This guide is written for shop owners going as buyers, with a section for designers and shops going as exhibitors. The full checklist is at the end. You can tick items as you go, copy it into a note or print it for the trip.
Before you go
Set a budget by designer
A single number for the whole trip is easy to blow on the first afternoon. Break it down by designer instead. Look at the last twelve months and see what each designer's canvases earned you, how fast they sold and how many are still on the wall. Give the designers who sell through the biggest share, keep a smaller amount for new lines, and hold some back for the canvas you did not expect to love.
Check what each designer's budget already owes before you add to it. Open special orders, trunk show preorders and canvases a customer has paid a deposit on all come out of the same money. If those live on sticky notes, put them in the free special order tracker first.
Build your special order list by designer and mesh
Market is the best chance all season to place special orders in person. Go through every open request and group them by designer, then by mesh. A customer who wants a design on 18 mesh needs the 18, not the 13 you happen to see on the booth wall. Note the customer, the deposit and the date you promised, so you can confirm timing with the designer face to face.
Clean up your inventory so you know what you actually have
Buying blind is how shops come home with a third copy of a canvas already sitting in a drawer. Before you leave, count the canvases you carry and check them against your register and website. Look hardest at the designers you plan to buy from. If your counts have drifted, fix them now, because afterward you will be receiving new stock on top of the errors.
Decide your preorder and deposit policy
Many canvases ordered at market ship weeks or months later. Decide now how you will handle customers who want to reserve them. Will you take a deposit, and how much? Is it refundable if the designer changes the design or the ship date slips? Write the policy down and tell staff, so every customer hears the same answer.
Plan shipping and cash flow
Ask each designer how they ship and when. Some orders arrive in one box, others trickle in across the season. Plan for freight in your budget, and look at when invoices will come due against when the canvases are likely to sell. Bring your resale certificate information, since the designers you buy from will need it.
At market
Track every booth and every order
By the second day, booths blur together. Keep one running list with each designer you order from, what you ordered, the mesh, quantities, wholesale prices, the ship date they gave you and any show special. Take a photo of each order form. A shared note or spreadsheet on your phone is enough, as long as everything goes into one place.
Keep preorders apart from canvases in hand
Some canvases you will carry home, and some will ship later. Mark each line as in hand or preorder, and add the expected ship date. When you get home, the in hand canvases go straight onto the wall. The preorders become a list to watch.
Watch the budget as you go
Total your orders by designer at the end of each day. If one designer is running well over plan, decide on purpose whether to pull back or move money from somewhere else.
When you get home
Receive into your register right away
Every canvas you bring home should be received into your register before it goes on the wall, with the right designer, mesh, SKU and price. Do the same for preorders the day they arrive. Canvases that skip this step are the ones that sell twice or never show up online.
Match special orders
Go back to your special order list and match each arrival to the customer who asked for it. Set those canvases aside and mark them so nobody sells one to a walk in.
Tell your customers
Call or email every special order customer whose canvas has arrived, and let preorder customers know when theirs is expected. Then send a new arrivals email to your whole list. Stitchers love hearing what you found at market.
Post new arrivals
Photograph new canvases, add them to your website with designer and mesh, and share a few on social. The first week home is when interest is highest.
For exhibitors
Going as an exhibitor brings its own list. Prepare a current line sheet with wholesale prices, minimums and ship dates. Decide your show specials ahead of time. Have an order form that records the shop, the mesh, the quantity and the promised date, and collect a resale certificate from every shop that buys wholesale. If you plan to sell retail at the event, check whether the state requires a temporary sales tax permit. Our sales tax guide explains why that matters.
After the show, send each shop a confirmation of its order and ship date within a few days. Then keep them posted if anything changes.
The full checklist
Before you go
At market
When you get home
For exhibitors
If your counts are too far off to trust before market, that is a fixable problem. The free shop checkup is a good first step, and our team can help you get inventory clean and receiving set up before you pack.
Want this handled for your shop? We run the back office for independent needlepoint shops, and you only use the parts you need.