybody is interested in chatting further with owner Tiffany, you can also feel free to contact her and let her know that you heard about her through SF Etsy. She's very friendly and welcoming, excited about seeing her space used by local indie makers, and would love to hear from you!

---

If you're an Etsy seller in the San Francisco Bay Area, visit Our Team Page about joining SFEtsy!

Creative Places to Inspire Your Next Steps: Local Take

Over the next few months we will be highlighting creative places, spaces and people in an effort to take your business to the next level. I'm so honored to have been able to interview our very own Jenn of Local Take about her adorable shop in The Castro. Local Take has been a huge HUGE advocate for everything SFEtsy and it seemed fitting to make this shop our first stop in this series: Creative Places to Inspire Your Next Steps.

Have you been thinking of doing consignment of your items in a local shop? The focus of this interview was about how Jenn and her business partner, Kyra, find local items for their shop & how one might submit their work for consideration. 

I LOVE LOVE LOVE your love for San Francisco inspired pieces. What are three of your favorite pieces that you sell in your store right now?
-Water/ jet cut aluminum Sutro Tower from Studio For Metropolitan Craft
-Deconstructed jackets by Ghetto Goldilocks
-Seatbelt wallets by .retool.

I love that you support so many small companies like Todos Organics of Berkley. Tell me how you discover these small companies!

However and where ever we can!  Originally, Etsy, Open Studios and street fairs were our most successful ways to find new local designers.  These days we keep quite busy with designers finding us and reaching out. We still try to go to all the  street fairs and Open Studios to support our current designers!

If a small business wanted to be considered to sell in your shop, what's the process and what steps would they take?
We take all product submissions via email.  Send us an email, introduce yourself, explain what you do, include retail price points and pictures.  If we think its a good fit, we'll invite you in to meet us and take a look at your product. Please, please, please do not bring unsolicited product into the store for us to look at or try to show us pictures on your phone. We want to set aside time specifically for you so we can focus on what you do.  We always recommend that designers stop by the store to make sure its a good fit for them before submitting work. And when you do, by all means say hello!

You have a keen eye for great finds, but you also have a great business mind. If you could give a small business some sound advice, what is the most important lesson you learned when you shifted from a maker to a shop owner?
Nothing will ever be 'perfect'.  You just gotta go for it!  The best way to learn is from your mistakes. Things change, and so does your perspective.  You can only get to the final draft after you've completed the first draft.

When doing research on a small company for your space, how important is an online presence to you? How important is an Etsy shop, Facebook or website?
It's important for us to see examples of the product before we invite a designer for a face to face.  There are lots of products that aren't quite right for our space in our neighborhood, so we don't want to waste anyone's time.  However, having an online presence isn't as important as being able to show us pictures via email.

You are also a maker - how do you best balance your creative soul with your business?

Balance? Ha! Seriously though, every day we have to make the decision to feed our creative souls or crunch numbers.  Luckily for us, we try to bring creativity into every part of our business so everyday is a good balance of both.

SFEtsy, as you know, is centered around the importance of community. How do you participate in your local community & how has that positively influenced your own small business and/or your work as a maker?

In addition to running a business in the Castro, we also try to keep our personal lives as much in the 'hood as possible. We regularly visit other stores just to say hi, we introduce ourselves to new businesses, we get lunch almost every day, we meet friends for dinner/drinks after hours, etc.  We also participate in the many different Castro events and fundraisers, and are members of the local merchant's group.  Meeting new people in the neighborhood and reaching out to other businesses reminds them that we exist in the neighborhood. Then they come shop with us and recommend us to their other customers.

 
Thanks again to Jenn and Kyra for hanging out with me for an afternoon 
and answering so many questions! 

Local Take is located in The Castro at 3979B 17th st, SF 94114
for up to date events and hours, visit their Facebook Page. 

---

If you're an Etsy seller in the San Francisco Bay Area, visit Our Team Page about joining SFEtsy!

SF Etsy Team --> What A Treasury! Challenge Results!

WOW! SF Etsy Team 

What A Treasury Challenge!

Etsy Treasuries - The ever-changing, 

member-curated shopping gallery

Its been a few weeks since we officially challenged the team to an SF Etsy Team Treasury Challenge on our blog  - And lets just say - We Are Impressed!  We didn't expect the heart and creativity we saw in every treasury made. Thank you for your participation. We hope you enjoyed it as much as we enjoyed your curated treasures.

