Made With Love

I participated in one of the “Frosh” Markets for this company, as a vendor and wanted to share my experience so other small businesses can make informed decisions. This is based on my personal experience though. For context, I had previously done a Frosh event with this team (September) and had a great experience, which is what led me to sign up again. The organizers were kind and accommodating at the time, and the event itself was strong — so expectations were high. Unfortunately, this event was a completely different experience. The market was promoted as a “Winter Frosh Market,” but there was no actual alignment with a real frosh event. Classes had not properly started, and there was little to no student presence (the starbucks wasn't even open LOL) This directly impacted foot traffic. There was also no visible signage or on-site effort to direct people to the market. It felt like the event relied entirely on natural foot traffic, which simply wasn’t there. Vendor curation was also not as advertised. We were told there would be category caps, but that was not the case and were vendors with heavily overlapping products. This created a saturated environment that made it extremely difficult to stand out and negatively impacted everyone. Placement was another issue. Although preferred placement was discussed as a paid feature, in reality it was first come, first served. Vendors — including multiple jewelry brands — were clustered directly beside each other, which was overwhelming for shoppers and not conducive to sales. No layout or map was provided in advance as was previously done at the last Frosh. Communication leading up to the event was also inconsistent. Multiple follow-ups were required just to receive basic information. Most concerning, after the event, a detailed email outlining these issues was sent and there was no response, acknowledgment, or attempt to resolve anything. There was also no consideration given in terms of refund for the day or vendor support, despite the clear gap between what was promised and what was delivered. After speaking with other vendors, it’s clear this isn’t an isolated experience. There seems to be a pattern of inconsistent execution, lack of curation, and unclear expectations. Overall, there is a significant disconnect between how these markets are marketed and how they are actually run. Small businesses are investing time, money, and inventory into these events — there needs to be more accountability, transparency, and care in how they’re executed. I'm looking forward to see this organization and improve and make a turnaround.