My first review for an out-of-state show, and my first out-of-state show since the pandemic if I recall correctly. I was anxious but excited to sell in Greenville, South Carolina for Anime Town!
Applications and Allegations
Anime Town Conventions is a newer event organizer, focusing on anime conventions in the cities of Greenville SC, Pensacola FL, and Sandy UT. I’d found them through online searches for anime events in neighboring states. Greenville was of particular interest to me, since I have friends I could stay with there!
Applications for Anime Town were straightforward and already live on their website. So I threw my hat in, applied for an Artist Alley non-corner booth (300 USD) and got accepted within a month. Of course, it was after my card was charged that I heard from a fellow artist that her experience at Anime Town Greenville 2024 was abysmal! Uh-oh! However, she also told me that the convention staff seemed receptive to criticism and she’d be returning for the next year since for her it’s a local show. Would Anime Town be able to learn from their mistakes? I would have to wait and see!
In addition to my friend’s warnings, another thing I failed to consider when I registered was that Anime Town Greenville fell directly on Lunar New Years. As the dates drew closer I got a big sense of FOMO with Lunar New Years events and markets that were happening closer to home! Such as the Decatur Lunar New Year Festival which was the same weekend. However, my friends who were hosting me, invited me out for LNY dinner at Sum Bar: Dim Sum Restaurant and Bar in downtown Greenville! Bonus blogging about that at the end.
I didn’t hear from Anime Town again until December when they sent an email to reaffirm my vendor confirmation and invite me to a town hall that evening. I came to realize that Anime Town is fond of town halls however I never got to attend one since they were usually short notice. Vendor hall map and further details came through email just about a week before the convention, cutting it a little close for my taste but at least I got them.
The Convention
Setting up on Friday morning was breezy. Anime Town had emailed instructions and security guards on-site were able to give directions. I was able to pull my car into the convention center without trouble and there was hardly any line. On arrival, I was pleasantly surprised to find South Carolina had sent a few representatives to assist vendors with filing their state sales tax. I’d never, ever seen Georgia send a representative! They were all very kind, professional, and had print outs ready for us to mail in after the event. Once I checked in with staff I was allowed to set up my table, which was clearly labelled and matched up with the map.
Since this was my first multiple day, indoor show in a while I decided to update a few details and really make use of the 8 foot table Anime Town provided. Primarily, I combined my pink cubes with my wooden fixtures to create more prominent layers on my table. I also made some vinyl decals to decorate my pink cubes and crafted a new display for my sweet lolita reptile charms. Just one thing at a time, little steps to make my overall display more unique to stand out. Since I had gotten to set-up pretty early as well, I created some last-minute post-it signs to fill in negative space.
And of course, my biggest addition was the new display I made for the artist alley debut of my Lucky Snakes charm blind boxes! Originally, I wanted a gachapon machine for the Lucky Snakes, but when I wanted the charms to be larger I knew a machine would be tricker with their size restrictions. Then I saw that some artists use heat-seal bags with custom labels to sell their randomized charms, and it got me thinking if I could get some red envelope type bags. Finally, when I was forced to create retail ready packaging for my sweet lolita reptile charms for consignment at John Creek’s Books, I realized I could use my Silhouette cutter to create custom packaging for my lucky snakes as well.
I looked to blind box retail displays for inspiration on how to display my Lucky Snakes overall. Which, I’m realizing my final solution is pretty simple, but I did go back and forth if I wanted to have all the designs displayed with a print-out or the physical charms. While I admired the sleek look of print-out design examples of retail boxes, I realized I should take advantage of the fact that my own display didn’t need to be vastly reproduced and put out my physical charms to help customers connect with them more.
I think it all pulled together, because Lucky Snakes were my best sellers for the weekend! Putting the display right next to my checkout section also invited customers to ask me what the Lucky Snakes were, which allowed me to pitch them verbally. Perhaps it also helped that Anime Town Greenville fell on Lunar New Years, so people were in the spirit! Or ssssssspirit?
Given my friend’s experience with last year’s Anime Town Greenville, I wasn’t really sure what to expect for the crowd and sales. I just wanted the chance to get out of Georgia and bring my best effort! From following Anime Town’s social media I could see they were consistently marketing, so I was cautiously hopeful. I’m happy to report that I was able to make a satisfactory profit!
Saturday was far busier than either Friday or Sunday, eclipsing their individual sales about four times. The Friday crowd left me time to read a few chapters of my current book, Man Hunt by Gretchen Felker-Martin. Where as Saturday morning, I was completely blind sighted when parking was scarce! Sure, the convention center was hosting two events, but there were many a cosplayer to be sighted on the sidewalks. There was some silliness where I paid for parking only to circle around a full lot, but the parking attendants were kind enough to radio ahead so that the parking lot on the other side of the convention center knew to expect and not charge me double.
Anime Town Greenville itself was contained to one hall of the Greenville Convention Center, with registration, vendors, artist alley, guests, maid cafe, panels, and main event stage in the same room. A moderately sized anime con, but there was always traffic even on the slower days and never the “dead” status I’d been warned about. I got to meet lots of new faces. Attendees ranged in age from children to middle-aged adults, and I’d seen quite a few families. I had a few people say this was their first anime convention ever!
Come Sunday, load-out was also a very straight forward process. I made sure to come early in the morning so that I could park in the lot nearest the loading docks. Since the vendor hall isn’t that large that meant not a huge line for cars and I was able to get my car packed up in record time!
Bonus Review! LNY at Sum Bar
Saturday night, my friends invited me out for dinner at Sum Bar: Dim Sum Restaurant and Bar. A beautiful spot in downtown Greenville, that combines traditional Chinese art with modern dining fanciness. And! They had a Lunar New Year special menu!
Billie’s Vendor Rating
| Foot Traffic | ⭐⭐⭐⭐ |
| Attendee Vibes | ⭐⭐⭐⭐ |
| Restrooms | ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ |
| Pokémon GO | ⭐⭐ |
For the amount of attendance, I was satisfied with my sales performance for the weekend. I’m also happy to report that I sold my very last Send Noods shirts, which is a relief, whew. While the design had been popular I’ve been wanting to make room for new shirts! I did have the advantage of staying with my friends to avoid hotel costs, and could travel by car to keep travel costs low. To be quite honest, just visiting my friends would’ve made the trip good for me, so I could be bias!
I can’t say for certain I’d return to Anime Town Greenville next year, since it would conflict with many Lunar New Year events much closer to home. However, I’ll definitely be keeping an eye on developments.
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