What's included in the cost of my booth space rental?

Several people have asked what all is included with booth space rental fee, so I wanted to take a few minutes and explain what the cost is covering.

* Marketing - I am already frequently posting on here (the Prairie Chic blog), and also on other websites to market the store. Soon, I'm going to be sending a news release out to the entire state! Once our website is up and running, and we have products on shelves, we'll post them on here, on Facebook, on our Etsy page, and help market them far beyond the Tri-County area. Keep in mind that any work the vendors do to help market their own products will also help the store, and help to sell their specific products, but vendors aren't required to reach out and promote the store itself. That's included in the cost.

* Staff - Although the vendors are required to staff the store for two hours each month, the other hours are free for vendors to be offsite. Making arrangements to meet up to sell products, while working around other family responsibilities and activities is not always feasible. Instead, the store manager and others are covering the majority of the time each month to keep the store open for regular business hours.

* Bookkeeping - We will be filing monthly tax reports on vendors' behalf.

* Building costs - The building cost, taxes and utilities are included with your rental space cost. If someone were to open their own storefront or home-based business, that expense would be theirs.

Mark and Denise have experience in the business and know that this venture, the marketing campaign, and the space itself are worth the vendors' costs.

"The objective is to bring business into town and to this rural area of Kansas which travelers enjoy exploring the Flint Hills," Denise Homer said. "If we are too high, area residents will instead fill up vacant buildings with flea markets, without taking a positive initiative to make the buildings appealing. We want to create a shopping experience, decorated storefronts and a reason for visitors to stop by, enjoy and shop. Win. Win. Win."

If you have any other questions about costs related to the store, or you would like to rent booth space or sell consignment items in the store, please contact Stephanie Gilbert, store manager, at PrairieChicKansas@gmail.com.