META: Number of posts on RCTN.

On 1/3/04 6:25 PM,"Shstringfellow" posted:

Yes, the owners will argue that it's not worth being open late on the
off-chance someone will come in. I could say that about being open 9-5, too.

There were many times I worked in an office and the phone didn't ring for
several hours.

Yes, and it needs to be consistent, too. There are several stores that will
stay open an hour or two longer one night a week- but when I need something
right then, do you think I can remember if they stay open until 7:00 on
Tuesday
or Thursday- heck no! The hours need to be pretty much the same- maybe adding
a
few more hours on Saturdays.

IME, if a shop has one or 2 nights a week that are the late nights, most
people will remember it - or call to check. It helps if the LNS gives out
something like a magnet card with their hours on it. Staying open late on a
Saturday or Friday night doesn't really work. People tend to do other things
on those nights, than go to a shop - they may go to the mall, but even that
isn't very crowded on Sat night. IMO, it's better to open a little earlier
on Sat. We always have people waiting for the door to open at 10.

Another thing is all of the needlework (this includes embroidery, quilt, or
yarn stores) that only have classes during the day on weekdays- don't they
want
anyone to come?!!!! I drive over an hour to a store that offers classes in the
evening and on the weekends, because the store that is only 5 minutes from me
has them only on week days. And, while I'm there for classes, I buy all the
things I see that I "just can't live without." The local store probably has

Wow - around here all the shops have classes at night, or on a weekend day.
There are some quilting shops which offer day and evening classes - some
might be the same class with a section choice. One of the EGA chapters
actually has a daytime meeting - in the morning - and the same program that
night. In the shop, people ask about daytime classes - but we almost
strictly only do evening classes. Tried some weekend classes - which worked
for some other shops - but for this one - evenings are it. Sometimes we even
keep a list for "potential" sign-ups, and will have customers write down
what evenings work best. It's great when we have flexibility to schedule the
class.

Personally, since I work from the house, and can control my hours, and have
lots of evening commitments - I always like when I can get a class during
the day. It may be less crowded, and also doesn't take away from time with
DH. I do find that most of the other students may be somewhat older - as a
lot of retired folks are around to take daytime classes, and the
stay-at-home moms aren't able to leave little kids, and around here it's a
very high percentage of working women.

Shopping during a class evening, or stitch night is a boon for the shop. It
seems to me that we all urge each other on. Not to mention, if one of us is
having something framed - talk about getting lots of opinions on your choice
of mat and molding ;^)

ellice

My dream shop has a recorded message on the phone line that
tells you the days/hours of operation. Too many of them
don't bother with this and it's such a small thing to do. A
$15 answer machine with a message that only needs to change
at the major holidays makes a world of difference. You can
call anytime and know that you will find out whether or not
they're open now AND when they will be open if they're
closed.

The machine can also state that "this machine does not take
messages" and all machines can be easily programmed to NOT
allow the recording of messages; that way the shopowner
doesn't have to worry that she/he will arrive to a bunch of
messages.

MaryR

On 1/4/04 2:07 PM, in article ,
"Deb Milner" wrote:

On Sat, 03 Jan 2004 15:44:14 GMT, Cheryl Isaak
wrote:

I wonder if someone could pull this off - a cooperative set of shops set in
a "court yard" plaza/mall. A yarn shop, a needlework shop (with broad range
of areas), a quilters shop, a finisher/framer, a tea/coffee shop, maybe even
a bookshop all opening in to a courtyard area (not necessarily open to the
air) with comfortable seating. And don't forget a nice bathroom; how many
times has your enjoyment of something been affected by a gross bathroom.
They all cooperate on costs of operation for heating, lights and the ilk but
maintain separate inventory costs.

That is my dream, and DH has put in many an idea for it, to the point
where it sounds much like the above. His vision is for the
crossstitch store, with a book store on the other side, and the coffee
shop with courtyard in between. A large comfy area for stitchers to
drop in and relax while stitching, and lure my sister up to put a
scrapbooking shop in also. Adding the yarn shop and quilters shop is
an idea I hadn't thought of......

Great minds and all that!

It wouldn't be it a great place to shop. Just imagine.....

Oh, yeah. We have. We talked about it again last night, after a trip
into the LNS in town. (I do wish Sally's wasn't over an hour away).

