We did open evenings for our first 2 years, first year was kind of like a 'launch party' I laid on canapes and champagne, maybe 20 people came, several who had rsvp-ed didn't bother to show, including the chairman of the Chamber of Trade! I felt it was a reasonable success, couple of sales, couple of orders, press photos all that, raffled off a couple of bouquets and the ladies who won coincidentally (yes, really I didn't fix it!) were friends and have become regulars, bringing along other friends too. Second year about 2 people came, what a waste of time. We won't be doing it this year! My conclusion was that it's hard to get people to get off their arses at the best of times, but on a cold, wet, windy November evening, forget it! Irritatingly there's a long established homewares & gift shop in town and all the ladies who lunch turn out in droves for their open evening, but it's a big shop with lots of different rooms, and they lay on free beauty treatments and raffle off really expensive gifts that they've blagged off their suppliers. It's a small town and there's a definate sense of the bigger longer established retailers looking down their noses at us newer smaller ones .