Cotswold Keepsakes are closing this August- am gutted

[Pixiefish]

here

It's horrible- so many craft shops are closing. Please support local bricks and mortar shops or we won't have any choice soon and it'll be the big Tesco's and ebay and internet shops who'll have the monopoly and then we'll have no choice.

I'm gutted. i love CK and have bought loads of stash from there

I know, we have a 'proper' art shop in town & its great. Packed full of proper stuff - not a huge amount of card making stuff but what they have is great. The staff are really helpful too when you don't quite know what you need !

Don't have any local bricks and mortar craft shops here. Not that don't involve a special trip out.

most bricks and mortar shops have www addys you can buy from. Big upset on ukscrappers at the moment about so many shops closing cos they just can't compete with businesses that dont have the overheads and are undercutting the shops

actually the last craft fair I went too - was talking to a stall holder who sold loads of card making bits & he said it was so hard to keep afloat because of all the competition

We lost our craft shop a couple of months ago due to internet competition. There's a sewing shop that's branched out into a limited, and rather rubbish, range of card-making ephemera, but my only other options are online or a Hobbycraft at a garden centre.

have a read hee as well

That's a good link, Pixie.

Obv affected by the loss of canny crafts, which was due to illmness but I have to say, whenever I went there it was just me, James and this big warehouse . Surely nothing beats seeing what you want- especially colours and detail on stamps and things? And lets face it, if I need 12 cm of pink ribbon to finish a card, I want it now- not in two - three days allowing for postal delays.

I live near a big city (newport) and near another big town (Cwmbran) yet all we have is a HobbyCraft (sorry, but no) The Range (marginally better, also I notice going into online art sales any day now) and a bizarre little shop that sells nothing but sisix cut outs and brown card blanks, oh yeah and the dangly bits cut off beaded mobiles. (??)

It is good that WH Smith and their ilk are starting out in the field,a s it make it more accessible. But Asda, tesco- their stuff is very basic.

We have to try and buy from proper businesses where we can- ones that pay tax, vat etc. This does mean paying a little more sometimes as we have to pay the vat BUT it will keep our british stash shops/businesses going.

I'm as guilty as anyone for buying sizzix from the us as its cheaper when i started out but i now buy from the us only when i can't get it in the uk.

We had a valuable lesson that price wasn't everything last year with an unmentionable shop who got customers on price but failed to deliver the goods or service.

I know of lots of businesses that are online only but they are 'proper' businesses, paying tax, vat etc and i was actually classing these in with bricks and mortar shops.

What i'm not doing is buying from the type who are running a 'cowboy' operation, seriously undercutting the competition to get sales because they don't have the same costs as a proper business.

Hope i haven't been too muddled in my rant but its something i feel strongly about as we have our own computer business and dh gets undercut by 'cowboys' who build a couple of pc's a week from their spare room and sell for a few quid more than it cost them to build because they don't have any business overheads and pay no tax or vat or anyhting so don't have to take these factors into the equation

Its so sad to see that another craft store will be closing its doors

We are in the process of finalising our move to a B&M and its bloomin scarey when you read of long standing stores closing their doors.
Diversifying into other areas so you are not just offering one service seems to be the way to go....customers want/need choice at reasonable prices it seems.

There are so many online stores in all areas competing for business that there will always be those who drop prices to rock bottom and have a loss leading line....I can see why they do it...customers buy the goods because they are cheaper than anywhere else. The site will have a minimum spend or offer free P&P over a certain spend. Customer gets a bargain item but is "forced" into spending more to make the initial purchase. Im not a fan of linked selling as I feel it devalues products.
An offer of reduced priced older ranges/items means stock gets cleared making way for new lines and the customer gets a good deal.

Most of the UK distributors will not allow retailers to purchase from them without your business being registered with the tax office etc.

Internet sales have soared over the last year. Take a look in your own high streets and see how many independant stores have closed. We recently lost our local record store because he couldnt compete with the big boys like Tescos etc and online businesses.

I know I got a better deal when buying my camera by going to an independant. The service was outstanding and the owner of the store spent as much time as I wanted, showing me how to use the camera properly. When I went to one of the nationals the junior salesperson couldnt even be bothered to show me where the cameras were....far too busy sorting out his Saturday night out travel arrangements with his co worker.

Support all your local independants if you can...and I dont just mean craft related.

I would like someone to open a craft shop where I live (in fact, I have contemplated it myself enough!). Sadly, it's a 30 minute trek to my nearest ones which is quite difficult for me to do with a tiny one and another on the way, which is why I tend to use online shops I guess.

I would also like them to offer crops and classes. If they did that then I suspect they would end up asking me to contribute towards their council tax, as I would be there that much!

But I agree, when I do get chance to have a browse, it is so lovely just being next to the strokable papers rather than seeing a jpeg of them!

JM whats a B&M?

bricks and mortar ucm.

Pixiefish, Dh sells a few unitss (not PC's, DJ light controllers) a week but he has to pay for Sam's BIBIC fees, or he can't go. And he is registred for tax, fully trained and experienced (20 years plus experience), just can't afford to go full time with me studying for possinble at this rate another 5 years. Trust me Dh doesn't 6want^ two jobs, he's just doing an extra to cover for me.

JM let us know when you go B&M, we're down in Devon a lot in the Autumn. Are you hoping for then? (carnival season looms again.....)

I had a dream of opening a craft shop. It would have a cafe too. Unfortunately I'd probably bankrupt myself by taking home most of the stock...

There's a shop in town here that's not doing particularly well and I am certain I could make a success of it but unfortunately I just don't have the time so I'm trying to encourage the lady that owns it with my ideas and they seem to be taking off

Good for you Pixie.
1:4 houses in the US and 1:10 in Oz scrapbook....without spreading the word by holding classes and crops then the UK will never see the numbers they have overses. Ther are plenty of B&M stores out there that dont even know about the full range of scrapping goodies that are available. Local to me they had never heard of Gesso, UTEE or even Ranger inks!!!

I try hard to be supportive and shop there, but it is really difficult as choice for scrap related items is very limited......hence me always buying online for my stash goodies.

I do use the local B&M for other crafty goodies...canvasses, brushes etc etc

i'm taking loads of stuff that i've altered and inks and stuff as everytime i mention this stuff to the shop owner she has no idea about it.

am also taking my albums so that she can see the range of stash available. The problem is that she's a cardie and so has never scrappped so has no idea of what's out there. She's coming to the crop tonight so i'm sure she'll be so enthused afterwards. Was telling her about paperbag books and stuff and she had no idea