Doug Premo spent $350 to secure a corner spot in the Union Pacific Depot's Grand Hall at The Gateway mall in Salt Lake City for the second annual Old World Holiday Market.
The master woodworker has made back his investment, but not much more.
In what could be a sign of economic times, artists from across Utah said business was down at this year's market, which ended its 10-day run Sunday afternoon. Many said sales were sour even on Black Friday, traditionally the busiest shopping day of the year.
The local experience mirrors the national picture, where day-after-Thanksgiving sales rose less than 1 percent over 2008, according to ShopperTrak, which tracks holiday spending. Last year's holiday season was the worst in four decades for U.S. retailers.
Premo remains hopeful. His South Jordan-based New Wasatch Workshop, which builds wooden rocking toys, including sportster-style motorcycles, got into the black a lot earlier this year than it did the year before. That could be due, in part, to a slight economic rebound. But it also might be due to the work Premo has been doing to peddle his wooden wares in hobby shops and at local markets like Old World Holiday Market.
In any case, said Premo, an architect and builder who turns to toy building when times are tough, it's fortunate that his wife still has a good job. "We couldn't make it on what I'm doing alone," he said.
Just a few steps away in the stain-glassed, sun-drenched former train station, Debbie Schramer also was lamenting the trials of artisan entrepreneurship in this down economy. She and her husband paint, sculpt and craft intricate fantasy dollhouses. One of their creations, on display at the market, has been appraised at $13,000. Schramer said they would happily take $9,000.
But for the moment, the only big sale they have made comes from a woman who commissioned a smaller home for her granddaughter in England. Domestic sales, she said, are stagnant.
"We really want to be able to take our art to Europe," said Schramer, who works as a nanny to supplement her art income. Her husband drives patients to local hospitals. "We've been told we would do well there. But getting there -- that's the issue."
