Convention Store

Basic Department Description

The convention store is a convention run dealer that supplies convention branded items to attendees. The store is often placed in the Dealer's Den at a reserved table within the space.

Email: [email protected] (These are the forward facing "job” emails that get posted to the public and forward emails to your personal VF email. Your personal VF email is what you login to and use to read and respond to emails.)

Yearly Responsibilities

Host a storefront to sell VancouFur branded merchandise
Make a profit for the benefit of the con
Work with the Art Lead (Who will be in touch with the Guests of Honor) to coordinate in-theme logo items
Work with registrations to order and provide t-shirts
Ensure the store has additional t-shirts at-con
Order other products to sell for convention profit
Sell leftover stock from previous years
Keep track of all con store items and inventory
Work within the budget of the convention

Your Department on the Website/in the Conbook

Ensure that the con store is mentioned on the Dealer's Den page of the website and conbook
Consider a half-page of info on con store wares for the year (For the conbook and dealers page.)

9 Months before con, what do you need to have done?

Determine a delivery date with the Guest of Honor liaison for themed branding

The Artist GOH often does a few images for branding and marketing
Determine, with the GOH Liaison, when this will get completed and chair approved

Determine some possible items to order and begin looking for vendors
At Con Signage

Sign shop will be able to help you with any themed signage you may want
Art Lead can help with any generic signage (non themed) that you need, including a con store vinyl/poster or sign stand if you do not already have them!
Make sure if you are getting official signage from the Art Lead, that you both propose a budget to the chairs ASAP to get them made and ordered. Should look into getting ONE for future years.

6 Months before con, what do you need to have done?

Have estimates from vendors for orders

Get estimates from more than one vendor

Determine a possible budget for sale items
GOH art should be in progress

3 Months before con, what do you need to have done?

GOH art should be completed
Submit budget, items and vendor estimates to chair for approval
Once approved, make orders on non-t-shirt items

T-shirts need to wait for pre-reg to close
60%-70% of all t-shirts are pre-ordered

Order t-shirts for the convention and bag stuffing

Easier than two orders
Ordered after pre-reg closes
Must arrive before bag stuffing for pre-orders

You should start building a schedule for your team. (Use the Master Schedule for the year! Programming lead sets this up every year and it houses our event schedule as well as the work/team schedules for at con departments.)

1 Month before con, what do you need to have done?

Ensure the location of all items

Logistics needs to bring all sale items, signs, previous stock, etc
Ensure they know where to get them all, and that all items go to storage after

Setup at-con signs for sale items, pricing, and showing what sizes are available
Do an inventory of all items ordered this year
Ensure the POS system is up-to-date with accurate inventories and prices

After the Convention/Before the Firing Party

Make sure all your volunteers (and yourself) got inputted into the system for their hours.
Update your guide with any new/relevant information/changes.
A staff feedback survey will be emailed out and sent into the staff chats. Please fill this out ASAP!
Make any staffing suggestions to the next year's chair. (If you want to work again, staff who excelled and where, etc.)
If VancouFur owes you money for department spending, PLEASE PLEASE send your receipts to [email protected] & [email protected] and then fill out [[1]]

Break down of contacts

Executive: Business Director
Guest of Honor art goes through the GOH Liaison
All art, orders and budgets are approved by the con chair
If the con store is in the dealer's den, communicate with the DD lead

The con store can act as an in-den base for con communication
It helps as a central place for dealer's to go
Can help with wifi code distribution
Can help with dealer's den food orders when working with the hotel restaurant
Food orders are up to the DD lead to organize, but can be collected at the con store

At Con Duties

Setup

Set up shelves
Do an inventory of all items for retail
Ensure that all items were delivered to the con store
Setup signage, etc
Ensure that IT sets up a PC with POS access
Get all store volunteers to show up for POS training

Daily

Get a cash box

See the RF Cashbox Procedures

Check inventory prior to store open
Do any last-minute POS training as necessary
Make sales, and always update the POS system
Do inventory to double check counts

Record any missing items

Return the cash box

See the RF Cashbox Procedures

Tear-Down

Do a final inventory
Ensure the POS is up-to-date before shutting down
Pack and label ALL boxes
Ensure all items are on the truck to storage

Department Inventory and Ordering Resources

T-shirts

60%-70% pre-order
Order them after pre-reg closes
Estimate 15% growth in most sizes
Small, Medium and Large are most sought after sizes
3XL and larger are pre-order only

[[2]] is suggested for glassware
[[3]] For t-shirts
All items from previous years are fair game for "free profit”

Sell them at a discount
Cost was handled in the last year

Do's and Don'ts of the Department

Inventory is king

Keep a close eye on counts
Count twice
Ensure numbers are recorded and easily accessed

Consider new items each year

If unsure of an item selling, make it generic branded for year-to-year sales

Use previous year sales numbers to estimate new sales
Do NOT try to sell food items

They are a mess
May conflict with hotel vendor contracts
Cannot be resold year-to-year

When the store is in the Dealer's Den

Aid the dealer's den lead, and the dealers, as acting as an in-den contact point
Keep and distribute Wifi codes
Help with hotel restaurant food orders

PLEASE REMEMBER

Always respond to emails/contacts, even if it is just to say "I recieved your email and will get back to you soon!” / "I don't know the answer but I am looking into it for you!”
Be sure to contact the Chairs or Admin to make sure you have access to the materials you will need for the year like your Staff Email, Access to any folders/sites with materials, etc. (Be on the lookout for invites or emails to these things and check your junk mail too!)
Make sure you TEST your new staff email (if any) and report problems immediately to the Chairs! (if you haven't gotten any emails in a while, do another test!)
Make sure you keep all of your information up to date with the convention staff! Contact the volunteers lead to update your information if the volunteers spreadsheet is not available for direct editing!
Do not WAIT for someone to contact you. If you have a moment to reach out, do so! Depending on who you are working with, the communication road may not be a 2 way street and you will have to do a lot of poking. Please be proactive!
Do not edit any staff members' documentation without permission!
Keep all VancouFur related documents INSIDE the VancouFur Materials folders. Keeping things on your own gdocs and not inside the VancouFur specific folders makes it incredibly difficult to find needed information for all parties without hassling a lot of staff.
If you need to make something private in the materials folder (Googledocs or wherever it moves to in the future) Make sure that the Chairs, Admin and Executives CAN STILL SEE IT. We need to know where you are and if your files are all hidden we cannot proactively offer help, guidance, or corrections. Otherwise, just keep things public/view only to prevent people from messing with your info.

Make sure you know who your Executive is! They are there to help you and oversee the branch of departments you are in. Contact [email protected] / [email protected] to check or check the contact page on the website! You can also use the contact sheet for the year