September's Theme: End of Summer 

Did you notice the new traffic to your shop? To your treasuries? Being exposed to new audiences on Etsy and social media is always so exciting and a challenge!  By making treasuries and sharing other seller’s items, you increase the exposure of the shops you picked and in turn your own. We hope you received some great new follows and sale potentials from this experience! 

Besides being posted on the team's social media ( Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest and Twitter ) we saw the individual team members communicating with each other, commenting, liking and getting to know each other (and their Etsy shops) better - which was our ultimate goal.  Plus, we wanted you to have some fun on your individual social media venues seeing your shop and name promoted to our thousands of followers. We love all your tags, the tweets, the hashtags, and the overall reciprocal team love.. it was awesome.

For me - reaching out and sharing the works of the team these last few weeks has been so rewarding -  and it was an honor to promote your shops every day.

Enjoy the following team treasury gallery! 

Curated Just For You,  by The SF Etsy Team Members 

for the SF Etsy team Members..

End of Summer - Melody in Brown  by ArtsyLadyVintage 

END OF SUMMER by Theresa J

Fall Is My Favorite  

by Red Icebreaker

End of Summer SFETSY Team Treasury Challenge  by Tickle And Smash

End of Summer - Menagerie in Purple by Artsy Lady Vintage

Dear summer, please stay just a little longer! by Pacific Crafts

End of Summer - Autumn Colors by Eledjo

SF Etsy Team Treasury Challenge - End of Summer by Timberly Designs 

Fall is coming!  By City Circlets

SF Etsy End of Summer by Flower 7

Handmade Black & White by Hunting Dragons

SFEtsy Love - Beautiful Things! by TheresaJToo 

Summertime - an SFETSY Treasury By TickleAndSmash

Goodbye Summer By Entropy The Shop

SFetsy team end of summer- Everything brown by PaperUnlimited

End of Summer - Fresh Greens By Threads By Ionyka

A Summer Swansong  by PoppyPeach

Sunset on Summer by Amy Rose Moore

END OF SUMMER- Change in Season by Irene Irene Art 

END OF SUMMER - Falling for colors! by Camillette80 

SF Etsy Team - Delights by Victoria Veedell

Summer's Last Sigh by The Gypsy Titmouse

End of Summer Blues By Corvus Tabernus

End of Summer By PebbleAndFire

Indian Summer in San Francisco by Dorothy Designs

Wishful Thinking by Jen Norton Art Studios 

Into the Fall By Phiden

South Bay Area Collection by Christmas Tree Tops

Last Time To The Beach By VampKittyDesigns

Colors of the Pacific  by OpheliasJewels 

California's Indian Summer by Daisy Church

SFetsy Owls by OodleBaDoodle

End of Summer by DivviCali

End Of Summer By AMHodrick

Autumn's Approaching by Green Horse Craft

San Francisco .. Etsy By The Bay By Local Colorist

With Love From San Francisco By Pebble And Fire

San Francisco Green Dreams By DesignArabesque

SFEtsy is Poppin' Up at Rickshaw Bagworks in the Dogpatch

Over the past couple of years, SFEtsy has had the honor and privilege to do some amazing things with our friends at Rickshaw Bagworks. Founder and CEO, Mark Dwight is probably one of the most supportive business owners we have met in our journey as a team! Nearly two years ago the team hosted our first Rickshaw Bags and SFEtsy Design Contest (read about it here!) and in May of this year we held our second design contest (read about that here!) They even wrote a great blog post about it on their blog!

PS - All the bags made from this year's design contest are on display at Rickshaw until August 15th, so come by this weekend, eat brunch and check out the bags (and make your own!)

We had so much fun together that Rickshaw invited us out to do some weekend pop-up markets at their headquarters in the Dogpatch neighborhood of San Francisco. The first one was held in June and our second one was held just a couple of weeks ago in July. So far, Rickshaw has hosted 18 of our team members!

It was so much fun, we have decided to make it a regular monthly thing :) I've posted some of the fabulous photos taken by our team historian and business group guru, Imelda from Sunset Shutterbug. We popped-up, we shopped, we designed amazing bags, we drank cocktails (thanks to Quinn from Libation Lab), we ate snacks (thanks to Stephanie from SinceSass) and we sold amazing handmade, local items to our community. I hope to see each of you come out and supporting the team and selling your work in this cute neighborhood!

Keep your eyes on our team forum for information on how you can participate in the next pop-up happening in August!

---

If you're an Etsy seller in the San Francisco Bay Area, visit Our Team Page about joining SFEtsy!