If you had an LNS...

Jangchub wrote:

Karen, you actually waited two years for a product to "come in?" At
what point did you start to think, maybe I should go elsewhere? Two
years??? Did you really hang on for two years? I am comnpletely
amazed by this.




It wasn't my order, so I didn't have the authority to cancel it. Just
had the authority to pick it up when it came in to save my friend the
trip to the shop if I was there already.

Since she wasn't actually working on the project yet, she was in no
great rush to get it.

--
Karen C - California
Editor/Proofreader www.IntlProofingConsortium.com

SEPTEMBER IS CHRONIC PAIN AWARENESS MONTH

Finished 9/9/08 - Butterfly Drama (Dimensions)

WIP: Nativity from "Countdown to Christmas" book, Oriental Kimono
(Janlynn),
MLI The Teacher (gift to the library), Bethany Angel (Marbek)
Retrieved from UFO pile: Marbek's Snow Angel, MLI Farmers Market

CFSfacts -- where we give you the facts and dispel the myths
Myths, with research cites: http://www.aacfs.org/images/pdfs/myths.pdf
Newest research blog: http://journals.aol.com/kmc528/Lifeasweknowit/

On Sep 19, 2:57*pm, lucretia borgia
wrote:
On Fri, 19 Sep 2008 10:22:33 -0700 (PDT),
opined:



That's good to know. You also mentioned "big ticket items'. How much
variety in stands, lights, etc., do you think is reasonable or
necessary?

Louisa

Louisa, at the risk of being forward, are you thinking of thrilling
metro by opening an LNS ?

I'm just doing a little research and "what iffing" right now.
Louisa

Jangchub wrote:

On Sat, 20 Sep 2008 21:21:53 -0700, Karen C in California
wrote:


Jangchub wrote:

Karen, you actually waited two years for a product to "come in?" At
what point did you start to think, maybe I should go elsewhere? Two
years??? Did you really hang on for two years? I am comnpletely
amazed by this.




It wasn't my order, so I didn't have the authority to cancel it. Just
had the authority to pick it up when it came in to save my friend the
trip to the shop if I was there already.

Since she wasn't actually working on the project yet, she was in no
great rush to get it.


I understand, but two years? That's my question. The waiting two
years?



As I say, she wasn't working on it yet, so was quite willing to take it
whenever it came in. They (and I do mean both the owner and the hired
help) repeatedly led us to believe the order had been placed and this
item was backordered; it was only during the closing sale when I asked
"so when that stuff finally comes in, are you going to mail it to her
house or what?" that I found out the order was never even placed.

And, sure enough, when Needle Delights re-opened after the hurricane, I
was talking to Kathy about placing an order and found out that she had
had no trouble at all getting stock of that particular fiber in the past
two years.

That backorder crap was simply BS to get her to stick with them instead
of cancelling the order and going through another shop. (At some point
when I was getting some oddities through another shop, I had made the
suggestion "tell me what colors you need and I'll toss it in with my
order" and she responded that if it's backordered to one shop, it'd be
backordered to all shops, may as well stick with the old order that
should be at the top of the manufacturer's shipping list when it was
finally available.)

--
Karen C - California
Editor/Proofreader www.IntlProofingConsortium.com

SEPTEMBER IS CHRONIC PAIN AWARENESS MONTH

Finished 9/9/08 - Butterfly Drama (Dimensions)

WIP: Nativity from "Countdown to Christmas" book, Oriental Kimono
(Janlynn),
MLI The Teacher (gift to the library), Bethany Angel (Marbek)
Retrieved from UFO pile: Marbek's Snow Angel, MLI Farmers Market

CFSfacts -- where we give you the facts and dispel the myths
Myths, with research cites: http://www.aacfs.org/images/pdfs/myths.pdf
Newest research blog: http://journals.aol.com/kmc528/Lifeasweknowit/

wrote:

I'm just doing a little research and "what iffing" right now.
Louisa


And when you do, let us know so we can all place a Welcome To Business
order!


--
Karen C - California
Editor/Proofreader www.IntlProofingConsortium.com

SEPTEMBER IS CHRONIC PAIN AWARENESS MONTH

Finished 9/9/08 - Butterfly Drama (Dimensions)

WIP: Nativity from "Countdown to Christmas" book, Oriental Kimono
(Janlynn),
MLI The Teacher (gift to the library), Bethany Angel (Marbek)
Retrieved from UFO pile: Marbek's Snow Angel, MLI Farmers Market

CFSfacts -- where we give you the facts and dispel the myths
Myths, with research cites: http://www.aacfs.org/images/pdfs/myths.pdf
Newest research blog: http://journals.aol.com/kmc528/Lifeasweknowit/

anne wrote:
says...

