Less crowds, less sales but still a great Hershey!

[FJD2004]

First of all, many thanks to the Hershey Region for another well organized and fun show!

As a vendor in the Chocolate field near the food court, we all noticed a lot less people this year than last year on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. We had more items this year and reduced our prices in some cases by half and yet only a few people stopped, looked, picked it up 3 or 4 times and kept walking. I guess it is economy and the internet and we still had a great time. We will always come back to the greatest car show ever!

Did anyone else notice less foot traffic in the flea market areas? Maybe it was just our area that was the only one with less foot traffic.

[1937hd45]

I'm at the end of Main Street in the Chocolate Field near a food vendor, things were slower than past years. Sure, I brought junk, but even cheap junk wasn't moving. I did manage to buy a few needed items at very fair prices. I don't think every vendor showed up this year, we started to pack up on Friday, never opened on Saturday. Looked at the Brass Cars and Race Cars, that are parked on opposite sides of the field with tons of late model cars parked between them. Did the annual tour of Chocolate World and hit the road a bit after three. It will never have the charm of my first in 1969........but I'll be back. Bob

[Steve Moskowitz]

I too THOUGHT that attendance was slightly down but the fact is that based upon the one one consistent data piece avaialable to us, parking, attendance was in fact UP Thursday, Friday and Saturday. Wednesday was about the same as last year. As always, I have heard some vendors did a whopping business and others were disappointed. We do not have the counts yet but AACA had a very strong year in merchandise sales (thanks everyone). Personally, I sold about half of what I took to the flea market this year thanks to help from the Vitale family.

[xp-300]

Bottom line; it is always a great time. My wife was with me and adds to the enjoyment. 360 days to go for 2013. As one vendor's sign read. "October is Hershey the rest of the year is waiting".

[FJD2004]

Glad to hear that Steve! The first thing I do on Wednesday is visit the AACA tent and pick up a Hershey t-shirt.

[Restorer32]

We thought there was more foot traffic than last year and we definitely had more inquiries about work than last year.

[MikeC5]

It seemed a bit less crowded than last year to me but not by much. It also seemed like there were far fewer golf carts, etc. compared to last year (except in the car corral). I like the sign one vendor had near the cross over bridge in chocolate north; "Your wife called and said go ahead and buy whatever you need for your car"...

[Art Griffin]

I found the parking fields across the road from the Green Field to be full by the time that most folks got there on Thursday and Friday. In fact, I had to park in a field on Friday that I don't ever remember seeing vehicles in.......the main field was full. And a vendor friend of mine told me that their sales were actually better than in recent years. Their booth is located in the Green Field not far from the AACA merchandise tent.

Working at the AACA Membership Booth, foot traffic seemed pretty normal.....I didn't have any way to measure the people, but we seemed to have a normal number of membership renewals and new memberships.

As we were judging vehicles in the Show Field on Saturday morning, it seemed that there were lots of spectators enjoying them. And the Show Field was pretty full, although I didn't hear whether the number of vehicles was up or down.

Art

[joe_padavano]

I hate to say it, but with only one day available to walk the swap meet (or as much of it as possible), it's particularly disappointing when vendors don't open until 9:00 or 10:00, then start packing up at 2:00 in the afternoon. Is it THAT important to get to the early bird special? In any case, Hershey isn't a particularly target-rich environment for me. Carlisle is more my speed. Now, after doing three days at Carlisle last week, I hit Hershey on Friday, flew to L.A. on Saturday, and went to the Pomona swap meet today. Three major swap meets in ten days. Have to say that Pomona was phenomenal and I now have a 2ft x 2ft x 18in shipping crate that I have to convince United to let me check...

[old car fan]

We did great in the orange field ,a lot of traffic for two days.We also open at 7,and close at dark.

[edinmass]

Ourr best year ever for sales, by a mile. We had both large and smalls move. Traffic was very heavy on Wed, ok on Thurs, light on Fri in the red field. Lots of overseas sales. We will be back again nest year, Ed

[jackofalltrades70]

We did great in the orange field ,a lot of traffic for two days.We also open at 7,and close at dark.

