On November 8th, I returned to Giga-Bites Café for their Cats n’ Dogs Artist Alley! EJSCreations provided the graphics for our stamp rally and the stickers she drew of our pets were sooooo cute! Sadly, this was my first Giga-Bites’ flop TTvTT Details below.
Applications
As usual, communications for Giga-Bites’ Artist Market was primarily through Emily, aka EJSCreations. I’ve been on their vendor email list for quite some time, so in early October I got the message that applications were open for their November event. The theme for this one would be Cats n’ Dogs, celebrating pets and animal friends! We got back our acceptances in a timely manner around October 20th, and were asked to sign waivers and pay up our table fee, $35.
Then Emily reached out to us and asked for photos of our pets, so she could illustrate special stickers for our pet-themed stamp rally! Basically, Giga-Bites always has a stamp rally to go with their Artist Market, where customers can stop by each participating vendor to find a hidden item on their tables and get rewarded stickers, when they fill up their stamp rally card they can go up to the main register for a prize! It’s free for the visitors and helps drive traffic to each table. Though, this is the first time I think Emily has gone the extra mile to make custom stickers for everybody, and they came out so cute!
Giga-Bites also put out vendor features for the upcoming market on their socials, and announced they’d be hosting both a food and pet supply drive as well. Donations would go to Atlanta Community Food Bank and Mostly Mutts Animal Rescue respectively.
Cats n’ Dogs Day
We were allowed to start setting up as early as 9 AM, an hour before opening. Loading in was fairly simple, I drove right up to the curb and wagoned my merch into the store before parking my vehicle. Once I checked in with Emily, I received my stamp rally materials and a $4 drink voucher. I was able to turn in it for a discount on the monthly special, a hot dino-smores latte, right when the kitchen opened.
While I had one of the 5×4 foot tables last year, I wasn’t sure how my booth would look since I’d gone through a few changes in my regular setup since! I did surprise myself by finding a way to jerry rig my Sweet Lolita Reptiles charms on top of my Lucky Snakes display, haha.
Unfortunately, traffic was slow throughout the day. After opening at 10 AM there weren’t too many people at first, which is normal, but even past lunch it felt like there were less browsers than past events. There were plenty of card game and tabletop regulars at their gaming tables, too locked in for shopping. By closing at 4 PM I’d only had one sale! And as much as I appreciated my one customer, I sadly did not make back my table fee.
Naturally, I was disappointed, but I struggled to think of an obvious reason for our slow sales. Emily stopped by each of us to check in a couple times throughout the day and slow sales seemed to be the consensus. For myself, I have wondered if attending Giga-Bites’ Artist Market since the beginning has made my art overexposed for the regulars? But I have been careful to only attend once or twice year to counter that.
I’ll admit though, now that were mostly through 2025, I’ve been thinking if I should attend less small events and instead focus on creating more art. Then when I do make my appearances I’ll have more new stock to show. It’s tricky though, because even the small shows have helped me this year with spending money. >3< Basically, is it about more small baskets or less big baskets? How can I get the most eggs???
Cats n’ Dogs wasn’t all bad news though. I got to catch up with my fellow Atlanta local vendors, chatted about shows to apply for in 2026. Jon, aka Noodle Boi Was Taken, and I got dinner at Marietta Diner afterwards. And my kitty cat, Rose, got lots of compliments from visitors doing the sticker rally :3
I was very tempted to keep my extra little Rose stickers for myself, but as we began packing up, artists started trading their stickers with each other so we could have full sets. And I couldn’t pass that up! It just so happened I had just enough stickers left to trade with everyone else. They all look great together on the stamp rally card.
Billie’s Vendor Review
| Foot Traffic | ⭐⭐ |
| Attendee Vibes | ⭐⭐⭐ |
| Restrooms | ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ |
| Pokémon GO | ⭐⭐⭐ |
| Organization | ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ |
This Giga-Bites market was a bust, which is unfortunate because I know Emily puts in a lot of effort! There was the usual marketing through social media, newsletters, and flyers. For me, Giga-Bites Café is a nearby join run by my friends, so I do have a soft spot. I hope business is able to pick up for their future art markets and will still aim to attend one once a year.
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