10 Things to Consider Before Buying a Vendor Tent

Read This Before Buying a Vendor Tent

Whether you’re planning for a trade show or the local farmer’s market, there are a few things to keep in mind when buying a vendor tent. Buy smart with our tips.

Are you attending a big outdoor event coming up? Do you have a plan in case it rains or is too sunny?

Buying a vendor tent is a great way to protect yourself against the elements, so you can focus on serving your customers while your custom tent promotes your brand at any outdoor/ indoor event.

By printing your logo on the tent, you’ll also be able to stand out and advertise your brand to everyone – even those who don’t stop by your stand.

But no two vendor tents are the same. In fact, there are a lot of factors to consider before purchasing one.

Do you want to know more? Keep reading to discover 10 things you should consider before you buy a vendor tent.

1. What Your Budget Is

Of course, your budget is an important factor no matter what you’re buying.

Look over your books and decide what you can reasonably spend on a vendor tent and how it can help you create brand awareness.

Keep in mind how often you’ll use it. If you only attend one event a year, you can probably get away with buying a blank tent at Costco or Walmart.

But, if you plan on attending several events every month, like weekly Farmers Markets, and you want to stand out from the surrounding competition you’ll want to invest in something that’ll last and that is branded with your logo.

Even if you’re exhibiting among different vendors at your Farmers Market or Tradeshow, getting attention to your vendor tent is very important since your vendor tent will be your customer-facing product that’s branded with your logo that people can quickly point out and recognize immediately.

2. What Will You Use It For

Are you planning on attending a lot of outdoor farmers markets and fairs? Or will it be used for mostly indoor trade shows?

This makes a big difference in moving forward.

For example, a tent that will be used for most indoor events may not need to be weighed down and anchored with sandbags as a tent for outdoor use should. 

If you plan on attending outdoor fairs and events, its best to think about anchoring your tent down so that a strong gust of wind won’t blow your vendor tent over and hurt someone.

Your tent does come with a set of ropes and stakes included in your vendor tent that helps you anchor your tent down in outdoor areas where there is grass and dirt. 

We also provide sandbags for outdoor exhibitions, these are good for heavy winds areas and months like October and November.

3. What’s Your Exhibition Space

When you begin shopping for vendor tents, you’ll notice they come in all different sizes.

You may be tempted to just go with a larger option, but that’s not always the best idea.

Think about the types of events you go to. Those attending crowded farmer’s markets or events with strict vendor size guidelines should consider going smaller.

The last thing you want to deal with is not finding a big enough space at the farmers market or getting kicked out of the event because your tent is too big.

A standard exhibition size at a local Farmers Market or Tradeshow Event is 10×10 foot space where you have space to set up your 6 ft table and your 10 x 10 ft Vendor Tent.

However, you don’t want to go too small, either. If possible, you’ll want enough room to set up a 6ft or 8ft table with your custom Tablecloth so you can be able to walk around with a coworker or two without feeling overly cramped.

4. Easy to Set Up

Are you going to be attending the majority of these events alone? Then it’s vital you find a smaller tent that one person can set up.

If your exhibition space is 10×10 foot and you would like to maximize your vending space with a 10 x 10 ft Vendor Event Tent don’t forget you’ll need another person to help you set up.

Generally, 10 x 10 ft tents need 2 people to set up and can all be done within 10 – 15 minutes of time, so it shouldn’t take you long. 

Decide if this is something that you’ll be able to handle with the help of another person and if it’s something that won’t be too frustrating to deal with at every event.

5. Easy to Transport

Finding a tent that’s easy to transport is also an important factor to consider.

The weight of an average Vendor Tent including hardware will weigh an average of 51 – 60 lbs depending on the extras you get along with it.

It’s not too heavy and hopefully, the only time you’ll be lifting and carrying your Vendor Tent is when you unload it and load it from the trunk of your car.

Small and compact, your Vendor Tent comes with a carrying case where you can store all hardware and materials back into a small corner of your garage or home closet, so it won’t take up too much space when not in use.

If you’re planning to attend regular events, you’ll probably be miserable trying to lug a bulky and heavy tent around.

Instead, find one that’s lightweight and compact, so you don’t break a sweat before the event even starts.

6. What It Looks Like

A huge benefit of a vendor tent is to attract attention to your stand. So, you want a tent that will aptly represent your company.

Consider getting one that matches or compliments the colors in your logo and that will stand out from the rest of the plain white or blue tents people will see.

With our Vendor tents, you can put your logo on the top, sides, back, and front of the vendor tent, so that people from all directions can see your logo and brand.

By adding your logo to a Vendor tent people will instantly know where you are located and recognize your brand from the rest of the vendors around you.

This gives you an unfair competitive advantage from those with blank generic vendor tents that all blend in with each other.

Your colors and logo are unique to your brand so help people out when they are looking for your product in a sea of tents that look the same. Stand out from the crowd.  

7. What the Reviews Say

Vendor tents don’t come cheap, so you want to make sure you end up with a high-quality tent that will last you for years to come.

One of the best ways to do this is by checking out online reviews. If you notice a lot of negative reviews, especially those complaining about their tents ripping, fading, or breaking prematurely, it’s probably best to go with a higher-rated tent. 

8. What Fabric It’s Made of

Most vendor tents are made out of polyester. But, not all polyester is the same.

You should aim to find a tent that is Weather Resistant with a waterproof coated fabric.

The materials that we use for our vendor tents are 6 oz 600x 600 denier polyester, this will ensure it’s durable enough to last.

This is especially true if you’re going to be attending a lot of outdoor events.

The polyester material is also scratch-resistant so it can take normal wear and everyday use that keeps your graphics looking brand new year-round.

9. How Sturdy Is It?

Our event tents come with Heavy duty hex shape 40 mm. aluminum hardware that gives our vendor tents the strength for outdoor use and installations.

You can adjust the height of your vendor tent with telescopic legs that have a crank handle which makes it easy to set the height and bring down for dismantling and packing up.

Each leg has a footplate that makes it easy to stake to the soft ground if your space is outdoors and on grass. Your tent comes with ropes, stakes and standard carrying bag and basic hardware.

In addition to the tent’s fabric, you’ll also want to examine the poles when determining if a vendor tent is right for you.

While you may be used to seeing flexible, plastic poles in regular camping tents, that’s not what you’ll find in vendor tents.

Plastic tends to be too weak for vendor tents and will likely break under the exposure of the sun. Instead, you should aim for either aluminum or steel.

While steel is the sturdiest choice, it does rust if exposed to the elements too often, so be sure to take the proper steps to prevent rust.

10. Can It Be Weighted Down

The weather can be unpredictable, but that rarely stops events from taking place.

If you plan on attending a lot of outdoor events, consider finding a tent that’s easy to weight down.

The last thing you’ll want to deal with is a tent that’s being knocked over due to strong winds. For this, we offer weighted Sandbags that will help your Vendor Tent stay put in High Wind areas. 

How to Choose a Vendor Tent

If you’re in the market for a vendor tent, you may not realize how many options there really are. Just follow our guide to ensure you find the best tent to meet your needs.

Do you want your logo printed on your brand new vendor tent? Contact us today to see how we can help.