Published: November 27, 2006 10:31 am      

Small vendors try mall sales

Wooden painted lures, fishing tackle, reels and other fishing tack are neatly lined up on Billy Taylor’s table at Crossroads Mall on Friday morning.

Taylor, who sells antique lures and other fishing gear for a living, said he mostly sells his wares on the Web, but decided to purchase a table for $90 at the mall.

After about an hour of sales, Taylor said he saw “a lot of lookers, but not a lot of spenders.”

Taylor and several other small-store vendors displaying their wares at Crossroads Mall in Greenville on Friday were trying to take advantage of the Black Friday rush.

Sales were slow for Taylor on Friday morning, but that didn’t seem to discourage him. He said, while the table at the mall wasn’t currently worth his investment, his business is profitable because of fishing shows, closest collectors and Internet sales.

Last weekend for instance, Taylor made $3,000 in just one day selling his lures — some of which can sell for more than $300.

Nearby, Brandi Rohr-Sandlin was carefully making jewelry, which she was selling to mall customers.

Rohr-Sandlin, who owns 29 Twisted CU and mainly makes copper jewelry, said Friday marked the first time she had ever sold her jewelry in a public setting like the mall.

Rohr-Sandlin said in the past she has relied on eBay for jewelry sales and word of mouth sales from her husband and friends.

Rohr-Sandlin, who said she made four sales in about an hour, described the sales resulting from her first foray into a mall-like setting as “pretty decent.”

Rick Evans, who rented the booth next to Rohr-Sandlin and owns Rick’s Diecast & Sports, had rows and rows of diecast NASCAR’s memorabilia on display.

Evans, who said he has a booth at the antique villages in downtown Greenville year-round, sells various types of autographed sports memorabilia ranging from Emmitt Smith autographed footballs to autographed diecast NASCARs.

Evans, who has had a booth at the mall for several years, reported that at noon Friday that sales had been slow, but he said he expected more sales on Saturday.

“I hope they’re a lot of people looking for NASCAR for Santa Claus,” he said.