Hillcrest Farmers Market Review and Insights

The Hillcrest Farmers Market is one of San Diego’s largest & oldest Farmers Markets located on Normal Street, in the heart of the hip Hillcrest neighborhood! After visiting a couple times, I had a feeling Turtle Heights would be a great fit. We’re now about 4 months in, and I want to share our journey so far and offer up some helpful insights!

How to apply and become a non-food vendor
You can apply through their website by following the instructions on their Vendor tab. I didn’t get a reply, so I sent a DM through Instagram and got in touch with the market manager. An extra follow-up went a long way!

Location and Fees
Location is always a huge factor at a market. The Hillcrest Farmers Market has the main street which is right on Normal St, semi-main street on Harvey Milk St & the sidewalk closer to the DMV side. The main streets get the majority of the foot traffic. The sidewalk gets about a quarter of the main street foot traffic and a lot of people don’t know about the additional vendors there. However, there’s still a decent amount of people walking to the farmers market through the DMV entrance and some people sit on the curb to eat so you do get some visibility. As a new vendor, you’re offered a couple trial weeks on the sidewalk. If you perform well, you get a chance to try out the main street when spots become available. I kept asking the market manager to place us on the main street so you gotta keep pushing! The last month or so, we’ve been assigned a spot on the main street. YAY!! Hopefully, we’ll get a permanent spot soon!

The booth fee is $90 for Normal St & Harvey Milk St and $50 for the sidewalk, or 10% of your sales.

Market Vibes
We just love the vibes at the Hillcrest Farmers Market. This community is filled with friendly people, families, tourists from all over the world, and attracts a hip unique crowd. Being there every week has given me the opportunity to share my art with new friends and build our Turtle Heights presence in San Diego! It’s been a blast so far seeing all of you enjoy my work and to have you return to say hi just makes our day!

Look at some of our beautiful friends 🥹❤️

Best Sellers & Insights
I love myself a good pie chart! The first chart shows the % of each category by quantity. I sell a good bit of each category but the most popular categories are Stickers, Postcards & Pins/Patches. The second chart is the % of each category by sales and the distribution changes quite a bit. It’s so interesting seeing these two charts side-by-side, and I can learn from it that earrings & prints need more TLC!

% by Quantity

% by $ Sales

Check out some of our most beloved items at the market 👀

If you’re in the San Diego area this weekend, swing by our booth at the Hillcrest Farmers Market! We’re there every Sunday from 9 am - 2 pm! Check out the vibes.

Thank you so much for reading! I hope this was helpful ☻ If you have any questions, feel free to drop me a note! Don’t forget to:
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