Mefi Mall 2019

November 4, 2019 9:47 AM

It's that time of the year again: the MeFi Mall is open for 2019. If you'd like to be listed there, add your shop now.

If you had a shop in the mall previously, re-adding it should still be a one-click step. Just check if you'd like to make any changes and click add.

If this is your first year, welcome! The MeFi Mall is for things that you make and sell online. Please only add your shop if it's stuff that you created: not your friends, family or the company for which you work. We'd like it to be a place where people can buy personal gifts hand-crafted by other MeFites. Thanks and have fun.

posted by frimble (staff) to MetaFilter-Related at 9:47 AM (12 comments total)

Hello! I Have forgotten all about this cool mall! Please count me in!!

https://etsy.me/1asTPbo KaLaiWong's shop on Etsy

Thank you!!
posted by Yellow at 1:40 PM on November 4, 2019

Hey Yellow, that looks great. You can use the "Add your shop" link above and put it in there.
posted by jessamyn (retired) at 1:42 PM on November 4, 2019 [3 favorites]

I'd like to express my (what feels like) annual disapproval of this only being for hand-crafted goods. Plenty of MeFites would be thankful for the publicity for the traditional retail shops that they work hard to maintain.

I'm in Toronto and would go out of my way to shop at MeFite-owned local businesses that I otherwise didn't know existed and would appreciate the opportunity to promote my own shop to members who feel likewise.
posted by dobbs at 3:35 PM on November 4, 2019 [5 favorites]

I feel like I've said before "Can people click a link, and send you money and you send them a thing?" If yes, put it in the Mall. I do notice an absence of FAQ about the Mall but I've never thought it had to be for just handmade stuff. What MeFi does not have is a MeFites with Stores directory but one could easily be set up on the wiki, by anyone.
posted by jessamyn (retired) at 5:55 PM on November 4, 2019 [2 favorites]

The criteria is historically stuff made by Mefites, but I think things shifted a bit over the years:

jessamyn, 2013: Stuff you've designed, created, built, made or otherwise had a hand in. Etsy stuff and Cafe Press type things are AOK.
pb, 2015: Please keep in mind that it's for stuff that you have created, not family members or your company. We're aiming for personal gifts hand-crafted by mefites.

The ixnay on brick and mortar stores has been consistent: Why no brick and mortar stores in the mall?
posted by zamboni at 6:29 PM on November 4, 2019

Just wanted to say since this is the last year (for now) that I'll be in Mefi Mall as my store is closing: Genuinely thank you. Mefi Mall is such a cute idea and I know I've sent stuff out to mefites. I'd love to hear from you if you do order from me but no pressure!

Happy holiday shopping everyone!
posted by Crystalinne at 5:59 AM on November 5, 2019

I created a page in the wiki for MeFi Mall and for MeFi brick and mortar stores; fill out this form and I'll update the wiki for the latter accordingly. Obviously feel free to add directly to the wiki as well--I am only offering the form so that I can more easily use the collected addresses to make a Google Map as mentioned above, which I'll add to the wiki page once it has a few entries. Once it is a bit populated, perhaps the mods can add a link to the official MeFiMall page.

I'm not a MeFi wiki person so please edit for house style, etc as necessary! Additionally, let me know if there are any desired changes to the form; wanted to keep it direct and simple in hopes of getting the information together as quickly as possible. Likewise, I'll probably group the stores on the wiki page per country and state and reflect the presentation of organization on the MefiMall page, but other ideas welcome here as well.

Thanks for the comment prompting this, dobbs.
posted by youarenothere at 8:02 AM on November 5, 2019 [3 favorites]

I've been linking to my novel for a couple of years now, and I worry that there may be people who might be sick of seeing it by now... but is there any chance the Mall could include a link to the list of publications by MeFites in the wiki for anyone who might be interested in such a thing?
posted by Mchelly at 10:34 AM on November 5, 2019 [3 favorites]

Thanks, youarenothere! The block where my brick-and-mortar shop is located has been turning itself into a pretty effective nerd trap, and I feel like Mefites would enjoy the neighborhood. My vintage shop shares our space with a used bookstore and handmade/DIY store, a record store just opened down the street, our neighbors on either side are a fabric store and a distillery, and the brewpub across the street also has a toy store that sells board games. Having said all that, I now realize the danger will be in getting y'all to leave.

(also as a small business owner I do 0 socializing that is not walking distance from my home or my shop. please come say hi. I will not be making it to meetups. I'm so sorry.)
posted by nonasuch at 2:39 PM on November 5, 2019 [2 favorites]

Just added the first store--thanks nonasuch! Your store looks wonderful; god be with you as the MeFite holiday hoards descend.
posted by youarenothere at 3:16 PM on November 5, 2019

So, hey! I'm okay with revisiting the "what kind of stuff is okay on the MeFi Mall" question, and I'm pretty okay specifically saying let's try giving it a broader remit. That is to say:

~If you're selling a thing or service, and there's something you can link to, and you want to put an entry on the mall, go for it.~

That can be shops selling hand-crafted goods; that can be your book or your film or your album; that can be your professional service; that can be a listing of your brick-and-morter store's page. If you've got something edge-casey and are feeling like "would this count?", it's fine to ask! We'll probably say yes, but we'll be nice if it's a no for some reason.

It's possible we'll find that approaching the idea of what's listable as broader field will raise some issues, and we'll sort that out and narrow things down or tweak the guidelines on the mall stuff accordingly, but I feel like mostly the more the merrier and let's see how it goes.

We'll look at possibly tweaking/expanding the text up top on the Mall itself to better communicate the breadth of possibilities for potential listers. We got an earlier start on getting the Mall up in the first place this year so it's a good opportunity to poke at some of the details as we go.
posted by cortex (staff) at 6:54 PM on November 5, 2019 [2 favorites]

Very minor bug report. When filling out the "add your shop" form, the standard metafilter ctrl + U = link feature doesn't work as expected.
posted by aniola at 12:19 PM on November 6, 2019