CNBC.COMMost winter mornings, Jaime Randle piles bread, stacks of cups and cleaning supplies into the back of her SUV and commutes about two hours from her Connecticut home her stall at the Union Square Holiday Market in New York. "It's like opening a mini store every week," she says.
Randle, 39, is the founder and chef at Coco Bred, a food stand offering portable coco bread pockets stuffed with Jamaican jerk chicken, oxtail and curry goat. Being a vendor at the popular tourist destination is expensive and "exhausting," but rewarding, she says. Starting Nov. 13, Coco Bred brought in over $31,000 in sales in the first 17 days at the market, according to documents reviewed by CNBC Make It — clearing her almost $23,000 market entrance fee in under a month.
Renting a booth at markets across the U.S. can cost up to tens of thousands of dollars for vendors who sell trinkets, tea towels or Jamaican jerk chicken sandwiches. Despite the costly investment and up to 12-hour-long days spent running the pop-ups, some small-business owners say they bring in more revenue and profit in seven weeks at holiday markets than the rest of the year.
At large New York markets in Union Square and Bryant Park, that payoff is largely driven by high foot traffic — in some cases, up to hundreds of thousands of locals and holiday tourists per day — creating weeks of nonstop sales for many vendors, says Evan Shelton, vice president at Urban Space, a privately run operator of both markets.
"Every year, I see more and more people," visiting the markets says Shelton, who has worked at Urban Space for five years. Business from that traffic drives many vendors to come back year after year, Shelton says. "I'm seeing a 90% return rate, which tells me that this is worth their time and effort."
Not every market is worth it for every vendor, some sellers and business advisors say. Foot traffic doesn't guarantee profit for smaller operations, which may have to spend money they don't have on labor, inventory and holiday decorations to run a successful booth.
If an entrepreneur is still "figuring out what works and what doesn't, it's probably not a good time for you to invest all that money into just getting people used to you," says Keila Hill Trawick, a business advisor of over 20 years and founder of Little Fish Accounting in Washington, D.C. "I think where holiday markets tend to help long term is when you are already a part of the local economy."
Even at smaller markets across the country, in cities far less tourist-heavy than New York, many small-business owners look forward to the intense work, the financial reward and the connections from working a holiday market.
'I'm investing a lot of time and energy'
Running a booth at a holiday market can be very expensive, even beyond any potential market's entry fee. Randle, for example, had to buy equipment, pay the contractors who built out the mini kitchen she installed in her booth, and compensate 11 employees, she says. She put her $23,000 entrance fee, which includes her electricity lines, on a credit card, Randle adds.
"I'm investing a lot of time and energy, and I'm also investing in, what I hope, is my daughter's future," says Randle, whose 10-year-old often helps out at Coco Bred. "I mean, it's such a flex for me and for her to say that her first job was at her mom's company. I'm so proud of that."
Coco Bred, which also sells in a stall at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, brought in over $41,000 in sales between January and September, according to documents. The entertainment venue receives a 30% cut, Randle says. She projects her market sales will exceed that number by the time the holiday market ends on Dec. 24, and the venue doesn't get a percentage. Coco Bred is profitable, too, Randle adds.
Not every vendor is so lucky, and much of their success can depend on matching their business with the right market. In 2024, Amy McCoy spent $13,000 renting a booth at the outdoor Snowport Market in Boston for her side hustle Tiny Farmhouse, which sells stationary gifts like tea towels, she says. She sold $13,000 worth of products in just over two weeks, documents show — but ended the market at a financial loss due to other expenditures, she says.
For McCoy, a full-time freelance video producer, there was a learning curve: She overordered inventory and didn't budget for labor, she says. She hired extra help two weeks in after experiencing the toll of working long hours in cold temperatures.
"After a snowstorm, I came in and there was snow and ice all over the interior of my booth," she says. "I spent about three hours cleaning snow and ice off of all of the display surfaces and flooring on the last Saturday before Christmas, and I wasn't able to open until 2 p.m. More than a few tears were shed."
Instead of returning to Snowport in 2025, McCoy spent $6,375 to rent a booth at SoWa Winter Festival, held inside a restored power station a 10-minute drive from the larger market, where customers pay $10 to enter. It took her one weekend to bring in over $6,000, documents show. She projects sales from her booth will make up 30% of her sales this year, she adds.
With the warmer temperatures and shorter hours at the indoor market, she can work mostly by herself — and without space heaters, McCoy says. While her side hustle usually breaks even most months of the year, she's currently operating with a 20% profit margin, she says.
'We're all there through it together, rain or shine'
Smaller markets tend to cost less for vendors and bring less foot traffic to their booths. That can still be a winning proposition, says Cynthia Green, who sells handmade pressed flower art and jewelry at the Cambria Christmas Market in Cambria, California every year.
Green pays just under $2,000 to rent a booth for 28 days at the market that draws about 80,000 visitors each year, according to a market representative. In 2024, Green's business Pressing Petals brought in just under $21,000 in sales from the market, documents show. The revenue represented about one-third of the business' yearly sales, Green says.
Paying a fee to participate in any market is just "something you plan on," as a business owner, says Green, who sells her products year-round at a market in Paso Robles, California, and at various art festivals.
Holiday markets don't come with guaranteed customers, Hill-Trawick notes. Freezing temperatures or pricey products can keep them away. In November, the city of Chicago put a capacity restriction on the storied Christkindlmarket. Reportedly, some sellers say the decreased foot traffic has negatively impacted their sales. (The city has since raised the capacity limit).
What you sell can also make or break your performance at holiday markets, says Hill-Trawick. Customers tend to seek easily carriable items like food, figurines and earrings — and they gravitate toward "one of a kind" items like vintage or sentimental finds, she says. "It needs to be an experience to be worth it."
Greene, now in her fourth year at the Cambria Christmas Market, says there's an additional benefit to finding the right market for her particular business: Each winter, she gets to interact with the same community of small-business owners who also operate there annually.
"It's like Christmas day when we get the notice that lets us know when we can go set up," Green says. "We know everybody and it's a little family. We're all there through it together, rain or shine."
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