Whew, Thanksgiving had me so busy there’s been no time to write! I’ll do my best to document my experiences as freshly as possible. Giga-Bites Tabletop Café is a popular nerd attraction in Marietta with a wide selection of board games, miniatures, trading cards, and local art. They often host events to draw in their regulars, including the quarterly Artist Alley.
I’ve been attending their Artist Alley events for years, enough that I’ve been recognized around town just from “I saw you at Giga-Bites!” Full transparency, I’m friends with both the Artist Alley organizer, Emily, and Giga-Bites manager, Jon, so I’m inclined towards a positive bias. I return because I enjoy the venue’s atmosphere, our audiences match, and they’re fairly easy to work with. Plus, getting to see your friends is always a delight!
Usually Giga-Bites Café will host their Artist Alley with other events, and the theme for November was Balder’s Gate. Vendors were given the opportunity to volunteer for a DnD party themed scavenger hunt sticker rally, props and stickers provided by Emily. There was also a LifeSouth blood drive and some manner of card game tournament.
In an effort to allow more vendors into the Artist Alley this time, a new table option became available, 5×5 tables! Basically, these were repurposed from the usual gaming tables, and I was assigned one of these. Which I hadn’t realized that until the day before, haha. The 5×5 table were a nice challenge and I got it to work better than expected! While I’m more familiar with a 6 foot table, my display is modular enough that I was able to build tall instead. The extra room behind my displays was also nice, plenty of room to hold my lunch and drink!
This was also an opportunity for me to drop off a wholesale sticker order to Giga-Bites Café. So now Sweet Lolita Scalies, You-Gay-Ho, and Pride Python stickers are available for purchase at their counter. A few folks have asked me how to inquire about wholesale at Giga-Bites Cafe. You may either email them at [email protected] or ask a manager in-person about wholesale opportunities!
My Artist Alley sales were within expectations so I was satisfied, the table costs are low, you get a drink voucher, and it’s a short drive for me. It did feel like the crowd was smaller than usual, I noticed less sticker rally participants, but there wasn’t an obvious cause for this.
Billie’s Vendor Rating
| Games Selection | ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ |
| Foot Traffic | ⭐⭐⭐ |
| Attendee Vibes | ⭐⭐⭐⭐ |
| Restrooms | ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ |
| Pokémon GO | ⭐⭐⭐ |
All-in-all I think Giga-Bites is a good venue, a low-stakes local market, friendly staff, a great place to meet fellow gamers and nerds! If you’re interested in vending at a future Giga-Bites event, keep an eye on their socials. I spoke to Emily about how a few people at WreckCon the next day asked me how to apply to Giga-Bites events, so fingers crossed, they’ll announce vendor opportunities sooner!
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