august bank holiday 2026 pop up artisan shop

So how did my first event go?

That seems to be the question everybody asks me.

Well, it went well.

The day before I went and picked up the keys, that in itself was stressful because I left my day job late so rushed to get it.

The night before the pop up shop I felt sick, I didn’t sleep because I was so worried something was going to go wrong at the beginning. 

When I got to the shop and opened up and actually went into the store I realised that it was smaller than I thought, I hadn’t actually been into this store, I had been to multiple sites within the shopping centre but only saw into the shop. What it meant was on Saturday I couldn’t have my own stand but it doesn’t matter, my priority is the other businesses.

Inside the store on the first day (Saturday) I had a jewellery company called MAKE & Me, scotch egg company called Ellie's Cheggies, vintage clothing company called Second Hand News Vintage, sweet bakes company called Coco Nest Bakes, dried flower and gift company called Pollinator Petals and a 3D printing company called 3D Printed Crafts Harrogate. The day was steady, it could have been busier and made me realise that there is more things I can do to bring people in. 

On Sunday we had all of the same companies except MAKE & Me was signed up for only Saturday so I took that space for the next chapter and had my stand setup with the jewellery but also the gift library products such as Maude & Noah candles and greeting cards. It was nice to meet people, see people's reactions to my jewellery, the laughter I got from people flipping through the greeting cards; some of them are rude and crude. Seeing people leave my table with their white carrier bag with the next chapter sticker on there was really nice, proud moment.

I got such a lovely message from Fai from Coco Nest Bakes that night that made me cry, I will at some point share this message if I get permission from Fai but I had been so hard on myself and this messaged to cheer me up.

Monday, the final day, we had everybody from Sunday except Second Hand News Vintage, she was having Monday off but we had the lovely Weet Wood Works standing with us. Now this was our slowest day and I feel really bad because this is people's time that they sit there trying to sell their items and there is nobody there. 

Everybody seemed happy and was constantly thanking me but I feel bad that it was slow. I do have a plan for the next one.

There was a little disaster, the shutter broke and wouldn't come down as we were clearing up so that panicked me and I did have a little cry.

Looking back, I wish I had taken more photos, I did upload quite a few Insta-stories which you can still see on @thenextchaptereventsuk. I also wish that I had pushed to have massive posters in the store leading up to the event, my marketing plan has definitely changed.