Death of the Craft store...

So far, so good here, although we've lost a locally owned store. I think it just couldn't compete with Michael's and Hobby Lobby. I know what you mean about shopping online for craft supplies. I have done it when I couldn't find the yarn I wanted, but I try to support the stores we have. I don't want them going out of business! And I'm sorry yours has.

My Walmarts are bringing back the fabric

Crafts are a soft target for the recession I'm afraid. Rents are going up and the numbers of customers are going down, plus their wallets are on a diet. In this climate, the Internet is about the only way to go as the overhead can be near zero to create a very professional looking 'store'. Mom & Pop have not disappeared, they've headed to cyberspace the way the farmers fled the Oklahoma Dust Bowel for California in droves. You can run speciality stores, take risks, and sell things for a nitch market with out the fear of loosing the shirt off your back when you open a Yahoo store. Your inventory can be sitting under the bed for all the world to know, yet your 'store' can look as professional as Amazon. You can do your customer service in your P.J.s.

Actually where I was living this was happening and than walmart did change there craft section to be little as possible. But some good news ahead. I've heard Walmart is bringing back there craft section because of a huge lost in sales. So I hope this helps you and comes back to your walmart. So far this has been true in our area. And I to love shopping in the stores and feeling the things I wanna purchase. but if all ends fails quess online would have to be it. I hope it all works out thou.

We have a couple of higher end craft stores left here but not many. By higher end I mean more expensive product sellers. It is sad to see alot of these mom and pop places close but that is the way of the future. I do try to frequent the little places and feel I am helping them as best I can. Sad to see them go.

We use to have 5 large cloth stores here, we are down to 3 and one specializes only in cotton for quilting, the other one more for the Hutterites, the 3rd is a family owned disaster and you have practicly beg to have service. Walmart did have a craft section that was awesome but they closed to move the store and the new store has taken 2 years to begin to get a craft section. So that leaves Michaels, 3 dollars stores (ack), Staples and Walmart... its so sad! We do have places like Zellars etc but crayola isn't exactly what artists use for permanent displays. Luckily my child is still into glitter glue and is happy with acrylic paint on canvas!

Sadly, I also think that it is NOT just the financial crunch that is causing the "disappearing" Craft store...in my opinion, I think "crafting" except for us, die hard few, has gone by the way of electronic entertainment devices! Very, very seldom do I find young persons, from my son's generation..doing any crafting of any form, and not even interested in creating beautiful things, that are proudly their own! It seems so much easier, for them, to buy..NOT create! I am not picking on that generation...but somewhere the "crafting" interest has gone awry. I live on a small Island, so NO craft stores...but recently 2 of the Michaels in large Metro areas, Victoria and Vancouver have folded. Here in B.C., they were extremely expensive! Walmart built a HUMUNGOUS (quadruple Warehouse size) store in Victoria area...and NO craft items..None, Nada! About 20 years ago, when I took up "pergamano" (parchment craft-ancient) I was able to obtain supplies most places. NOW, I have ONE on-line store on the East Coast of Canada, and I don't like buying supplies that way! I, too, am an avid knitter, but am finding it diminishing from the shelves, too! Very little at Walmart, Zellers, Sears or the Bay! I used to be able to buy "Cowichan" wool most places..not now! Another downside of the financial downturn, in my area, is the diminishing "Craft Fair and Sales,"! Few participants..and NO money! It seems so different, to me...when/where I grew up, about the only thing we didn't make was our shoes..but we did make mocassins...and we would shop (LOL) for 50# Flour sacks..as they all used to be made of beautiful printed cotton that could be made into many things! Dating myself, aren't I? Have a great week!

We have the same problem here...our JoAnn's moved...and two scrapbook stores closed.Walmart doesn't really have anything for either scrapping...or stamping. My two favorite crafts....Dang it anyway!

Isnt that the sadest thing! Where I used to live there was a Joanne Crafts and a Michaels really near by, but they weren't there until just few years ago...they moved from a farther location to closer to another town. But now.. I have moved to a different area and a Joannes is about 20 minutes away via freeway and smaller than the one I was used to and a michaels about same distance...haven't been there yet. Michaels doesn't do fabric and that is my medium at the moment... but they had great stuff before. But the only other place in this entire area....is Walmart...has an isle of fabric and an isle of notions etc...and that's it. Cutting table is only 2 yards long! It is a shame crafts are not popular anymore. People sure are missing out on a speciality in life.

I think that's just it! The online stores are forcing the stores, even the big chain stores, to close down. Although it's better to feel the fabric when you're in a store, it's better for business to sell their products online. That way when a consumer doesn't like the fabric when he/she receives it, he/she will order more online. Good for business!

This is what happens when we do most shopping on line and only patronize our local stores when we need something fast. It's happening to bookstores, too. If we can't support them most of the time, they simply can't afford to stay in business and we will have to do all our shopping for non-perishable goods on line.

I live in Dallas, Tx and one would think as large as we are there would be more options for crafting but sadly this is not the case. My favorite bead store went out of business and I have yet to find one that carries the products that she did all under one roof. Many are specializing only. I do weaving, wire work and other types and I am not one for a lot of shopping. I truly felt like that store was home. I guess I get attached too easily! I learned how to bead there and so the staff was like family. A couple of them have gone to work elsewhere but I have to drive 32 miles to that store. Not you average jump in the car and go snooping event. I do have Michaels and Hobby Lobby close by and I love those stores but they are pretty pricey. I usually end up on Ebay but I like to see what I am buying because those photos can be so misleading. We have JoAnns Fabrics and Hancock Fabrics. Like them both and depends on what I am shopping for as to where I go. There are a couple of bead stores fairly close but one specializes in stones and so forth and the other about the same. I dearly love working with Swarovski crystals but they are nearly extinct here because we can't compete with Ebay on prices. And those who do have them are to pricey. I wish I could start my own craft store. I have always dreamed of that.

The new generation are only for the most part computer literate they don't seem to want to learn other thing that could help them to create with there hands instead of see things on the screen. In here Canada the Walmart still have some crafts stuff for sale. We still have the " Fabricville" store chain that comes from Montreal, Quebec. Not to worry we can make some more money doing things with our hands and selling it to those that don't work with there hands.