The LNS I tend to go to when I can't get the Gainesville....well, I
just always feel like an intruder when I go there. I see the knitters
and quilters and others get greeted warmly, and made to feel welcome.
I get the feeling that if you are not part of some secret club they
have, that you are an interloper, get your stuff and get out
please.....the entire front half of the store is cross stitch, so I
know they do cater to us, but I have no idea what it takes to get a
question answered without feeling like I'm in their way.....


I know that feeling in some shops - the yarn shop in Nashua comes to mind.

Cheryl

Cheryl Isaak wrote:

On 1/4/04 2:07 PM, in article ,
"Deb Milner" wrote:


On Sat, 03 Jan 2004 15:44:14 GMT, Cheryl Isaak
wrote:


I wonder if someone could pull this off - a cooperative set of shops set in
a "court yard" plaza/mall. A yarn shop, a needlework shop (with broad range
of areas), a quilters shop, a finisher/framer, a tea/coffee shop, maybe even
a bookshop all opening in to a courtyard area (not necessarily open to the
air) with comfortable seating. And don't forget a nice bathroom; how many
times has your enjoyment of something been affected by a gross bathroom.
They all cooperate on costs of operation for heating, lights and the ilk but
maintain separate inventory costs.

That is my dream, and DH has put in many an idea for it, to the point
where it sounds much like the above. His vision is for the
crossstitch store, with a book store on the other side, and the coffee
shop with courtyard in between. A large comfy area for stitchers to
drop in and relax while stitching, and lure my sister up to put a
scrapbooking shop in also. Adding the yarn shop and quilters shop is
an idea I hadn't thought of......


Great minds and all that!

It wouldn't be it a great place to shop. Just imagine.....

Oh, yeah. We have. We talked about it again last night, after a trip
into the LNS in town. (I do wish Sally's wasn't over an hour away).

The LNS I tend to go to when I can't get the Gainesville....well, I
just always feel like an intruder when I go there. I see the knitters
and quilters and others get greeted warmly, and made to feel welcome.
I get the feeling that if you are not part of some secret club they
have, that you are an interloper, get your stuff and get out
please.....the entire front half of the store is cross stitch, so I
know they do cater to us, but I have no idea what it takes to get a
question answered without feeling like I'm in their way.....



I know that feeling in some shops - the yarn shop in Nashua comes to mind.

Cheryl

I've gotten that a lot, especially because I'm young and they assume I
don't have any money to spend. They lost out on a lot of money while I
was working!

Meredith

I know most of the gainfully employed stitchers think it should be
simple for any LNS to be open to customers until at least 7 pm and have
extended hours on weekends. Can't they just open later in the morning
to accommodate those who must work until 5?

Assuming this is a sole proprietorship, the owner must be there whenever
deliveries arrive, check through them, add them to store inventory, and
contact suppliers about any discrepancies. Not all shipping companies
will let you request a time for deliveries to be made so the owner has
to be around at 8 am just in case something arrives at that time.

There would also be a couple hours of work after the doors close thanks
to sales/inventory verification, closing out the credit card terminal,
other bookkeeping, custodial work, dropping off the deposit at the bank,
restocking bins/shelves/racks, etc. If the store accepts
internet/mail/phone orders, add more time to prepare and ship orders.
Then it is off to the computer or drawing board to make up sale flyers
and ad copy. Does your shop have a e-newsletter or mailing list? Add
time for list management and document prep. How about classes? If
someone other than the owner teaches the class, the owner has to take
the time to find that person. Class materials must be ordered and
kitted. And, believe it or not, some shop owners like to have time to
stitch and frame models for their shop. Even if the shop has an
employee, there are certain tasks best performed by the owner.

There is no way any shop owner can please every potential customer. I
used to work 10:30 pm - 7 am. Stores weren't open when I was going to
work at night and usually weren't open until two or three hours after I
got off work in the morning--by which time I was often asleep. Shopping
was inconvenient, but I chose to be employed and I chose to work a shift
which paid me $0.60/hour more than the day workers got. I've also had a
job where I worked from 8 am - 10 pm (sometimes later). It would not be
right for me to demand that the owners of my favorite stores adjust
their hours to meet my schedule. My time with my family is no more or
less important than their time with their families. My job is no more
or less important than their job.

I quit the job with the long hours *because* I was literally and
figuratively sick of working that many hours for my rather insipid
salary. I would bet that salary was still more than many small shop
owners make. Given that, why should we expect them to sacrifice
everything else in life to be open late and still find the time to do
all the behind-the-scenes work just so we can go buy a couple skeins at
7 pm?

