A Vending Machine and a Dream

Lubbock is full of creative talent at every age and level, but a lot of people don't make their way downtown to the art district and therefore have little chance of seeing any of the creative culture our town has to offer.

However, through Little Crow's Market, Sam Gaitan is changing that, and tapping into other markets in town on behalf of local artists.

"Little Crow's Market are art vending machines," said Sam, a local artist herself who also has a day job working at Texas Tech. "We try to keep it about 50% local artists work, and the other 50% just fun things like games, mood rings; I also keep them stocked with period kits and safe sex kits."

Inspired by others and an idea born from a conversation among friends, Sam set out to make art-centric vending machines to help local artists sell their work without having to be present. It's been no easy task, and Sam has taken it head on with very little guidance or infrastructure in place to help her movement. But she has found a Facebook group of other creative vending machine owners that all share what they can to help each other out.

"Lubbock is in a little different situation, though, compared to a lot of the other cities where people are doing these vending machines," said Sam. "They generally suggest people to go to their local distributor. Lubbock doesn't have one -- the closest one is in Dallas. So right now I mainly hunt Facebook Marketplace."

Right now, there are two Little Crow's Market vending machines in Lubbock: one at the Brand Tattoo Studio on 50th, and one at Tumbleweed & Sage all the way out in Wolfforth. Both machines are cash only because they are older, and because they are older they require a lot of work upfront, as well as semi-regular maintenance, and Sam is responsible for all of that.

"Each machine is different," said Sam. "There are so many different types, and I am my own maintenance person and mechanic. So whenever I get them I have to see what's wrong with them, find the manual online, figure out how to program it. That way I can figure out how to set prices and make sure the items drop properly. If something happens I have to fix it. So I am fully the person responsible for learning these machines. There's not a local technician or anything, its just me."