Hello lovely followers/ friends. Hope you are having a lovely day.
We wanted to take the time to answer a really good question we were asked on Instagram following a post that we are open for Summer Submissions to help with future applications.
'If my application was not succesful before can I apply again?'
There is a short answer which is at the end of this journal post however it's worth grabbing a cuppa and reading our full response. Hopefully this will help for future applications at NS and indeed for other indie store set up in a similar way to us.
When we open for new submissions, which is approximately 4 times a year we first ask artists to...
Do Your Research
We highly recommend you check out our website & social media to understand what Neighbourhood Store is all about. Our ethos, branding and style. It's important all our artists work is easily curated together, there is a definite style/ look to what's under our roof. If you live nearby we HIGHLY recommend you pop in and have a look for yourself.
🙂 If you are SUPER excited and think you would be a good fit then hop n' skip over to our website. ‘WORK WITH US’ to apply. Please don't DM us on socials or email us as these messages may get missed. There is a clear and easy process which we have set up for your ease.
Application Process
We have a panel of 5 people, including us who go through every single application. We look at each submission in detail including socials, websites, selling pages and price points to make our decisions. As we are a small store we have to get it right. The cost of running a bricks & mortar store gives us little wriggle room. Though, we always try to give as many artists an opportunity, regardless of making just one card to being a established artist. We certanly don't look at the number of followers, ever. That is not important to us at all.
We always try our very best to reply to every single application, which is a USP of Neighbourhood Store. However, Jan 2024's open call had the biggest response we've ever had. It totally blew our minds. Over 500 applications.
When we reply we usually take the time to explain our reasoning, offer advice even suggest other stores whereby we think your artwork may be better suited. However, in Jan we did send a more general response due to said vast volumes. Mainly, due to time as we were frantically getting the new store ready to open. However, responding regardless or sucessful or unsucessful is super important to us. You take the time to apply so it is the respectful and right thing to do.
The only reasons we ever decline an application is if we feel we won't do the artist/s work the justice it so very much deserves. It's often really hard as it's not just our taste, we have to think of our customers. If it was just our taste we'd need a massive store which would have departments for differing styles. Life goals right there!
Having to feedback that we haven't sold anything is not something we want for our artists and after running NS for nearly 6yrs we know what works. Of course we do still get it a little wrong. The other reason could just be that we have too similar a artist in store and we only really have room to take around 20 artists each time, due to the size of our store.
It is always hard to make final decisions. I mean it is everytime however, January was exceptionally challenging.
So, I guess if we were to summarise the answer to the original question...
'If my application was not succesful before can I apply again?'
'Of course, anyone can apply again if they feel with strong passion their work is a really good fit.'
If you skipped down to see the quick answer fairplay, but you we promise it will help to read all that rambling chat up there ^^^^^^
Going forward, regardless of the number of applications we will respond fully with our reasons. In addition we will hold details of those we loved but couldn't fit in, just so we can get in contact again. But what we don't want to create is a waiting list. You shouldn't have to wait for us. We never want that.
Hope this rambling response helps.
Thank you for taking the time to ask this xx