--
Brenda Lewis
WIP: "Pink Baby" photo frame, Candamar

It would not be
right for me to demand that the owners of my favorite stores adjust
their hours to meet my schedule.

You know, I would love it if I could say, "Hey, it's inconvenient for me to
work 7:30- 4:00- how about 8:30-5:00?" but the truth is, I have to be there
when needed. The same is true of a small business owner- they need to go into
it with the idea that they are entering a service trade and to make a go of it,
they need to be there when customers need them to be.
SueS

On 1/4/04 2:27 PM, in article ,
"Meredith" wrote:

Cheryl Isaak wrote:

On 1/4/04 2:07 PM, in article ,
"Deb Milner" wrote:


On Sat, 03 Jan 2004 15:44:14 GMT, Cheryl Isaak
wrote:


I wonder if someone could pull this off - a cooperative set of shops set in
a "court yard" plaza/mall. A yarn shop, a needlework shop (with broad range
of areas), a quilters shop, a finisher/framer, a tea/coffee shop, maybe
even
a bookshop all opening in to a courtyard area (not necessarily open to the
air) with comfortable seating. And don't forget a nice bathroom; how many
times has your enjoyment of something been affected by a gross bathroom.
They all cooperate on costs of operation for heating, lights and the ilk
but
maintain separate inventory costs.

That is my dream, and DH has put in many an idea for it, to the point
where it sounds much like the above. His vision is for the
crossstitch store, with a book store on the other side, and the coffee
shop with courtyard in between. A large comfy area for stitchers to
drop in and relax while stitching, and lure my sister up to put a
scrapbooking shop in also. Adding the yarn shop and quilters shop is
an idea I hadn't thought of......


Great minds and all that!

It wouldn't be it a great place to shop. Just imagine.....

Oh, yeah. We have. We talked about it again last night, after a trip
into the LNS in town. (I do wish Sally's wasn't over an hour away).

The LNS I tend to go to when I can't get the Gainesville....well, I
just always feel like an intruder when I go there. I see the knitters
and quilters and others get greeted warmly, and made to feel welcome.
I get the feeling that if you are not part of some secret club they
have, that you are an interloper, get your stuff and get out
please.....the entire front half of the store is cross stitch, so I
know they do cater to us, but I have no idea what it takes to get a
question answered without feeling like I'm in their way.....



I know that feeling in some shops - the yarn shop in Nashua comes to mind.

Cheryl

I've gotten that a lot, especially because I'm young and they assume I
don't have any money to spend. They lost out on a lot of money while I
was working!

Meredith



These days, I'd assume that is a younger person came in, they'd have the
$$$; no kids to absorb those excess funds!


Cheryl

The stitching shop that used to be in Jacksonville, OR (USA) was called:
Mimi's Yarn Shoppe & Liquor Store. :-))) The businesses are long and skinny
(old mining town). One side and most of the middle made up the
yarn/stitching area & along one wall and one side of one of the middle rows
was the liquor. Something for everybody. :-)))
Liz from Humbug
--

As Cheryl would say: You should have put up a "spew warning" before
posting that. Loved it!
Dianne

Liz Hampton wrote:

The stitching shop that used to be in Jacksonville, OR (USA) was called:
Mimi's Yarn Shoppe & Liquor Store. :-))) The businesses are long and skinny
(old mining town). One side and most of the middle made up the
yarn/stitching area & along one wall and one side of one of the middle rows
was the liquor. Something for everybody. :-)))
Liz from Humbug

You obviously missed the point I was making. You want them to change
hours to suit your schedule. Never mind all the customers who are
completely happy with the store's current hours. And just because there
are certain hours you prefer, it doesn't follow that everyone else who
works has the exact same time available for shopping. The owners cannot
please everyone! You might want them to be open from 10am - 8 pm. I
might want them to be open from 8 pm - 6 am. Assuming the owner does
not know either of us (and our shopping habits) my choice would be just
as valid as yours. The owner has to set boundaries somewhere.

Rhiannonveritas wrote:
It would not be
right for me to demand that the owners of my favorite stores adjust
their hours to meet my schedule.

Shstringfellow replied:
You know, I would love it if I could say, "Hey, it's inconvenient for me to
work 7:30- 4:00- how about 8:30-5:00?" but the truth is, I have to be there
when needed. The same is true of a small business owner- they need to go into
it with the idea that they are entering a service trade and to make a go of it,
they need to be there when customers need them to be.

--
Brenda Lewis
WIP: "Pink Baby" photo frame, Candamar