Kevin Goggan working on a painting (Image: submitted).
Kevin Goggan has closed his stall in the Saint John City Market to focus on online sales and his art and design business.
Goggan shut down his stall, which opened in the market in September 2018, at the end of December.
“The majority of the business really was art and design; retail was a small part of it and timewise, it took up too much time,” said Goggan.
By the end of 2019 he realized he could do the retail business he wanted with a pop-up a couple of times a year and not require a brick and mortar store.
The bulk of Goggan’s sales come from Fresh Art’s Facebook page and through online platforms. His latest product is his annual calendar featuring his original paintings of Saint John scenes.
“Social media is I have to say probably 80 per cent, 90 per cent of the actual walk-up traffic that I had in a retail location.” he said. “Truthfully everybody who was coming up to me was because of online [business].
Kevin Goggan commissioned painting (Image: Kevin Goggan)
Fresh Art began in 2014 as an auction site for his art and in 2017 Goggan created 2018 calendar featuring his artwork. It was a popular success and Goggan has made a new calendar of the city now for three years in a row.
It has a personalized touch, based on Goggan’s experience of the city itself – like featuring one of favourite haunts uptown around St. Patrick’s Day.
“I think each year I’ve had, out of my own bias, something to do with Princess Street when it comes to March because of O’Leary’s Pub,” he said.
Now Goggan is truly the master of his own domain and can focus on his own artwork.
“I was just losing time and time was sort of a precious material,” he said. “Ultimately, I want to be an artist, I don’t want to be a retailer.”
