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Caring for our Local Yarn Shops

Writer's picture: Rebecca (a yarn enthusiast)Rebecca (a yarn enthusiast)

Do you have a local yarn shop (LYS) in your area, and by LYS I mean an independent store that is not part of a national or international retail chain?


Are you grateful to have that resource in your community?


This blog is for all who treasure a local yarn shop and the people that own and operate them! But this isn't all warm and fuzzy - this is a call to action!


As consumers, it helps to understand some basic economics. Let's start with supply and demand.

In VERY simple terms, if we keep buying, sellers can continue to sell. On the flip side, since this is a "law", we can then assume that when we slow or stop our buying, sellers must evaluate the pros and cons of staying in business.


Let's look briefly at the basic costs of staying in business.


Most shop owners are paying some sort of rent/lease on the space that they bedeck with all varieties of yarns and knitting/crochet tools and supplies. They also will have costs for insurance, utilities (whether separate or rolled into the lease), and equipment (think modern day cash register options that allow for credit cards, Apple pay, etc.). There are displays that must be built or bought so they can showcase all that yummy yarn and some level of advertising is generally needed, even if it's only the bare minimum. All of these things (and more!) have to be in place before the first box of inventory arrives, and yes - inventory costs money too!


Before the very first customer walks into a new yarn shop, the owner has invested a LOT of money into the business that we yarn enthusiasts can sometimes take for granted (unintentionally, of course!).


AND,... (and this is hard for some of us to admit so everybody take a deep breath!) we have been trained by big box retailers across the shopping spectrum on how to treat retail people and places. This is where we need to STOP and take another deep breath and THINK about those impulses and inclinations.


When we are dealing with Big Box retailers, we have been trained that "the customer is always right" and that we can stomp our feet and insist that we want our money back, and most of the time, regardless of the circumstances - we'll get our way (I've never done this as a customer, but have worked retail enough across my lifetime that I've seen this up close and personal multiple times). The "owners" feel like some nameless, faceless board that doesn't seem relevant to us, and we assume that they have plenty of money, so our refund or insistence on a coupon deduction that actually expired last month won't hurt them one bit.


That may be the case for at least some of the big box retailers, but having this mindset when dealing with our local yarn folks is a zero sum game. We have to pause our default response to retailers when dealing with small businesses, and think about the impact we are having on our neighbors. It's simply NOT the same playing field as the big box stores, and if we APPRECIATE having the resource that is a local yarn shop - we need to treat them like rare, precious and limited resources, because that's who they are!


I like to think that when I am patronizing a small, local business, I have as much responsibility to THEM as they have to their CUSTOMERS, including me. It's a two-way street. I am not some powerful, always-right customer who can go into a store and demand what I want,... or else. I am a partner with that business in the sustaining of this small business in my neighborhood or town.


To serve in this manner, I recommend several key steps. These are going to vary in SCOPE for each person because we all have varying budgets, needs, time, incomes and interests, but the basic outline of how to be in "partnership" with a local yarn shop (LYS) remains the same.


Supporting a LYS - a guide for yarn enthusiasts

  1. Make a commitment to shop there at least once a month

    1. Weekly works too!

    2. Remember that your shopping dollars at the LYS help keep the doors open and the yarn stocked!

  2. Make a commitment to participate in at least 2 LYS-sponsored events each year.

    1. More is always better - for you and your mental health, as well as the LYS proprietor.

    2. If you're NOT supporting in this manner now, set a goal for 2 in the next 12 months

  3. Clearance sales are GREAT, but keep in mind that when a LYS puts things on CLEARANCE, yes - they want to make room in the inventory for NEW SUPPLIES, but very often they are taking a LOSS on those sales.

    1. Commit to balancing CLEARANCE purchases at the LYS with full price purchases.

    2. Do the math. Businesses can have thousands of dollars in expenses each month. Out of the prices WE pay, only a fraction/percentage is actually going into the shop owner's pocket as profit.

  4. Mark-up on yarn is estimated to be around 50% (this is an estimate).

    1. This means that the $32 a skein yarn is only going to put $16 in the pocket of the shop owner.

    2. How many skeins at $16/skein profit would a shop need to sell each month to pay $1,500 in monthly business expenses? (HINT: a lot!)

      1. $1,500 in expenses = ~94 skeins at $16 profit

      2. Don't forget that the owner still has to have money to invest in new inventory, pay any employees, and incidental business expenses - PLUS, the inventory is going to have a variety of profit margins - some lower than that $16 (higher too, but you get the picture).

      3. ALSO - understand that when the shop runs a SALE (offers a coupon), it often (usually) comes off their profit - not out of the amount they owe/paid to the yarn distributor.

        1. 20% off that $32 skein means that the owner will STILL pay the distributor the $16 wholesale price. but will take in $16 - $6.40 (20% off) which will then result in a profit of only $9.60 for those skeins.

      4. PLUS,... think about your household income. No one goes into business just to break even and pay expenses - this is their JOB/CAREER and they are counting on making their salary from this business after paying all those expenses.

  5. Follow them on Social Media; LIKE and SHARE their posts!

    1. This helps bring in NEW customers - which helps spread around the customer support responsibilities.

    2. Leave POSITIVE COMMENTS on their websites or social media pages.

      1. Thank them for great service or assistance

      2. Call out a wonderful product they got into the store

      3. IMPORTANT: if you have a complaint, speak to them in person - and leave it off of social media.

        1. Grace/being gracious boomerangs back to us, so let's make sure we're generous in extending it when we feel we've been "wronged".

  6. THANK them for being in your community!

    1. Don't assume that they "play with yarn" all day (they don't!)

    2. Acknowledge the work they do to provide us with so many opportunities and yarn adventures.

To help us be mindful about the GOOD that our LYS's bring to our communities, I recommend making a list of the positive attributes of our local yarn shop and keeping it with our yarn and/or projects. This helps us REMEMBER how much we love and appreciate our local yarn shops and owners for things like:

  1. unique selection

  2. quality products

  3. friendly face(s)

  4. help with knitting/crochet questions

  5. CLASSES!

  6. a place where we feel seen/heard


I believe that it was Ralph Waldo Emerson who reminded us that: "To have a friend, we must BE a friend." As it relates to our beloved local yarn shops, here's my version of Emerson's quote:


If we hope to enjoy our local yarn shops tomorrow, we must support them today!

Happy crocheting, knitting and other yarn shenanigans!


 

(C) 2023 Stitch 'n Dish






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