The Life of a Market Trader
- Bryony Sanderson
- Jul 4
- 4 min read
My life has passed by in a blur these past few months, I can't believe it was February I last wrote a blog! Anyway, amongst the stress of mortgages and landlords and packing up my life into cardboard boxes (whilst having a major clear out!) there has been one constant keeping Bry and Tea alive - the markets - so I thought I'd write about that, hope you enjoy this little insight into my market life.
Sunday morning 6am alarm - it sounds far too early, but I love getting up and out so early on a Sunday, it makes me feel good being awake with the birds when most are still asleep. Bleary eyed, I start boiling kettles and filling my 5L flasks and getting the numerous bottles of milk and coffee machine in the van whilst eating some granola and yoghurt and trying to get myself suitably dressed for a day in public. I usually plan to have myself and everything else in the van ready to go by 7am - its normally much more like quarter past! But anyways I arrive early enough to feel like I'm on time - there's always some traders already arrived and some are even fully set up but I have plenty of time still.
After 8 years I'm now capable of putting a gazebo up on my own, but I still gratefully accept help when it's offered, everything comes out of the van, meticulously packed the day before, have I remembered everything? Hopefully. Tables up, table cloths on, shelves out - its usually during this point of complete chaos that one of the other traders will cheekily ask "kettle on yet?" How awake I am at that point depends on my response! They're only joking though, they know full well that I get the coffee machine out and up and running as a priority and then go back to faffing endlessly with packets and labels and signs blowing away in the gale force winds that seem to appear out of nowhere every Sunday. So, usually within about 15-20 minutes of arriving I'm ready to hand out the first hot drinks to the traders that are set up and ready for a brew with their breakfast - as long as they have exact change because I have absolutely no idea at this point where I've put the card machine or cash box, or keys to said box! (Hopefully they're around somewhere)
9.30am (ish) rolls around and I'm usually ready, I can relax, treat myself to a bacon and egg butty, most customers start arriving from 10am - the odd early bird out walking the dog or collecting the paper stops by for a brew but I can handle that whilst eating my second breakfast no problem, the automatic bean to cup coffee machine works with the touch of a button, not much input from me required unless its a honeycomb mocha, but that's a really random drink to order at breakfast time isn't it?
Sounds like a lot of hard work? True, especially with the unpredictable weather we seem to get these days. But the part I didn't mention is during all of the above there's also a lot of pausing and nattering - catching up with the other traders. I usually have the same traders as "neighbours" at each market I go to so we generally have a month's worth of catching up to do. The traders are like one big happy family, we look out for each other, one of us has forgotten their weights - someone has a spare set, one of us needs change - one of us will have too much change, you need to nip for a wee - your neighbour watches over your stall, sometimes even trades for you if they can! We also do our shopping at the market - I come home with meat, bread, shampoo, soap, cake, more cake... some of the others go home with tea, coffee or kombucha.
Then the customers start arriving, I love it when I see my regulars, sometimes every market, sometimes odd months but we all love it when the same people come back time and again. It reassures you, you must be doing something right if they're restocking every month. Some I know their names and we have a chat, some don't want to chat but they come every market and buy their 'usual', both types of regulars are just as much appreciated. You can't beat talking face to face with people, watching their expressions when they smell the teas and coffees, explaining the health benefits of the tea blends. In a world that moves too fast there's something about a Sunday artisan market that slows life down. It's lovely watching families, couples, friends, solo shoppers, people with dogs, even occasionally people with a cat, or once a parrot! Everyone walks slower, stopping to look at every stall, smiling and saying hello, even if they're not buying anything. That kind of atmosphere doesn't exist in the shopping centres and it certainly doesn't exist on a website store.
I would love to have more sales on my website, but even if I got dozens a day, I wouldn't stop doing markets, the personal interaction and feedback from my customers is something I never get tired of. When I get website orders I can quite often tell the ones who I have met on a market, the order is usually a couple of weeks after a market, the tea choices the same, the place the order is going to is close to where the market was. Sometimes I get a message with the order, I love it when people take the time to tell me they met me on a market and that they love the tea or coffee they bought.
So, if you haven't visited one of the markets or you've signed up for my newsletter on one of the markets in the past and haven't been back for a while, come and experience the atmosphere, come say hi, it'll be great to see you there.
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