Was nice to see you on Thursday. Matt

[Jim Bollman]

We had a very good year for sales and those around me seem to have similar good things to say about sales. Of course my bar is fairly low for a vet good year. Paid for spaces, fuel and everything I bought and still came home with a few hundred dollars more in my pocket than I started with. Found a few interesting things I wasn't looking for that was in my price range, passed on some that weren't. Found some real bargins that might be sold another year, even had several people walk up with parts for sale that I bought.

[Biscayne John]

I did the same if not better, covered the cost of the trip and bought dinnerfor my buddies every night. I am in the red field north and we saw a lot of traffic all day every day except Saturday, might as well set up in Allentown on that day nobody travels over there with the show going on.
I think the weather along the east coast might have kept some people home, there was a lot of rain and cold.
Later

[1937hd45]

I didn't need to buy anything, but did find things fairly or underpriced that I had to have. My sales covered everything, and I had more money than I arrived with when we left Saturday. Great Hershey, having my Grandson there for his first was very special. Bob

[playtag]

I would have to say we also found traffic to be lighter then years past in the Red Field.I'm in no way throwing stones however one of the previous posts mentioned opening at 9 or 10.We travelled about an hour and half each day to try and reach the field by 7am.And each day we saw buyers being let to cross the main road into the fields prior to opening the gates.So each day we had to ride up and down the highway till the Gods with the badges and flashlights decieded it was time to let people enter the gates to get to their vendor spots.This is something I wish the powers that be would really revamp.I hate to compare Hershey to any other Car show in Pa. but while vending at Carlisle you can enter at anytime as long as your sticker is on the windshield.Again There is no Show like Hershey but as anyone who has ever had a review will say the one thing they always tell you is "There is always room for improvement"

[Big Beat]

My pet peeve is vendors who chase you off if you try to take a picture of something. I usually ask first, too. One guy had a sign that I tried to photograph, and he was all over me, yelling that "the Museum is down the road, this stuff is for sale". He was right: I had absolutely no interest in purchasing that sign. But he also had a book that I was thinking of buying. After he gave me attitude, though, I walked off and eventually bought the same book from another vendor. Comes Saturday, this guy may well wonder why his sales are down.

[xp-300]

After he gave me attitude, though, I walked off and eventually bought the same book from another vendor. Comes Saturday, this guy may well wonder why his sales are down.

Good point.

[MikeC5]

That is rather bizarre. Do they think you're going to 3D print a perfect replica? You would think they would give you a business card and say "please send your photo and my info to any of your friends who might be interested in buying the item".

[Seldenguy]

I was set up in the red field and have been for years. I found the traffic there good. I have mostly pre 16 with a mix of pre war. Sales were very good, however my prices were set to sell! I don't like carrying this stuff back home, let someone else use it or resell it. I go home with an 3/4 empty truck and right now I am starting my collection for next year. Great show and thank you Hershey region!--Bob

[stock_steve]

My pet peeve is vendors who chase you off if you try to take a picture of something. I usually ask first, too. One guy had a sign that I tried to photograph, and he was all over me, yelling that "the Museum is down the road, this stuff is for sale". He was right: I had absolutely no interest in purchasing that sign. But he also had a book that I was thinking of buying. After he gave me attitude, though, I walked off and eventually bought the same book from another vendor. Comes Saturday, this guy may well wonder why his sales are down.

I had the same thing happen to me this year. Doesn't do much for making me want to spend much more time looking thru his stuff...

[Terry Bond]

My great finds are posted elsewhere, but it was a happy Hershey for us again this year. At the risk of attracting the PA tax man, I can say that I did sell a few things, but everytime I had a few bucks in my pocket it was back on the field trying to redistribute the profits. I measure Hershey success by what I find. If I can break even in the process, it's a good year. I thought traffic was good throughout the market and usually had a tough time navigating through the crowd at the end of the foot-bridge to the Chocolate field, especially during lunch-time. Over by my spots near the Crab cake vendor, there was a steady flow of people all week. I saw the AACA Merchandise and membership booths very active also.

I also love taking pictures, carrying my camera everywhere. I especially enjoy photographing piles of stuff, nice brass lights, unusual things, great artwork, signs, etc. Don't want offend anyone and it's just for my own enjoyment. Funny how I'll look at the pics later and see something for sale that I didn't seem to notice while I was there in person. Often I wish I'd have bought (or at least tried) something great. Just the other day I looked through some pics from Hershey 2007. Some of those prices seemed high at the time, but not now.
Terry