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What do you like/dislike about your local stamp store?
I had started a thread a few days ago about starting a stamp store ... and wondered if you might be willing to share a bit more with me.
What do you LOVE about your LSS?
What don't you like about your LSS?
If you had a LSS that had up-to-date merchandise, great customer service, a friendly, knowledgeable staff, great classes and a decent location ... would you be more apt to shop there, online or at big box stores (like Michael's, Joann's or HL)?
Here is the thread I started about the future of brick and mortar stamp stores if you want to check it out: Forums at Splitcoaststampers
I am a SU demo but visit the local stamp store quite often and always end up buying something. It is owned by a wonderful lady who loves stamping and all the goodies to support it. It is truly a stamping store, not a scrapbooking store that has some stamping stuff. She carries a wide assortment of stamps, basic paper and most types of ink. She also gets in specialty papers for short periods of time so it's always turning over. She has all the basic plus latest goodies and embellishments. If you see it in a magazine you can bet she'll have it if it's available. If not, she'll check it out to see if she could/should carry it. She also has a lot of "found" type embellishments such as playing cards of all kinds, dominoes, game pieces, etc. that are practical if you only want to purchase 1 or 2. She has oodles of ribbon by the yard. She offers a wide variety of classes and has open stamping time and for a fee you can use her stamps. She carries a good assortment of stamping magazines. It's a comfortable place to shop because you feel like she loves everything in the store instead of just trying to sell stuff someone else told her to stock.
I like being able to touch and feel the products, of course! And I love the great samples they always have on boards above the aisles. The one thing that continually turns me off is the outrageous pricing. They are always higher than even Michael's and stuff. I usually walk out with only sale items, but with a good idea of what I will be purchasing in Walmart, Michaels, or Hobby Lobby for a cheaper price.
LSS? What LSS? We have a few scrapbooking stores that carry very little stamps and the the chain stores, so there is not much to look at. I lived in California where there was a wonderful stamp store (Violet's in Ventura) that carried a huge selection of stamps, paper and all sorts of goodies. I miss that store soooo much.
My LSS is Creative Pals, owned by the same person that owns Whipper Snapper. Luckily I LOVE WS stamps & they have them all. The staff is extremely friendly, & they have a very talented lady who teaches classes there --she's often there during the day & they have TONS of her artwork displayed throughout the store. It's a great source for ideas, & since she's there most days she can answer any questions one might have. Seeing great cards made with the stamps they sell is HUGE for me, since I'm a bit creativly challenged.
My LSS is Creative Pals, owned by the same person that owns Whipper Snapper. Luckily I LOVE WS stamps & they have them all. The staff is extremely friendly, & they have a very talented lady who teaches classes there --she's often there during the day & they have TONS of her artwork displayed throughout the store. It's a great source for ideas, & since she's there most days she can answer any questions one might have. Seeing great cards made with the stamps they sell is HUGE for me, since I'm a bit creativly challenged.
Lucky you! I have heard that store is really great. One of my dearest friends lives not too far from there and she said it is a great store.
Thanks for your input!
There is one scrapping store in town here, and I love how they have a lot of the premium paper lines. They devote a lot of floor space to paper racks, probably about 40-50% of the main part of the store, but it is the first place I've gone where I have actually looked at all the papers because they are well spaced out. They don't have their paper in those angled stacked racks, but in racks where the paper is held flat and there is something like two inches of space in between racks so you can see more than just a thin strip of paper as you browse. I love that they carry Bazzil 12x12 by the sheet, although I wish they would also carry some Bazzil packs like my old LSS I shopped at did.
Some other things I like are that they carry a broad selection of paper punches in a full range of sizes. They had the kaleidopunch snowflake punch set that you could buy individual punches from, and they have some very large punches in dragonfly shapes, etc. However, they don't have the McGill stack a punch sets which I prefer to the Marvy punches they carry at Michaels. And since I started shopping there they haven't seemed to have gotten in any new punches; I've just seen the same stock get depleted. They also have a small but varied selection of pens, glues, and the MM Scrapbook Paints.
