This July I returned to Charlies’ Collectible Show for Summer Animefest. I was able to make back table, but sadly came out with less revenue than last year TTvTT Let’s compare and contrast my vendor experiences!
CCS has a monthly vendor newsletter that shares their upcoming events schedule. Sign-ups for Summer Animefest started early June and I applied right away, as I’d been hoping to compare and contrast the event with last year’s. I got accepted right away and received an invoice to pay my booth fee within a week. Earlier this year, their table price did rise to $70 per day for major events i.e. Animefest, Card Show, TCG Con. CCS’s explanation was this raise in price would supplement their promotional budget with the hopes of getting more customers in the door.
Now I do follow CCS on both Facebook and Instagram and personally I didn’t notice a significant bump in their promos on my feeds. To be fair, that sort of marketing increase can be hard to gauge as an individual user. However, I did notice after Summer Animefest, they were able to make a lot of content out of video and photos taken during the event. They had even invited a few influencers to record reels during Summer AnimeFest and promote their overall venue.
Coming into Summer Animefest I didn’t have high expectations. Despite my satisfactory sales in 2024, I’d heard from fellow local artists who attended other CCS events that their sales were mid, including the Spring Animefest. But I wanted to believe in CCS’s mission to grow a nerdy vendor space and had to see for myself.
The week of the event we received load-in/loud-out details via email, and a layout map a few days before.
Saturday’s sale performance was the best of the weekend. Overall, the atmosphere was more energetic, there was a consistent light flow of foot traffic throughout the day. Even right at opening, 10 AM, there were already more visitors than I had expected, a struggle since I was still tidying up my booth! It also certainly sounded like there were a lot of people too, I wonder if the low ceiling over our Artist Alley section could’ve contributed to that? The DJ music was also so loud on Saturday that it made conversation very difficult! I put my Loop earplugs in to protect my ears from the bass during set up and only took them out to speak with customers. By the end of Saturday, I did make back the table fee, 140 USD, with the goal of making table back three times to consider the event successful.
Coming into Sunday I was optimistic, but in contrast to last year, I only made half the sales of Saturday 2024 so far. At least the music volume was much more manageable on Sunday. My first sale on Sunday was around 12 PM, two hours after opening, and my last sale by 3 PM, about two hours before closing. I noticed another vendor in our row even packed up and left by 3:30! By 4:30 most vendors were beginning to pack up early so I have to wonder if their sales performances were similar. My final Sunday numbers were less than half of Saturday’s.
For whatever reason, while there appeared to be a decent amount of attendance that didn’t seem to translate to sales. I did notice overall the crowd seemed to skew younger: teenagers, young adults, families with children. Perhaps there was a lack of spending power? The vast majority of my sales were small items priced 15 dollars and under: buttons, stickers, and charms. While a few visitors expressed interest, I didn’t sell any shirts or art prints.
I also did an experiment, where I brought a few of my Mercari items to see if they’d sell in-person. A unique thing about CCS events is that they don’t require artists to only sell their own artwork. As a collector sometimes I run into duplicate blind boxes, buy a whole set to assure one specific item, or just want to downsize my collection. I saw a few other artists had the same idea! A few booths had a singular anime figure amongst otherwise original art.
Since reselling isn’t my main business, it took me longer to arrange the display. I tried to bring a range of prices: $5 Happy Meal toys and can badges, $15 acrylic charms, and $100 unboxed figures. I would consider the weekend a personal win if I could sell any of my yard sale items, especially one of the anchors. As luck would have it, Homura Akemi found a new home! So I can rest easy at least she, and two Sanrio Yu-Gi-Oh collab toys, found their way to happy owners who’ll appreciate them more than I.
I do suspect there were too many vendors for the amount of attendees for Anime Fest. I’m fairly certain there were more vendors than the Summer Animefest last year. They moved the special guest from next to the Artist Alley to the very front of the store, and placed additional Artist Alley and permanent vendors in that corner. We were packed really tightly in the rows, with only a few feet between vendors back-to-back. It was a common occurrence that we’d bump as we sat in our chairs and had to scoot pass each other to leave our stations. There was also no space between booths side-to-side. Overall, very claustrophobic and uncomfortable!
I also recall that Summer Animefest 2024 had open tables for people to play games, presumably to help create a third space for their permanent game vendors. If there was a space like this for 2025 I either didn’t see it or it was very downsized to include the crafts area.
It’s unfortunate, but having spoken to my friends and others who’ve vended at CCS events as well, my general impression is that CCS hasn’t been able to grow their regular attendance enough to support the events they host. And they host a lot of weekend events, almost back-to-back consistently since I’ve followed them. They span a great range of themes, from Hot Wheels to vintage records, One Piece to Barbie, wrestling to elegant gothic lolita. I do have to wonder if this strategy brings in enough foot traffic for their permanent vendors. AnimeFest was named as one of CCS’s major events, and at least from what I could tell, business wasn’t booming for them either.
Now, CCS staff did come around the Artist Alley to check in with us a few times, and I think they genuinely do want their vendors and events to succeed. They did seem aware that sales were slow on Saturday, but puzzled on how to improve their vendor support. Perhaps the upcoming Local Artist Appreciation Day, meant to celebrate local artists with the low table fee of $20, is a gesture of good faith. And to be fair, I do believe some AnimeFest vendors were satisfied with how their weekends had went.
Billie’s Vendor Rating
| Foot Traffic | ⭐⭐ |
| Attendee Vibes | ⭐⭐⭐ |
| Restrooms | ⭐⭐⭐⭐ |
| Pokémon GO | ⭐⭐⭐ |
It saddens me to report that Summer Animefest 2025 was disappointing. A year ago I was willing to believe in CCS’s growth, but there hasn’t been enough improvement for me to keep them on my regular rotation moving forward. I think their markets can be a place for newer local vendors to practice and build confidence in their sales skills.
My unsolicited advice, would be for CCS to drastically cut back on the themed events, and focus on growing a third-space for regular customers to hang out in.
I really would like Charlie’s Collectible Show to succeed. I think there are a lot of nerds in the greater Atlanta metropolitan area, and I want to believe in their potential. However, I cannot in good faith recommend their markets for great sales. I was happy to at least find some new homes for Homura and Hello Kitty, and would have to hear great experiences from my fellow vendors to consider returning.
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