You also mentioned "big ticket items'. How much variety in stands,
lights, etc., do you think is reasonable or necessary?

I wouldn't waste floor space or inventory money on Ott lights and other items
that are readily available in other places, especially ones that offer coupons
or regularly have 40% off sales. Instead, I might have one or two hard to find
but wonderful floor and lap stands, frames, hoops, etc. I'd also have a
notebook containing pictures of other 'must have' items prominently displayed.

and another thing -- it's impossible for a shop to have everything so good
relationships with reputable suppliers who ship things quickly is very
important. Case in point -- I needed a piece of congress cloth for a project
and rather than order it online, I went to LNS. She didn't have any but when
she offered to order it for me, I said 'yes.' Weeks passed and I didn't hear
from her. I finally called and was told that the order hadn't come in yet.
Almost 8 weeks after placing the order, I was told it had arrived at the shop.

Turns out she had ordered it from NN (y'all figure out who/what that is g) I
paid her what I would've paid them plus sales tax but not shipping and
handling.

My first purchase at my LNS was a big ticket item. A daylight lamp that
they had on display for $30 less than I could find online (and none of
the chain stores around could meet their price). Plus I didn't have to
pay shipping, only sales tax. Granted, I had to wait for it to come in,
but it took less than a week!

--
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her wipe out Bunny's world domination.
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lefthanded-pathetic-paranoid-psychotic-sarcastic-wiseass-ditzy
former-blonde in Bloomington! (And proud of it, too)©
email me at nalee1964 (at) comcast (dot) net
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I'm just doing a little research and "what iffing" right now.
Louisa

you will want to find out what the minimum order your suppliers will
fill. For example if someone wanted you to order fabric in a particular
colour and count that you do not stock. . Some guilds like to order all
the fabric and threads for a particular project that more than one
member is working on, what is the maximum wait time before you can get
it from your supplies.
You might actually get a feel of the market by attending local guilds
and asking them to fill out a survey for you.
How often do you tend to start new projects, what type, style of
needlework do you do. even the hated question, How much do you tend to
spend a year a month on needlework supplies. Do you purchased vary
seasonally eg; do you buy more in the spring and summer for xmas gift
projects etc. Which threads do you use, list the types and ask how
often do you tend to purchase say krenic braid or Caron watercolours.
once a year, once every 6 months, once every three etc. You get the gist.
You probably know all this already. but....
It requires a lot of initial investment to have a good variety of
threads, fabric, beads, patterns etc. and as with any business you
need to be able to weather AT LEAST 6 months with little sales until
you are known. And parking, parking, parking.
Knowledgeable staff, not merely sales clerks.

I would love to see a local shop and try to patronize local shops, I
still go over to the hobby shop for what supplies they do carry.

I am fairly sure that the local needlework guilds would give you a chance
Ruby

On Sep 21, 5:51*pm, lucretia borgia
wrote:
On Sun, 21 Sep 2008 09:06:21 -0700 (PDT),
opined:



On Sep 19, 2:57*pm, lucretia borgia
wrote:
On Fri, 19 Sep 2008 10:22:33 -0700 (PDT),
opined:

That's good to know. You also mentioned "big ticket items'. How much
variety in stands, lights, etc., do you think is reasonable or
necessary?

Louisa

Louisa, at the risk of being forward, are you thinking of thrilling
metro by opening an LNS ?

I'm just doing a little research and "what iffing" right now.
Louisa

There are plenty who would stand behind you.

If we build it, you will come ? : )

Louisa

On Sep 21, 6:51*pm, Ruby wrote:
I'm just doing a little research and "what iffing" right now.
Louisa

you will want to find out what the minimum order your suppliers will
fill. For example if someone wanted you to order fabric in a particular
colour and count that you do not stock. . Some guilds like to order all
the fabric and threads for a particular project that more than one
member is working on, what is the maximum wait time before you can get
it from your supplies.
You might actually get a feel of the market by attending local guilds
and asking them to fill out a survey for you.
How often do you tend to start new projects, what type, style of
needlework do you do. even the hated question, *How much do you tend to
spend a year a month on needlework supplies. Do you purchased vary
seasonally eg; do you buy more in the spring and summer for xmas gift
projects etc. *Which threads do you use, list the types and ask how
often do you tend to purchase say krenic braid or Caron watercolours.
once a year, once every 6 months, once every three etc. You get the gist.
You probably know all this already. but....
It requires a lot of initial investment to have a good variety of
threads, fabric, beads, patterns etc. and *as with any business *you
need to be able to weather *AT LEAST *6 months with little sales until
you are known. And parking, parking, parking.
Knowledgeable staff, not merely sales clerks.

