Artist Alley Atlanta 3 2026
The deets
Where: Stone Mountain, GA
When: February
Table Cost: $40
Attendance: estimated 100-300
The space
This is the first time we’ve tabled at this event, second time at this venue. There were 86 artist tables total, filling up the left and back sides of the space. Once again, tables were 8’ which are nice, but they did create a bit of a problem for us and the table next to us.
For this event they put us and another artist right by the front doors, but they overlapped our tables to make an L shape and had the other artist’s booth facing into the entryway. Not only did this mean we didn’t have as much room behind our table for our stuff (we ended up not even using both our chairs cause there wasn’t enough space), but it created a potential fire hazard when people were crowded around the door to see the other artist’s booth.
The market
The entire event is an artist alley and they did a good job making sure everyone present was a real artist or craftsperson. There was one author and good mix of fanart and original work. The market was free for attendees to go to, which is good considering there’s no programming going on. One of the unfortunate side effects of the event being free is that there were some attendees who maybe are not familiar with etiquette in an artist alley and made rude comments about some of the art being sold.
The audience
The attendees of this market was a mixed age group. Due to this event falling on a busy weekend (Super Bowl + two other nerdy events happening in Atlanta and the next state over) attendance was a lot less than the previous anime market. Sunday was especially slow.
The sales
We made over 4.5x table, however we did not make as much as at the anime market the month earlier so had tables been the same cost our profits would have been less. Many vendors said they weren’t expecting to make much at this show at all due to the Super Bowl, so they were happy with whatever they could get. As far as we’re aware, everyone at least made their table costs back, but when we asked about average sales, most folks disclosed that they were making ~$10 per sale and bigger prints and items at booths with a wide range of prices weren’t moving as much. Artists who only have items at high price points did still make sales though.
For this 2-day market our total time investment was 16 hours of active vending and 2 hours of combined set-up and break-down time (total of 18 hours). The event closes its doors at 5 pm, but folks who are already in the building can continue to shop until 6 pm. Almost everyone ended up packing up at 5 pm though, especially on Sunday.
Items that sold the best were stickers, and small prints. We did sell a few charms and lanyards as well. Most people paid with card rather than cash.
The rest
This time around there were staff there to greet us and help direct where to go, so an improvement over the anime market in that regard. Like with anime market, there are no vendor badges or ways for someone to identify themselves as vendor or guest, though the staff that were present were all waring CCS branded clothing so that helped identify them. They had music playing and there were times it was too loud and artists had to ask for it to be turned down or the speakers moved because they were pointed right at someone’s booth.
Pros
Table cost included an 8’ table, and 2 chairs
Free parking with easy load in and load out, single story building so no worries about stairs or elevators
On-site concessions and lots of nearby food options
Free admission to the market for buyers
Very active social media marketing for the event
Cons
Not the best dates for this kind of event. Too many other things going on which led to very light foot traffic in comparison to other events.