West Coast Craft is a San Francisco institution and my favorite show to vend. Their big indoor show happens twice a year - once in June and once in November - featuring around 250 vendors. Unlike their smaller, single-day outdoor shows that occur monthly, this event is held inside the Fort Mason Pavilion across both Saturday and Sunday. It costs $925 + $25 application fee for a 10x10 booth with wifi and backdrop dividers provided.
I unfortunately did not get a corner booth this time, so I had to be crafty with how I got everything to fit into the space without creating traffic jams. For a look at how I arrange my booth for a corner show, check my WCC Summer Debrief blog.
I always anticipate the winter show being busier than the summer show, but WOW this was on another level. The crowd was shoulder to shoulder the entire first day - just truly nonstop. The second day was less crowded but we sold just as much stuff. This was the first time I've worked this event where I hardly had time to shop other booths it was so busy.
I really focused on utilizing more upwards space to make the most of the booth space. This show was particularly busy, so I'm really glad I had stuff people could see above the heads of the crowd. I used magnets to hang the silk scarf and anti-AI sign since the backdrop stand was metal. I prefer hanging a shirt up high rather than having a bunch of the same shirt on a clothing rack taking up tons of space. The hair claw chain hung at the end of the backdrop stand really did double duty - showing itself off AND allowing us to show off way more of our hair claws visible from beyond our booth.
I am fully converted to being a metal grid cube gal now! This time, I made the bottom shelf closed in the front so we could stock inventory underneath with access from behind the booth which was so nice.
There were two of us working the booth - one standing in front of the blanket to the left and one on the far right side under the "checkout" sign. This worked out pretty well.
I made sure to hang up our prints for increased visibility this time and it definitely made a difference! I would have liked to have the hats in a better spot, but this was the only room we had left.
I made the mistake of using our sales numbers from the summer show to determine how many hair claws I should bring with me this time. For the summer show, I brought WAY too many and it seems I overcorrected for this show while also forgetting that the winter show is always crazier. Tastes can also be totally different - the animal cracker clip set was a best seller this show, but one of the worst sellers at the summer show. Yes, this show is local and I could just bring more the next day, but sales behavior is so different day to day that we could sell out of something day 1 and then hardly sell any the next day. Lesson learned: always bring more than you need. It's literally free.
The hair claw storage chain was a brand new product offering that I worried would take some extra customer education, but people seemed to understand it and it sold decently! We sold many more of those day 1 over day 2.
We only had five of our eight lighters available. One of the out of stock ones was the "abolish ICE" design which was a top seller at the summer show. We sold 5 fewer lighters overall, but since we increased the price from $20 to $25, we actually had higher revenue for lighters this time.
During the summer, we only sold 5 stash boxes. At the winter show, we sold 29 even with the Avid Gardener design selling out day 1 and me forgetting to bring more the second day. Turns out stoner stuff makes for extremely good gifts!
Our SF themed prints always do the best at these local events, but this time the "Our Liberation is Bound Together" print sold out all 10 units I brought too. I wonder if people saw the design on the blanket and wanted a more affordable version? Or maybe that is just a banger design because our sticker sold out too! The SF Row House print sold out on day 1 and I didn't have more stock to bring in on day 2 (WHOOPS!)
Other new product offerings were a mixed bag. We did not sell a single knit scarf - I was actually a little surprised because SF does get cold enough for this! Silk scarves did decently, selling 5 units. We sold 7 units of the "Our Liberation is Bound Together" blanket. I was worried about this item as it is our most expensive, but people loved it!
While it looks like many product categories decreased in popularity when you look at their share of overall sales, this is really because we had so many new product types. A more accurate portrayal of product category popularity across the summer and winter show can be seen on the bar graph. Hair claws and stickers continue to be our best categories.
I think the hats have seen a steady decline because we only came out with one new design in 2025. I'm interested to see if adding fresh designs helps this category in 2026. 
We sold a total of 997 stickers across the weekend. I don't keep track of the individual stickers sold, so we don't know exactly what comprises that amount, but we do know what other products were our best sellers:
1. Abolish ICE Shirt - 42 sold
2. Bread clip mini hair claw - 28 sold
3.
Abolish ICE pin - 18 sold
4. Pilly pocket pill case - 17 sold
5.
Crayon lighter - 15 sold
6.
Sardine lighter - 13 sold
7. Public Transit Bumper Sticker - 12 sold
8. Mini Scissors Hair Claw - 11 sold
9. Possum Hair Claw - 11 sold
10. Pigeon Brooch - 11 sold