Archon 44
Archon is a long-running science fiction convention held in the St. Louis area. Last year it had to be canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, so Archon 44 was held in 2021 rather than 2020. However, it was still held over the first weekend in October at the Gateway Center in Collinsville, Illinois (one of the Metro East suburbs), October 1-3, 2021.
We hit the road on Wednesday so that we could include a visit to my dad. Even with a couple of stops in Champaign for shopping, we still got to his place earlier than he'd expected. I had time to wash all the laundry we'd brought and go to the Homecoming parade for the local high school, and still had time to visit with Dad and put two merchandise orders in for upcoming shows.
On Thursday we carried our belongings back out to the van and hit the road for Collinsville. We made good enough time that we decided to eat our lunch when we stopped to do some shopping in Litchfield, rather than eating on the road. It's certainly more restful, and easier for me to not be trying to eat while driving. It also simplifies taking various medicines and nutritional supplements at noon.
Even with the extended break at Litchfield and two stops at rest areas, we still got to Collinsville early enough that there was some question of whether we'd be able to check in to our hotel room right away. We discussed going over to Walgreens to pick up a shipment of t-shirts that was to be held for me, but a check of the shipping company website showed that it was still in transit. Shortly afterward, we got a message that we could check into the hotel, so we headed straight there.
We were just settling in after carrying in our personal belongings when I got an e-mail that my shipment was ready for me to pick up. I went back out to the van, made sure we had a stable load, and drove over to Walgreen's. I was a little surprised to be given only one box, since the messages from the shipper had indicated it would come in two boxes, not just one. A little more checking the shipping company's website showed that the second box was lagging behind, and might come as late as Monday -- which would be awkward, since we were planning to leave the area after loading out on Sunday. However, as it turned out, the shipper had arranged things so that the return address was our home address, so if the package bounced, it would go to our home, not back to the shipper.
With that crisis made less urgent, I headed back to the hotel and took the box in to inventory the product. When I had a list of what we had received, I carried the box back to the van, then sent my wholesale agent a list of what we had received, checking that the other things would be in the second box. Apparently part of the shortfall was the result of mice getting into some boxes of product and damaging them.
After supper, we headed over to the Gateway Center to pick up our badges. There were some new procedures as a result of the pandemic, but the process went smoothly once we got someone to let us in and we realized that yes, con registration was indeed open. Then we headed back to our hotel room to take it easy for the night.
On Friday we got up early and had the hotel's complimentary breakfast. This year's offerings were rather scant compared to what they'd offered in previous years. I really missed the little omelettes with bits of pepper and mushroom or cheddar cheese, but they probably had to be eliminated as a result of new food safety rules imposed for the pandemic. Normally I'd hope that a hotel would return to their usual breakfast offerings once the pandemic ends, but due to some other policy changes, we've decided we won't be returning to this hotel for the foreseeable future.
After dealing with an unexpected mess, we headed over to the Gateway Center to load in. Since we were running close on time, I just went ahead and started getting merchandise out so we could have a cart ready. As it happened, my husband was able to snag one of the convention center's carts, so I didn't have to get our own cart out.
At first I was working by myself, focusing on getting the most critical items in soonest so that my husband could get a good start on building the structures. However, our helpers soon started arriving, and I was able to get stuff in more quickly. I pulled out our cart and started putting stuff on it, so one of our helpers could run things in while the other helped my husband build structures. We actually got things in and set up before the dealers' room opened, and I would've had time to put up signs and take a look around if I hadn't gotten a message that my second package was at Walgreens and ready for delivery. So I had to grab my purse and head out to the van.
At least this time I knew which desk handled FedEx shipments, so my trip to Walgreens was pretty straightforward. The package turned out to be so small I hardly needed a cart to carry it, which simplified getting it into the dealers' room, especially considering that I had to find a different parking spot. Fortunately I was able to get in through the roll-up door, although it was closed shortly thereafter. I quickly inventoried this shipment and got my new products in with the existing merchandise.
Then the doors opened and people started coming in. Sales were slow at first, but soon picked up. I was surprised to get a fair number of book sales, including one in which a person bought a whole stack of books. I don't see too many of those purchases any more, so I was particularly gratified to see it.
After the dealers' room closed for the day, we considered dropping in on the book release party we'd heard about. However, that would've required driving over to the Doubletree hotel and finding a parking place, and we weren't sure that the party hadn't been canceled. Finally we decided not to risk wasting our time and just headed back to our hotel room to have supper and wind down. I did some blogging and worked on a writing challenge before turning in for the night.
