Indie craft vs. Target

Local Makers Have Amazing Products, But Big Box Stores are Easier to See

When we took on Market Day, we were thinking a lot about how many talented Makers we know in our city alone. They make everything from shirts to wall sconces, from fine art to hair clips. But all of them are under the radar. We saw our neighbors driving out to Target in the ‘burbs to buy pretty goods made in China, shoddy giclee prints of anonymous paintings, and faux-vintage jewelry.

And it’s easy to see why: big box stores like Target and Walmart have added a heavy dose of new, aesthetically pleasing goods in recent years. They’re fashionable, creative, accessible and affordable. Target’s got it down – I have a hard time even walking past their displays of seasonal dishware without stopping to coo over a crab-shaped cup that is just so cute!

So yeah, it’s easy to find cheap, pretty, cool, edgy things at the Big Box. But I’m here to convince you to venture out to Market Day (or your own local indie craft event) to see what your neighbors are making. I feel confident that you’ll be surprised at what you find.

We’ve Got the Goods

Every month I see people come in to Market Day who pull out their cells by the time they get to the Info Booth midfloor,  call a friend to say, “You’ve GOT to get here. You won’t believe it.” Newcomers always seem surprised, but Market Day’s vendors have a wide range of goods that can rival any Big Box line up – and they’re in the same price range, with better craftsmanship, and a bigger variety of original products.

And We’ll Prove It to You

We hopped over to Target and took photos of their cute goods last week. Then we dug around in our vendor’s product shots to show that our goods can win out over Big Box creative wares. These are just a few examples – we could go much deeper!

Target’s goods are on the left, Market Day vendors’ on the right. Click on any image for a better look.

Generated by Facebook Photo Fetcher

We’ve got goods that rival the snazziest out there, from 40 different vendors – come take a look this Saturday! Want to see more vendor goods? Visit Market Day’s photo page.

One Response to “Indie craft vs. Target”

1. Charli says:

   July 27, 2010 at 10:01 pm

   Perfect idea, and perfect for a blog. Good thinking! By the way, how do I follow your blog?

   Reply