Another thing I really like is that even though they are a scrapping store, they have a section of just card samples and other cool things like accordian books, explosion cards, etc. made from the things in their store. They have little samples distributed throughout the store, but not so many layouts, etc. that it is overwhelming. My old LSS had tonnes of LOs all over the place, and I just tuned them out because it didn't seem to me there was enough variety in what they used on them that it was worth looking at them all. I think it is better to have a smaller selection of carefully chosen samples than to overwhelm the customers with hundreds of them. I think it would have been better for my old store to reduce the visual clutter and put most of their sample layouts into themed scrapbooks (ie. one book for Over the Moon Press, another for Making Memories, maybe some themes of metallic embellishments, etc.). It was awkward to study the layouts and try to figure out what was used for some of the smaller details, as the LOs were hung on the wall or racks above the products.
ETA: dozens of layouts hung high on the wall are easy to be overloaded by, but lots of card samples on shelves are super!
The old scrapping store I went to when I lived in Edmonton was enjoyable to me because the staff were interactive and friendly for the most part. They gave advice on tools, let us try out the Fiskar's shapecutter before we bought it, and seemed open, friendly, and professional. They had a LOT of punches from different companies and in different styles. I liked that they had a variety of styles (ie. corner punches, border punches, small shapes, large shapes, lots of detail, bold with little detail). Two types of punches they carried had very little interest to me and apparently to lots of other customers, one being the paperkins paper doll ones with a punch wardrobe as well as cutesy items like little duckies to go with the dolls. Those punches never seemed to move, and they were on clearance for the last several times I went in and even at reduced price I didn't care for the things. The other kind of punch they went a little too gung ho on were the long, slender little border punches, maybe two inches long by half an inch wide. I got one of them and never got any more. They had two or three dozen of the things, and maybe six of them were popular, versatile, and always out of stock whenever I considered getting them.
The Edmonton LSS had tonnes of Fiskars and Coluzzle templates, again broadly sampled but not deeply, and those seemed popular. I know I always liked looking at them. They also had a section for organisation, but they never had a great selection of 12x12 hanging folders or a variety of 12x12 storage, and too many of those crop-in-style inserts for the sticker organising binders. I guess they might have figured out what to carry by what sold well, but what they carried was never that super for me and I sought organising stuff elsewhere.
One thing I would recommend is putting some effort into creating a comfortable atmosphere for all of your customers. I have cut short some of the shopping trips to my old LSS because the music selections for the store were radio stations chosen by whoever was working at the time. A lot of the time the radio station was like the drill at the dentist's office, and I would cut a planned hour of shopping down to ten minutes just because I could not stand to listen to what was playing. I greatly prefer the garbage muzak at Michaels because you can at least tune it out, and it is on fairly quietly. Maybe I am a freak customer who takes what I listen to way too seriously, but I know I would have shopped at that LSS a lot more comfortably and regularly if they hadn't had Martina McGit screeching at full volume every time I went in there. I actually stopped shopping there because of the tunes, and took my two hundred bucks per month budget (at the time we were well off and I focused my spending on crafting) to Michaels.
I hope some of this rambling helps in some way. I look forward to hearing more about this!!!
__________________ Melanie
Last edited by Mahloumel; 04-22-2006 at 01:29 PM..
I won't go to our local stamping store because the one time I visited with my son (he was too little at the time to get into anything) they were very rude to me and acted like he was going to go crawling out of my hands and eat their precious stamps.
What do you LOVE about your LSS? This might sound dumb, but honestly my favorite things are that it is BRIGHT and cheery inside, well laid out (i.e. stamps in one area, paper in one area, etc.) with a TON of space so you aren't constantly having to bump into people as you manuever around displays and fixtures.
What don't you like about your LSS? The biggest (and only) gripe I have is that they are often so busy checking out customers that it is nearly IMPOSSIBLE to find someone on the floor who has time to answer questions about where I could find a particular item, etc.