On Saturday we got up and had breakfast before heading over to the Gateway Center for what is usually our biggest day of sales. I'd hoped to get some time to walk around, but I ended up using the entire prep period to redo a display, correcting some well-meaning mistakes by a helper who didn't understand our processes.
However, that time was worth it, because we got a lot more sold than we would've had things been left as they were. In fact, we sold a lot more merchandise than I'd expected, including several large book orders. After moving up second copies and filling in gaps from the last of them, I consolidated our back stock and discovered we'd already emptied an entire box. This was a really nice discovery, especially after several years of lukewarm book sales. It really made me think of the old days when we could count on emptying three or four boxes of books at Archon.
After the dealers' room closed for the evening, we headed back to our hotel room for supper. Because I knew time would be at a premium on Sunday morning, I decided to just go ahead and take some stuff out to the van that we wouldn't need. Then I soaked my very sore feet while I caught up on my blogging, then wrote up a writing challenge for Sunday's blog post, so I didn't have to worry about getting it done on a day when we would be very busy.
On Sunday we got up and had breakfast. Then I carried the rest of our belongings out to the van and we got checked out. We headed over to the Gateway Center, and once we got our tables open for business, I finally had some actual time to walk around the dealers' room and see who was there.
Sales were actually pretty good for a Sunday, to the point that I was busy right up to the point we really needed to get started on packing our smaller stuff. We sold a decent number of paperbacks, and I was able to further consolidate our back stock. However, we didn't sell nearly as many hardcovers as we had in 2019, when we'd emptied our back stock box and ended up having to creatively rearrange the remaining boxes to keep them stable.
Once the dealers' room closed and the convention center staff opened the rollup door, I went out to the van and retrieved all our empty boxes. I used one of the convention center's big carts to speed the process. Usually I'd box the t-shirts myself, but I wanted to get the books out as fast as humanly possible, for two reasons. First, two of our helpers, including our strongest, needed to leave early due to work obligations. Second, we had storms coming in, and I did not want to be trying to haul books out to the van in the pouring rain. We've done it when we've had to, but trying to keep the books properly tarped makes everything harder.
As it turned out, I was able to get most of the books out before even the first intermittent showers. Then we got a break in which I was able to get the rest of our merchandise loaded into the van. The showers had been light enough that the parking lot dried quickly and we were able to pile boxes on the concrete and let me sort through them to put them in their proper places. Thanks to our remaining helpers bringing everything else out so I didn't have to run back and forth, I not only got everything loaded tighter than when we'd come, but also left almost an hour before all dealers were supposed to be out. Instead of being the very last dealers out, we saw several still breaking down displays when we left.
And not a minute too soon, as it turned out. As I pulled out of the convention center complex and headed for the interchange to get onto I 55/70, the first raindrops started to hit our windshield. Soon it became a deluge, and by the time we passed mile marker 20 and the two Interstate highways splitting off, we were driving in a downpour so heavy that I was having to slow down because of limited visibility.
Thankfully the rain slacked up and stopped altogether by the time we reached the second rest area. We stopped briefly, then continued north. We had a brief period around Litchfield in which we jumped off I-55 and followed a parallel track that had apparently been an old alignment of Route 66. There were places where it had clearly once been four lane divided, but the two lanes closer to the Interstate had either been repurposed for storing IDOT equipment or allowed to decay altogether. It was an interesting excursion, but I was still glad to reach an interchange north of the backup and get back to Interstate speeds.
It was still light when we went around Springfield, but by the time we passed Lincoln it was getting dark. We drove to my dad's place in darkness, and I was very glad to pull into the driveway and power down the van. I carried in our stuff and started a load of laundry, then warmed up the supper we'd brought with us. We did get some time to visit with Dad before we turned in for the night.
We didn't set an alarm for Monday morning, but we got a good enough night's sleep that we were able to get up and moving fairly quickly. We had breakfast and I started carrying things out to the van. I was able to get them out quickly enough that I even had some time to get on the Internet before lunch.
After lunch we carried the last few things out to the van and said good-bye to Dad. Then we hit the road west for home. On the way we stopped again at Sam's Club in Champaign to get gas.
We ran through some fairly heavy rain shortly after we crossed the Indiana state line, and I had to slow down for a while. Even so, we still were able to get to Brownsburg before the branch of our bank closed and were able to make our deposit. Then we headed down to Greenwood to a free community meal before we finally came home. Much as I love Archon (I've been going since 1996), it's still good to pull the van into the driveway, power down, and walk back to my own front door.
Copyright 2021 by Leigh Kimmel
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Last updated October 11, 2021.