On Vinalhaven, an effort to market craftspeople
PHOTo / William Trevaskis
Christine Williams, founder of Vinalhaven-based Crocketts Cove, markets Maine-made products and gives 8% of sales to designated nonprofits.
Christine Williams has been a summer regular on Vinalhaven and North Haven islands for decades. An artist and writer based in Washington, D.C., Williams was looking for a way to provide marketing assistance to the hundreds of craftspeople, artists and artisans in Maine. She founded Crocketts Cove this year on Vinalhaven to be an online clearinghouse for Maine-made products. In addition, 8% of each sale is donated to a nonprofit organization designated each month. Designated nonprofits have included Fox Islands Concerts and Honor Flight Maine. Mainebiz sat down with her to discuss Crocketts Cove. What follows is an edited version.
Mainebiz: What provided the inspiration for Crocketts Cove?
Christine Williams: I've been coming to Maine for 30 years and love the [buy] local movement. I have always loved the idea of being able to buy local products, art and jewelry. But, more than that, buying local things that are useful, like socks and cutting boards and bowls and pottery. If you happen to go to a craft show and see a cutting board, you're going to buy it. If you're just at home, you're going to buy it at Target. There are thousands of artisans in Maine that are working on these stunning, gorgeous products — everything from edibles to clothing to wood works. We want to find that all in one place. We buy it and have it accessible to Maine communities and also to people who visit Maine and go home and want more of that product.
The mission is to offer a trustworthy, user-friendly space and to create a movement of people buying local, supporting the communities and giving back to the communities. Every month we have a nonprofit from Maine that we give 8% [of sales]. It's a partnership between nonprofits, artisans and consumers who want to support nonprofits.
MB: What's the response been like?
CW: The response has been incredible. We go to craft shows to reach out to new sellers and everyone is excited about it. They love the idea of having a place to market their products that is supportive and integrative. I've talked with other artists and they love the concept of giving back. From the consumer side we've had an incredible response, People check back every week to see who's coming on board. We've been very well received and supported by the state of Maine and communities and chambers of commerce. This summer the big push has been to get the sellers and the artists on board. In the fall and winter when the shopping season really heats up that's when we're going to reach out to the consumers and start doing our marketing.
MB: How do you choose the nonprofits of the month?
CW: We've started with nonprofits we have a connection with — either we're members or people we're close to are. At this point, nonprofits are trying to reach out to us. We went to the Island Institute's Sustain Maine conference on Chebeague and it was inspiring. We touched base with a bunch of nonprofits that were there.
MB: How does the business model work?
CW: We have 15 artists on the site, 20 that are currently sending us images and all the product information. We have another 40 that have applied and are in the process of gathering information. The problem is that I personally want to buy every single thing that's on the site! The word is getting out so people are sending us products and getting excited about sending things our way.
It's a little bit like the Etsy model in that artists send us information about their products and their images and we let them know when it's sold. The artists ship it from where they are. We keep 25% of each sale and from that we take 8% and donate it to the nonprofit of the month. We hold no inventory. We reach out, get new vendors and do the marketing. What we encourage the artists to do is to reach out to their supporters. It's a giant onion unfolding, with social media and marketing and outreach. We want every single person who's online in Maine to know about Crocketts Cove and support Maine artists and artisans. If you can buy a cutting board anywhere we want you to choose Crocketts Cove because then you're supporting local.
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