First time for everything

There is a first time for everything and Mother Junkers first time doing a flea market was eventful to say the least. As we begin to figure out our business model, meaning what works best to sell our furniture. we are open to any venue that provides an audience for our product.

So we decided on a flea market in Wilmington, DE specifically Dravo Plaza. This is a riverfront venue and well established flea market that travels around Delaware so we figured what the heck gotta start somewhere- Right? Mom and I worked most of the afternoon Friday staging our space which was exciting-see pictures below. What was not so fun was packing up my Ford F-250 bed with our furniture including the extended cab. Needless to say, there was barely enough room for mom and I to sit. The bruises on my legs also tell of my determination to get the heavier pieces on the truck. That’s right without the help of a man. We didn’t want to buy moving blankets just yet so I pulled out all of my girl’s blankets including the bright pink and Christmas colored plush blankets that they have collected over the years. Our roots where showing: Eastern Shore Redneck meets the city.

We set off at 6am Saturday morning so that we would have plenty of time to get to our location over an hour away, to set up and be ready to go by the 9am opening of the flea. We had to stop a few times in the pitch black on 301 as I was afraid that the tarp we had on the furniture was about to fly off and blind the two other drivers on the road at the crack of dawn. When we finally arrived, the staff was super helpful and directed us quickly where to go. Mom and I pretended to be expert unloaders doing it in record time. I was quick to remove our multicolored blankets as I was kind of embarrassed about those.

After the unloading, I jumped in the truck to move it out of the center of the flea market and turn the keys… Nothing, Nada, but click, click, click, the TRUCK WONT START. Really??? I am parked in the center of the flea market walkway with my large white truck and the battery died. How can that be when I just drove for an hour and the battery should be charged? This was one thing that Mom and I could not handle on our own being so far away from home and the people we would call to help. But thank goodness for the kindness of strangers. They pulled their truck up and jumped our truck after a few tries. Some of the other vendors were giving us words of encouragement as well. Overall this was a small bump in the road, but it did raise the blood pressure and heart rate a little. What a way to start out. But overcoming obstacles makes you stronger-AMEN!!!

We were able to get set up with time to spare and had a great day. Mom and I received so many compliments on how welcoming our booth was and how beautiful our pieces were. We actually had two different couples competing for one large piece of furniture which was great. Overall, we sold some big pieces, made some money and are further motivated to move forward with this business venture. Although it’s nice to love what you do, you can’t make it in business unless you can find customers that love your product enough to purchase. We believe Mother Junkers has a bright future making the world more beautiful one piece at a time.

Stay tuned for our next adventure. We have some big plans.