As if I didn’t already love the city of Chicago enough, here comes Good Things Vending, making it the city even more awesome! And while they started in Chicago, GTV now has a wider vending community across the U.S. What makes Good Things Vending special is that rather than offering the typical vending machine items – drinks, snacks, etc. – they offer things like local art, vintage and nostalgic items, oddities, and other needful things that you wouldn’t expect to come from a vending machine.
On the Good Things Vending website, you can also sign up to become a Good Things artist, you can host a machine, you can paint a machine, and they will even help you build your own “vending machine dream”! They offer an art club, vending classes, and even 30-minute calls with a mentor from GTV.
Years ago, the company’s founder Steph was in a rut. She had been pursuing what she describes as “increasingly serious roles” in the hospitality industry, and the lack of fun and playfulness was wearing her down. As a child, she spent loads of time at her family’s antique toy and game company. That background combined with her love of art and some time spent in Japan, the vending machine capital of the world, led her to abandon her corporate gig and start Good Things Vending. Her artist mother inspired her to offer a combination of art and antique curiosities and other fun stuff in her reclaimed vending machines.
2025 – small steps all year 🙂 Building an art vending machine project is totally in your grasp if you are into that kind of thing. More info on the learn tab of my website goodthingsvending.com
〰️ It’s hard to be concise about how Good Things got here but generally it went like this… 🔹 I purchased an AP vending machine off Craigslist and had it delivered to a space I could work on it. Lived in a 3rd floor walk up so had to call in a favor to find a space for the machine. 🔸 I had a credit card reader installed. There are pros and cons to the two major processors for vending machines (Cantaloupe and Nayax). Could talk about this forever but I went with Cantaloupe. 🔹 I started pitching locations, got a bunch of no’s before I got a yes. Each time I refined my pitch. I talked about my vending machine dream all the time and eventually that led to my first location at the Chicago Cultural Center. 🔸 Once I knew where the machine was going to land I started connecting with artists about painting the outside. Was lucky to get a yes from one of my favorite artists @mollyannebishop . We talked about where the machine was going to live and Molly built a design around the space. 🔹 When I stated, the machine was stocked with a combo of wholesale goods, flea market finds, and artists goods in on consignment. Now I aim to have less consignment work because of the admin labor involved but it’s still my preferred way to try out new work. 🔸 Moving the machine was a surprising headache at the start. I worked with art handlers at first and it was more expensive and generally they seemed less confident moving the giant machine. Now my machines are all moved by Joe, my vending machine guy. He moved them solo or with one extra set of hands in his flatbed with a lift gate. Dudes a legend. 🆒 Sign up for the newsletter and come join on discord! Drop your questions below!! I want to help you build you vending machines dream if you are into that kinda thing 🫠 . . . #vendingmachine#vendingmachinebusiness#artvendingmachine#retrovendingmachine#vintagevendingmachine#chicagovendingmachine#chicagoartist#chicagoartist#goodthingsvending#vending#artvending#theloop#downtownchicago#onlyinchicago
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