I still remembered that someone once told me that 2010 would be when the world ends. This goes to show how unpredictable everything is , ( as we're safely going into the 3rd month of the year, and nothing has happened to Singapore yet. I mean, you would know wouldn't you? as Singapore is in constant danger of getting swallowed by the seas surrounding her, should there be any upheaval of tectonic plates, aka Day After Tomorrow style.) because no one ever knows what will happen unless you try it.
Thus with that mindset firmly in place, we lept forward and tried new things for the new year of 2010.
After our successful debut at bazaars last December, we decided that Sunflower will go to at least one bazaar per month so that we can:
(1) create more exposure for our shop by giving out flyers and name-cards over there
(2) create more awareness to a different group of people
(3) be a mobile shop that travels to different parts of Singapore( usually the people who visits a mall are those who are living near it most of the time, so if people wont travel to a certain part of singapore, We will travel to them)
Hence we took part in the flea market at Clarke Quay on the 29th and 30th of January.
This time we were much more prepared. Amazing how experience can make someone seem so smart.
I remembered for the first bazaar, we started preparing 2 weeks in advance. Armed with to-do lists, research info from jaded bazaar-goers, and to-bring lists, we nervously packed and unpacked the things that feel had " potential" over in Clarke Quay.
Alas, nerves took over on the actual day itself. In spite of all the preparation, we actually forgot to bring lights and a whole lot of other misc hardware items that seem totally insignificant until we reached there.
So out came our improvisation skills and techniques, we had to " borrow" plugs and wires to attempt to light up our booth, ( no lights at night, how to sell things? )
And here we are, standing happily beside our booth.
Having learnt things the hard way the first time around, we were more careful, and with only 2 days of preparation, we managed to bring all that we need. Fhank also managed to obtain two Ikea lamps that lit up our table splendidly.
( Ikea has a brillant marketing strategy--make all your items so cheap, while knowing that all business owners who's starting up will need such items, so that everyone will get your products. Totally ingenious , I must say, for half the lamps used in the bazaars were from Ikea )
Close up of our table , doesn't the heart lights look gorgeous at night?
Here's a snapshot of Gina, one of our partners, with whom we are sharing tables with. She paints gorgeous shoes, with customization of names, lace, background and ribbons.
Not convinced of her talent? Here's a photo for you to check out. This is one of her best selling designs in the shop. The border looks so much like real lace, many customers fell in love with this at first sight.
While we were away in Clarke Quay, our retail shop is not forgotten. City Square Mall held a Haiti Haiti charity Concert to raise funds for the refugees in Haiti, and Sunflower is proud to say that we were one of the sponsors for the event.
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Also catch Boon Cheong in action on the dance floor as part of the salsa performance team during the event.
He is part of a local dance studio called Twoleftfeet.
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Not to be out-done, we were also having our biggest ever valentine day event outside our shop by our very famous partner, Lien, who's the founder of the Hugplush series.
here are more snapshots of what happened in the shop.
Lien hard at work. Her newest creations of matching handphone and iphone covers is literally flying off the shelf, both online and in store.
Next up, we went to our second bazaar of the month! Exceeding our orignial plan of at least one bazzar per month. It took place from 1-4th Feb, which lands just mere days away from our Clarke Quay bazaar.
Our poster on Facebook
It was a first for us to conduct a bazaar inside a school. This was also the longest bazaar that we have ever went to ( a record 4 days! )
And we came away from it happy and satisfied. After the bazaar our facebook fans increased from 700 to an astonishing 1229 as stated in the first post! Perhaps this means that we have made an impact on students on establishing ourselves, or perhaps it just means young people are more IT savvy?
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Throngs of excited students browsing through our items. The handmade pouches from MumluvDiy, GiveGifts and Hugplush proved to be the most popular, with many designs being snapped up in mere minutes after we displayed them out.So mark your calendars everyone, for MumLuvDiy will be coming down this very weekend on the 28th of Feb to customize pouches and everyday items, just for you!
If you have not heard of them before, do check our their webpage through their banner below now!
A bird's eye view of our space. As we were located near to the canteen, we were ensured of a steady stream of crowd.However, one major pullback was that the area that the bazaar was held in was quite stuffy as its quite enclosed. It resembles a long tunnel with two openings for students to weave their way through to grab a bit in between classes. Hence, most of us were " suffocating " by mid-day, as throngs of sweaty students piled into the already congested area to look through the wares.
And after this experience,we realized that the old saying that " xin jin zhi ran liang" does not hold true. ( it means that if you calm your heart down you will feel cooler) Hot means hot, stuffy means stuffy, and true enough, by the second day, its the norm to see other vendors whipping out hand-held fans, and other devices in a bid to keep cool.
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The only vendor who did not do so, sells iced yoghurt. After all she had a whole fridge to herself, and business was booming for her due to the stuffy conditions. ( laughs)
For the NTU bazaar, we tried the response of different items by alternating the displays everyday. If any tenants are interested to share our future bazaar space , do contact BoonCheong for more information.
Our colorful displays of handmade goodies! Guaranteed to melt your heart! For the guys, our revolving stand of top quality 3-D cards from Germany will bound to catch your attention.Also, Encanto ( Everlasting real flowers that have been frozen in Japan,and which reacts to humidity) was doing a roaring trade as both guys and girls bought them for their significant others as Valentine day is just around the corner. ( We even had requests to buy our huge sunflower! )
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One of our partners also took a video of us in action on the first day. Do check out the video on facebook below!
All in all, the NTU bazaar was a huge success in any sense. We also caught the attention of the NTU student council who invited us to join the NTU matrix card scheme. ( Listen up all you NTU matrix card holders! )
There will be a Discount for all card holders who flash their matrix cards in our shop!
Do drop by for more items, we will have new items every single week!
or else for more updates, please join our facebook at:
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Next up, we are proud to announce that we are the sponsor for 93.3 FM's 20th Anniversary celebrations and live recording party in City Square Mall!
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Sunflower is getting star- struck again! Just that this time around, we have upgraded to international stars!
Renowned mandopop band F.I.R will be having their exclusive autograph session right downstairs in City Square mall!
Do come and soak up the fun! Dun forget to pop by Sunflower for a visit, we have just updated with new items galore!
Also, announcing, we are going to have a media feature in CHIC magazine!
Do look out for us in the first March Issue!
We will be having a mystery gift for all those who flash the page featuring our shop! See you soon!
Tis 's all for now, but dun forget to mark this space!
Exciting news will be coming really really soon, with juicy pictures of our 3 bazaars taking centre stage!
You know you dun wanna miss it!
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