"If I buy two, can I get a discount?"
If you've ever worked behind a vendor table at a Divine Nine convention, cluster, regional conference, or picnic, you probably smiled when you read that.
Because you know.
Sometimes it's, "What's the best you can do for me?"
Other times, "I'm buying all this. Can you throw something in?"
And, of course, the classic: "I'll be right back. Hold that for me!"
If you know, you know.
Now, before anybody gets offended, let me say this: I love a good bargain, too. I appreciate economic stewardship, and I practice it myself. There is absolutely nothing wrong with trying to make your dollars stretch a little further.
But after more than three decades in our family's Greek merchandise business, I've come to realize something.
Most shoppers have no idea what it actually costs a small business to get to the other side of that vendor table.
And why would they?
When you walk into a vendor hall, you see colorful merchandise, beautiful displays, familiar faces, and dozens of entrepreneurs eager to earn your business.
You see the finished product.
What you don't see is everything that happened before the doors opened.
The merchandise ordered months earlier. The inventory paid for before a single item sold. The licensing requirements. The freight. The booth fees. The hotel rooms. The staff.
And the countless hours spent preparing for a weekend that may—or may not—be profitable.
Think about that.
A vendor might sell thousands of dollars in merchandise and still have substantial expenses to cover. The amount collected at the register is not the amount the business takes home.
There is a difference between making sales and making money.
A very big difference.
I learned that long before I understood balance sheets or profit margins.
Our family's business began in the early 1990s with my grandmother, Susie Hall, and a little booth at the Bessemer Flea Market in Alabama. My grandmother worked as a real estate broker. My mother worked for the Social Security Administration. My Aunt Betty Jo kept the booth running until the rest of us could get there.
And me? I was in junior high school, serving as the secretary, salesperson, designer, tech guy, and, quite frequently, the mule.
Whatever needed doing, I did.
That little family business taught me something I still carry into every vendor hall today: what looks like a simple sale to a customer can represent an extraordinary amount of work for the person making it.
And when I walk through a Divine Nine vendor hall today, I see that same determination everywhere.
Families. Founders. Risk-takers. Black entrepreneurs building businesses around the communities they love.
Some have been doing this for generations. Others are just beginning.
Many have stories remarkably similar to ours.
I believe they are among the best small businesses in the world.
And I believe we ought to know more about them.
So, can you get that discount?
Of course you can ask.
Sometimes we can accommodate you. Sometimes we can't.
But I hope the next time you walk through a vendor hall, you'll see more than the price tags.
You'll see the people, the investment, the work, and the extraordinary commitment behind those tables.
That's why I'm starting The Business Behind the Letters—a series about the real economics, logistics, challenges, and joys of serving the Divine Nine community.
Not to point fingers. Not to complain.
But because understanding what it takes to sustain these businesses matters.
And because behind every vendor table is a story worth telling.
Now, I'd love to hear from you:
If you're a vendor, what's one thing you wish customers understood about your business?
And if you're a customer, what's something you've always wondered about the people behind those tables?
Let's talk about it.
COMING NEXT — EPISODE 2
"What Do Roll Tide Toilet Seats Have to Do With Greek Life?"
A grandmother with an entrepreneurial spirit. A family determined to build something of its own. And a little Greek merchandise booth sandwiched between Alabama football memorabilia and scrunchy socks.
That's where our story began.
The Business Behind the Letters is an original A&W Journal series exploring the people and economics behind the businesses serving the Divine Nine community.
Leave a comment