If you had a LSS that had up-to-date merchandise, great customer service, a friendly, knowledgeable staff, great classes and a decent location ... would you be more apt to shop there, online or at big box stores (like Michael's, Joann's or HL)? I try to support local stores when possible. However, if the prices aren't competitive I go to the bigger retailer. I don't mind paying a little extra to keep the "little guy" in business, but I'm not going to support his family either, KWIM? I watch for sales and try to get the best of both worlds...
I'm not sure why, but I don't do any "craft" shopping online. I buy everything else under the sun online but for some reason need to see my craft stuff in person!
I won't go to our local stamping store because the one time I visited with my son (he was too little at the time to get into anything) they were very rude to me and acted like he was going to go crawling out of my hands and eat their precious stamps.
Jane
If I was you I would send them a beautiful card made from stamps and paper you bought elsewhere, and include a note inside about why you don't shop at their store. ;) I'm sure they would appreciate knowing it, and maybe they would appreciate your feedback so much they would offer you something from the store for it.
My LSS is Creative Pals, owned by the same person that owns Whipper Snapper. Luckily I LOVE WS stamps & they have them all. The staff is extremely friendly, & they have a very talented lady who teaches classes there --she's often there during the day & they have TONS of her artwork displayed throughout the store. It's a great source for ideas, & since she's there most days she can answer any questions one might have. Seeing great cards made with the stamps they sell is HUGE for me, since I'm a bit creativly challenged.
Where is Creative Pals?? I found their address and looked it up on Mapquest... If I'm coming down Highway 41 from the North, and turn onto Bluemound... I go past the zoo obviously, but do I also go past Brookfield Square???
Any help would be appreciated! The store looks awesome!
PUNCH CARDS! LOL, I can't stress them enough. There are a LOT of suckers like me out there who really do keep those in mind when deciding where to shop. I mean, if I want a pack of specialty paper, let's say, and 2 different stores carried it, I'd actually LEAVE the other store to go to "my" store to make that purchase. These definitely work.
Classes, classes, classes. Lots of scheduled Make and Takes. The more you get people into the store, the more opportunities they have to buy. Some ladies wouldn't DREAM of missing "M&T Tuesday" or "Happy Hour" at the stamp store. If they were just shopping, they might only find themselves in your store once every 3 weeks, maybe? Give them a reason to be in the store at least once a week.
The two really good stamp stores are too far away from me to drive myself to anymore, and I really miss 'em! Unless somebody gives me a ride to them, I just don't go at all, and I'm stuck with Michaels or the scrapbooking store.
I think it sounds so fun, what you're doing! Lots of luck!!
My LSS is actually mainly an online store with a store front. The store is tiny, but they pack in the merchandise. Certain areas are okay with plenty of space, but there are sections that are pretty cramped. I do like the fact that they have Bazzil, the latest MM products, and a ton of Jolees. The stamp section is growing, which I appreciate. The staff is super sweet and I get a weekly e-mail letting me know what the sale of the week is.
What I don't like? Prices, the tight spaces, the lack of 8 1/2 x 11 solid paper. They also carry a ton of Disney items, which is not up my alley at this time. My kids aren't really into that at this time. I feel there might be too much space dedicated to these items.
Creative Pals is the best!!!! They have a partial view of their store on their web site http://www.creativepals.com/ (It only shows their paper, they have just as much space devoted to stamps!!)
If you do click this link, take the time to check out the gallery --amazing stuff!!!
I was just there tonight -hubby & I went shopping & out to eat for our anniversary tomorrow. No kiddos!! Anyway, in their e-mail to me, Creative Pals stated they were looking to hire some PT employees!! How fun would that be!??? I picked up an application, we'll see if I actually fill it out. With young children it's hard to work retail, but I think it would be so fun!!
Sarah --YES!! Go past Brookfield Square, go past Pier 1, go past Babies R Us (brand spankin new if you're needing anything for that bundle of yours). When you get to the Galleria shopping center on your right, it's in there. Kopp's is right in front, go past that --you'll see Brennan's & some gourmet kitchen shop. It's right next to that. Let me know if you go & what you buy
Back to the original question again --CP is HUGE (I hate small spaces), lots of cards displayed, friendly employees & they carry all the new stuff (they just got in new Chatterbox & Basic Grey papers). Oh, & did I mention they have both shopping baskets AND carts?
