Are Craft Stores Going Too Far?

Recently noticing trends, creators like me are harshly criticizing their local craft stores. These stores specialize in crafts as a base product, but mix them with other home decor and finished items.

I argue this point as a former store owner, but the creators may not be entirely wrong.

Add your perspective to this thought in the blog comments below. I want to hear what you think!

When I owned my store, I had about 30 suppliers in my 4,000-square-foot store. When I ran low on a product, it was a real problem for me as I would have to order and wait, and as my store would completely run out, I would be letting down customers one after another—supply versus demand.

Many major craft stores sell non-crafting finished goods. I imagine this is to diversify their offerings and open the market beyond creators to those who feel they cannot create but know the store has other products that don't require assembly or a train of thought to use the raw materials to create something fabulous.

I don't go to Walmart very often, as it's hectic, but if you examine what makes Walmart popular, you may be anti-Walmart. Bear with me on this analogy. You can buy your yarn, add some groceries, get new clothing, and possibly pick up your prescriptions simultaneously. Walmart's diversity of products makes it such a powerful player in the retail space.

Craft-based stores, especially large locations, cannot survive on supplies alone. This cuts off demographics. If I take a break from crochet for a year, I have no need to visit the craft store, but I know they have great decorations or other finished items, so I can still visit the store with a purpose.

Craft Stores

We creators must think beyond our personal crafts and look at the larger picture. The store has associates and people in your own community who work there. While I can crochet up a storm, I cannot decorate a wreath and will most likely buy a finished one. It's easier, and I don't have to stress about buying wreath materials to have it instantly done, though they are available. It's not cheating; it's my reality of my own personal crafting interest.

Creators can argue, yes, the home decor and non-craft items are low or sold out, while other raw materials may be low or sold out. This goes back to me owning a store for my own reasons.

Have you ever wondered how many suppliers a craft store has?

For example, a large craft store has about 30,000 to 40,000 items; a yarn could have 4 to 20 colours.

Celebrities are popular, but creators in the creative space have a lot of influence on what people look at and inspire others to create. A creator can increase the sales of raw materials. Depending on where you live, others in your region may be influenced by the same individual.

If you have ever noticed, many home decor items come in as a season and are replaced by the following season. Look at the brand on the price sticker. Chances are, they are from a single source and are being shipped together to load up a seasonal section.

Products that are everyday items, where stock comes in when it launches and trickles to refill as it's selling, with shipments being sent to the store, can require an armada of suppliers, as canvas isn't most likely supplied by the same manufacturer of artificial flowers.

While it's easy to give the stores a hard time and give brutal critiques, which may be justified at times, the supply chain to feed an entire store with that many products will always have holes in the stock somewhere.

Yes, when we are in need of products and we see empty shelves, it can make me tail spin as well. But I have to realize there are more people in the world than just me and roll with the punches.

There Are Solutions

If you are not in an immediate rush, many of the stores have an online store that you can team up with. I find I can buy yarn, thinking I need it immediately. Sometimes, I do, but most times, I can wait a bit. You can order online and pick up at the store, which I have been doing recently, or you can have it shipped to you. If your store is sold out, it can come from another store. It might not solve the issue if you are crafting today and need that glue stick today, but there's always a silver lining somewhere.

I'm generally familiar with stores, but I think it's because of my background in owning a store and working in trucking logistics for years. Things don't magically appear on the shelf, and we don't think about the supply chain or the drivers moving around the products. As a trucker, I could be so tired and then be given a hard time by a retailer when I got there, as they were expecting the shipment a week earlier, which I wasn't involved in and take it out on me for the supplier shipping their products later than they should have. Most likely, the shipper blamed the trucking firm for the lateness to save them from their issues.

Keep in mind that the more you complain about a craft store, the more reasons you will have to complain when the store is gone. Support them as much as you can, as we love it when we can shop local for supplies. It takes more than just a few people to make it happen; it takes entire communities and surrounding regions to make it viable. You may be crafty, but not everything in your community is. Let others shop to help keep your local supply store in business.