This week on What's Up Wednesday, a last minute arrival, our game plan for Balloon Fiesta 2024 and a look at those extended hours that start on Monday.
At the end of July on What's Up Wednesday #130, we unveiled our line of license plates and told you that license plate frames were coming. They made it!. If you were waiting to buy a license plate so you could get the frame as well, now is the time. Of course, the frame will look great around your regulation state license plate, or one of those Balloon Fiesta Live! plates you could win for watching Balloon Fiesta Live!
As you may have guessed, now that all the 2024 merchandise is here and available, shopping and sales have increased. To serve you better, we have brought on additional staff in both our gift shop and working behind the scenes to quickly and efficiently process and ship your online orders. At the same time, we're training staff to handle those of you who come shopping in person during Balloon Fiesta. We think we're ready.
However, it happens every year. Some items sell out quickly. It can be difficult to predict what items will be the most popular, even though we think we get better at it every year. We also split our inventory across a number of locations. Again we're predicting what items will be popular at each location. We also monitor inventory and sales on a near real-time basis, adjusting inventory to keep your shopping options open at every location.
We actually run 6 locations during Balloon Fiesta. We have a tent at the North and South ends of Main Street. There's one for Gondola Club Members, and one for the pilots and crew. Our physical Gift Shop has extended hours and online is open 24/7. That's a lot of locations and merchandise.
But when we sell out, the question always comes up, will you be ordering more inventory? Unfortunately the answer is usually no. Most of our merchandise is made exclusively for us. And much of it is dated with the year of the event. Getting a factory to gear up, again, to produce more inventory for us is difficult not to mention the shipping delays everyone is dealing with, we just wouldn't have them in time for the event. And it's a fact of life that once the event is over, everyone's already looking forward to next year, and all that 2024 merchandise goes unsold.
Bottom line, shop early and if you see something you like buy it. If you're headed to Balloon Fiesta in person, do some window shopping online ahead of time. or order your items before you leave home.
Now that you're prepared to shop early, here's the list of hours to plan your early bird shopping spree experience.
The Gift Shop at 4401 Alameda Blvd NE will be open normal hours of 9-5 through Friday, September 27. On Saturday the 28th, we'll be open 9-2. Starting September 30, the gift shop will be open 8-5 every day until the final Sunday of Balloon Fiesta (October 13) when we'll be open 9-2. Normal 9-5 hours resume on October 14th.
Our South Merchandise tent will open for early bird shopping on Thursday and Friday, October 3 and 4. Hours for those days will be 9-5. And of course online shopping remains available 24/7. Orders are processed every day the gift shop is open, although since the post office and UPS don't work on Sunday, orders processed those days will go out the next business day.
Next week on What's Up Wednesday, we'll look at the on-field tent hours during the event and even give you a tip for how to save money during Balloon Fiesta 2024.
Thanks for your support of Balloon Fiesta and Balloon Fiesta Stuff.