Vendor Qualifications and Our Promise

We want creative people to create. Our mission is to expose and expand our brands by providing  “The Room” where all people feel welcomed and can express themselves freely through the arts.  The Room manifests Black culture and its wealth of history, vowing respect while helping to build a unified community. 

We help inspired professionals give life to their ideas by establishing and growing successful businesses and products. To foster this creative economy, we strive to include in our store items that are handmade, unique, produced or sold by local entrepreneurs. By agreeing to our terms and conditions, you commit to only sell products and offerings that fall under this criteria. Anything not in compliance with these efforts, delightful as it may be, will not be accepted to the show.

If we have questions regarding the nature of your products, we will email you to clarify before disqualifying you. Our store is juried to ensure our vendors are the cream of the crop. We sure hope that’s you!

Store Location

• ITS the Room -  1201 Boston Post Rd. Milford, Ct 06460

Future Boutique Dates

Subject to change

Ongoing: Applications open for our consignment store

• • 9/22/22 - 1/21/23 
  • 1/22/23 - 5/21/23  
  • 5/22/23 - 9/21/23
•  ALL applications must be in prior to the season you would like to showcase!

 Products and Prices

• Your products must be marked with your price in order to get credit for the sale.
•  New products you add must fall within the descriptions and categories you listed in your application.
•  Products you bring to the store must be in compliance with all applicable local, state and federal laws for the type of products you offer. It is your responsibility to know which laws apply to your products and to ensure that they are in compliance with all copyright, labeling, labor, and any other laws, rules or regulations that apply. All products from vendors that are found to be in violation will be removed from the store immediately.
• As you design, produce and package your products, please do your best to minimize packaging, reduce waste, reuse materials and recycle. Please also do your best to ensure your products are sourced ethically. Trust us, any additional cost or effort will pay off in the long run, plus we'll love you all the more.
• We do require a pricing sheet to be sent to us, and just make sure all your products are labeled correctly.

Setup

• ITS The Room staff will check in all vendors and verify that your fee invoice is paid. Additional storage for inventory is not available. If your product sells out we will contact you to replenish your inventory.

Stocking

• You will be notified of a date during store hours to bring your inventory into the store, two weeks before your season begins.

Checkout

• We provide a central checkout for all vendors. We will accept cash, and all major credit cards.

Pickup

• Consignee has 7 calendar days to remove merchandise from the store.  Consignee will receive a courtesy call on the 2nd day after contract season has ended if merchandise remains. If merchandise is not picked up at the end of business on the 7th calendar day, the merchandise becomes the property of ITS the Room. Consignee will not be accepted into future contracts.
• Vendors who apply for more than one season are not required to pick up items but will be required to show up for inventory for the next season
• Please be prompt and move as quickly as possible, if you are picking up in the middle of our day.  We have a limited window to get seasonal vendors moved out and the next season  moved in.

Advertising

• You may be spotlighted on our website, blog, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, during the season. We’ll pull from your feeds, We mostly just repost things that have been posted already on Instagram or FB so post lots!
• We will release announcements to the press, do extensive social media advertising. 
• We encourage vendors to advertise through their own Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and other social media.

Theft and Liability

• We will do everything within our power to prevent theft of products and displays, but we cannot guarantee that items will not go missing or get broken. It’s a cruel world, even in nice places like Milford.. Our staff will be trained to spot and stop shoplifters, and we will make every effort to prevent any incidents; however, we will not be held responsible if minor theft does occur, however if our store is broken into we can not be responsible for mass loss.
• The store will be monitored by video and locked securely after hours.

Payment

• All vendors will receive payment at the end of your season's contract. You will receive monthly statements during the season.

Fees

Vendor Fee:

• If accepted into the market, you will receive an invoice for your  fee. Due three weeks before the season begins.
• If you are under the age of 18 and would like to participate you are eligible for a partial waiver of your  fee, but not commissions.

Drop Outs:

• For those who decide not to participate, we will be sad to see you go, but we will refund 65% of your fees only until a specific date listed in each contract. After that date, fees are non-refundable. Then you’ll be sad to see you go.
• Late cancellations put us in a bind and it can be difficult to get a wait list vendor in your space in a short amount of time. If you miss the due date your spot will be given to a waitlisted vendor.

Commission Fee

• See your contract.

Other Fees

• If an excessive number of your items are mislabeled or not on the inventory sheet. (requiring extra work on our part to track down the correct information).

Taxes

• When accepted into the store All vendors must provide either your EIN or SS #.  You may be subjected to a penalty by the IRS if you do not provide this form. We only need one W-9 from you each year.
• Sales tax will be collected through the central checkout and paid to you by check. You are responsible for paying your own taxes.

Perks! Finally the fun part!

• Vendor Day  (Spring, Fall and Summer only)
• Each vendor will be invited to participate in an event highlighting you, where you can meet local makers, social media personalities and influencers—the ones who can take your business to big places with a single post! This is the place on the evening of a selected day of the season
• We will have raffle prizes,  we also will have our exclusive meet-the-maker party where we have giveaways, live music, free food samples, as well as sponsored gifts to attendees.
• This Super Dope Day party will include exclusive first-chance shopping where attendees (and you!) can purchase all products for 5% off—all on us! (The 5% will come out of our commission, not your sales. Phew!)
• A great way to use social media, networking, and other marketing tools to enhance your presence online and in person in the boutique.
• Vendors are encouraged to make a special appearance and market it to their social media followers for a chance for customers to meet you!
•  During the season there will be plenty of things to do in ITS the Room. We will host Poetry in Motion Events, where you and guests are welcomed to come and showcase your talents. There will be books reading and signing for local authors and much more.  Keep looking at our Upcoming events page.

Please note that YOU are a part of our marketing team.  In order to get the word out about what's happening here at ITS the Room, it takes all of us to make the magic happen.  Per your contract, please market on all of your social media platforms. We get out exactly what we put in.  

*This agreement is subject to change without notice. We’re kinda whimsical.