Shopping at the National Arts Festival is always an opportunity to pick up unusual crafts and clothing, as well as a time for hunting down some bargains at the myriad stalls that have set up all over town.
Shopping at the National Arts Festival is always an opportunity to pick up unusual crafts and clothing, as well as a time for hunting down some bargains at the myriad stalls that have set up all over town.
According to an article in the online journal The Examiner, crucial bargaining tips include to know what you want, draw up a budget before you shop, know the best time to shop and to make friends with the people selling what you want.
Tapiwa is a student from Zimbabwe and a first-time visitor to the Festival. He said, "I hear that there are many African artefacts on sale. I will probably spend most of my money on food, going out and trying new things. My bargaining technique will be to show them that I have money, but I am reluctant to spend because of the steep price."
The most frequent piece of advice relayed by Festival veterans is that you should never buy an item the first time you see it unless it is a rare item that you really want. However, the variety of items on offer means that there will be many tempations. Shahied Harris from Cape Town comes specifically to sell his sweets at the Grahamstown Festival and he has been doing so since 1999. "I don’t usually bargain with people, but if they buy in bulk they can certainly get discounts. I also give discounts when I am closing up at night and certainly at the end of the Festival," he said.
When you know what you want, draw up a budget and put aside money for each item. Know the best times to shop as bargaining will be futile at peak times or days or when there is high demand for the item that you want. Finally, avoid early morning bargaining as retailers have a long day ahead of them so they will anticipate more profitable sales later on.
Johannes Tdladi sells jewellery at a stall along High Street. He is originally from Polokwane, Limpopo but he has been living in Grahamstown and selling his merchandise at the Festival since 2004. The National Arts Festival is the busiest and most lucrative time of the year for him. His prices do not vary much, but he will bargaining if someone is short by a small amount.
The most important tool in bargaining is your approach. Be polite and negotiate. One can also be slightly manipulative by befriending the people selling what you’re after. This will create a better platform for bargaining, perhaps they may even assist you in getting bargains from others and inform you about bargains you can pick up elsewhere. Finally, try it out! If it’s clothing, try it on! If it’s a book, read a little bit of it, if it’s food ask for a sample, because too often we are forced into purchasing something that we don’t want.
An anonymous Rhodes University student said, "This will be my second Festival. I’m looking forward to browsing around the markets, but bargaining usually happens at the end of the Festival when stalls are shutting down. It is certainly easier to bargain then. I spend most of my money on tickets for shows, food and coffee, because it gets freezing cold."
When the stalls are dismantled and the visitors have left, Grahamstown will fall back into slumber. Our bargaining skills will lie dormant and hopefully we’ll all go home happy with the purchases that we made and the way that we spent our money. BC Forbes said "any business arrangement that is not profitable to the seller will in the end prove unprofitable for you. The bargain that yields mutual satisfaction is the only one that is apt to be repeated."
See the Grocott’s Mail Online Multimedia section for photos, videos and audio from the 2009 National Arts Festival.