I would love to see a local shop and try to patronize local shops, I
still go over to the hobby shop for what supplies they do carry.

I am fairly sure that the local needlework guilds would give you a chance
Ruby

The issue of minimum orders is one that I know can cause problems. I
worked at one shop when I lived in Boston where certain distributors
simply refused to deal with the owners because they could only
reasonably order, say, two dozen of something, instead of at least a
gross. So even though she wanted to, the owner just couldn't carry
certain items, even though she wanted to. Are you in Halifax as well,
Ruby?

Louisa

On Sep 21, 5:03*pm, Karen C in California wrote:
wrote:

I'm just doing a little research and "what iffing" right now.
Louisa

And when you do, let us know so we can all place a Welcome To Business
order!

--
Karen C - California
Editor/Proofreaderwww.IntlProofingConsortium.com

SEPTEMBER IS CHRONIC PAIN AWARENESS MONTH

Finished 9/9/08 - Butterfly Drama (Dimensions)

WIP: Nativity from "Countdown to Christmas" book, Oriental Kimono
(Janlynn),
MLI The Teacher (gift to the library), Bethany Angel (Marbek)
Retrieved from UFO pile: Marbek's Snow Angel, MLI Farmers Market

CFSfacts -- where we give you the facts and dispel the myths
Myths, with research cites:http://www.aacfs.org/images/pdfs/myths.pdf
Newest research blog:http://journals.aol.com/kmc528/Lifeasweknowit/

But of course!

Louisa

Jangchub wrote:
So, the person waiting the two years is a victim of the shop owner
which told her these two skeins(?) of something was ordered snip The problem is
with the person who waited. In my maturity, a person or shop or
whatever gets on chance. I mark a duration in my mind and if not
feasibly met, I move one.


Surely you aren't condoning shops lying to customers and saying ALL the
blame falls on the customer when the shopowner lies and the customer
reasonably believes it? I'd been dealing with this LNS for 15 years and
I didn't think they would lie, either, till they admitted during the
closing sale that her stuff would never come in because it was never
actually ordered.

The problem was, they said "it's backordered", and she was convinced
that it would be backordered to all LNSs, whereas it crossed my mind
that someone else might have some left from an earlier shipment.

Like you, had it been me, I would've waited a couple months and then
called around to see if I could find it elsewhere, and cancelled the
original order once I found another source.

But some people have a different idea of being a "nice person" or "good
customer", and once they've placed an order, don't like to cancel it
because what if the poor shopowner gets stuck with it and can't sell it
to anyone else?

Since she was in no rush to get all the supplies for this project
waiting in a long queue, it just didn't make any difference to her
whether she got it now or later. Whenever it came in was fine with her,
and then she'd know it was "fresh", not something that had been sitting
on someone's shelf long enough to be too fragile to stitch with. (I
suspect there was also some concern that she'd be paying as much in S&H
as the cost of the fibers if she mail-ordered, which was why I offered
to toss it in with my order from another shop.)

Maybe she would've been more pro-active if it had been a WIP, I don't
know. Still, I think a fair amount of the blame has to be laid at the
feet of the shop, for continually reassuring her that it had been
ordered soon after she asked for it, when they knew full well that they
were lying.

--
Karen C - California
Editor/Proofreader www.IntlProofingConsortium.com

SEPTEMBER IS CHRONIC PAIN AWARENESS MONTH

Finished 9/9/08 - Butterfly Drama (Dimensions)

WIP: Nativity from "Countdown to Christmas" book, Oriental Kimono
(Janlynn),
MLI The Teacher (gift to the library), Bethany Angel (Marbek)
Retrieved from UFO pile: Marbek's Snow Angel, MLI Farmers Market

CFSfacts -- where we give you the facts and dispel the myths
Myths, with research cites: http://www.aacfs.org/images/pdfs/myths.pdf
Newest research blog: http://journals.aol.com/kmc528/Lifeasweknowit/