... because there's plenty of time to sleep in February.
For most retail shops, January is a slow season. Time to unwind from the holiday shopping madness and regroup + restock for the new year. Our January's are typically like this. And after the hair-on-fire season of HGTV and the holidays, we really could have used a break. But instead ...
We decided to have our first-ever booth at the National Western Stock Show.
And true to Jason fashion, we couldn't just have a booth. We had to have a mini-Dutton mansion with big timbers, cowhide rugs and a working fireplace.
So the team went to work -- milling beams and lumber for the walls, creating new furniture pieces to fill the floor, and selecting the right accessories for our cowboy crowd.
On January 1, when most folks are snoozing and nursing their headaches from the night before, we began the move-in process. It took a crew of strong men to get everything set up and four-ish days to do it, but by January 7 we were ready to greet the crowd for opening weekend.
Stock Show is 16 days long, and vendor hours are 12+ hours each day. It was a long show to say the least, but we couldn't have been happier with the turnout. We saw a lot of familiar faces and met even more new ones. We were never at a lack of things to do.
To make it all more exciting , the news even came out to feature our Civil War Witness Tree Table! Jason loves sharing the powerful story behind this stunner of a dining table.
While we definitely sold furniture and secured lots of custom orders, the hot selling items at Stock Show came as a bit of a surprise.
"Other vendors told us Denver is an 'accessories show,' and they were definitely right," said Leah. "Now we know that we need to be well-stocked in our wall art, tableware and pillow selections for next year."
The biggest hit of the show by far was our Highland Bull reflective glass photo. It sold the second we hung it up, and we are still accepting preorders while we wait to get the next shipment in.
Then to put the cherry on top of an already awesome experience, the National Western awarded us with Best Trade Show Booth Presentation for 2023.
In addition to bragging rights, the award came with a $1,000 credit toward next year's booth .... so I guess that means we're definitely coming back!
To give ourselves and the team a well-deserved break, we shut the doors for a full week following Stock Show. No calls, emails, social, or drop-ins. It was just enough time for us to forget about all the hard work and recommit to National Western 2024.
~ Jason + Leah