If you had a LSS that had up-to-date merchandise, great customer service, a friendly, knowledgeable staff, great classes and a decent location ... would you be more apt to shop there, online or at big box stores (like Michael's, Joann's or HL)?
If the above were met, I'd be spending my stamp $$$ there and not at the big box places.
I've watched the demise of the mom n' pop LSS in my area and it saddens me deeply. There is absolutely nothing like going to the friendly local to support, share, create, seek advice, and befriend. There's little doubt in my mind the the big box cares much if you get the stamp/paper/supply you're really after.
Are we really about the lowest possible price and willing to forego customer service and real live help/advice/knowledge/presence???? I'm not! I'd travel a fair distance (even with these high gas prices) to support a mom n' pop as listed above.
I love my lss. It is in a quaint house that you go from room to room looking at the stamps, etc. They have a few layouts on display but most of the samples are made my the owner or staff. She carries a little bit of everything and a limited amount of scrapbook paper. The thing that I love the most is that she carries brands that I can't get at the big box stores. The owner and staff are friendly and never pushy; you can tell that they all love stamping. I buy stamps everywhere but I always make sure that I visit my lss every so often to get my "fix"; I love that place!
IMHO, the best LSS in Northern California is Stampers Warehouse. They have a broad selection of items at the best prices. Unless they are swamped with a special sale they always have time to answer questions and demonstrate products. They have a play area for the kids (although not the best I've seen). They have a lot of specialty papers, including Japanese Washi paper. They always seem to be on the cutting edge of the stamping and paper arts field. And they bring in a lot of name teachers in for their classes.
I agree with Betsy - a punch card drives to to buy more and more!
Here are some things that I like:
A monthly email newsletter telling of specials, classes and new arrivials. Plus the "Stamp of the Month" which is usually a new stamp offered at a discount.
Paper by the Pound - love the new shipments because it means I RUSH there to get my hands on beautiful metalic papers before everyone else!
Large variety of paper punches
Creative classes with good follow-up. If you cancel a class, make sure you reschedule and call right away. If you don't reschedule, a phone call stating that would be nice. (Still waiting for one store to get back to me for a class that was cancelled OVER 8 months ago. I don't go there anymore...)
My stamp store constantly has new examples on the floor, right next to the product that was used to make it. AND they let us take pictures of their samples so we can recreate them - I think this is one of my favorite reasons why I love them (Country Needleworks in Jenison, MI). They are there to help me.
Stamp Clubs and on class night we get 20% off our purchases.
Quarterly Open Houses where they have many make 'n takes - all free. I always buy stuff at those. No need to sign up, just come. You should see all the women packed into the aisle just waiting their turn to stamp!
Used Stamp Sale twice a year. For a small fee, they help you sell your used stamps. You just sign up, mark it and turn it in. Its a mad house and its awesome!
HTH
__________________ ~Barbara
Wife to the most wonderful man in the world - he sits through all my "look what I made!" sessions!
Oh, yes, one thing I forgot. They honor Michael's and Hobby Lobby coupons. From the newspaper only - not internet coupons.
I am of two minds about the coupons. It's a really nice perk for the store to offer, but discriminates against those who don't get the coupons. Frex, I don't get Mike's coupons because I live in an apartment building, and I don't subscribe to the newspaper. Those are the only two ways you can get the coupons in Canada -- buying the paper doesn't help. I'd stopped shopping nearly as regularly at Mike's as a result until they started letting us fill out sheets to get the discount if we were outside of the flyer delivery area. So while most of a craft store's customers are homeowners who get the flyers, it would be nice for a store to do something that includes *all* of their clientele, not just the ones with mortgages or subscriptions. JMHO.
I won't go to our local stamping store because the one time I visited with my son (he was too little at the time to get into anything) they were very rude to me and acted like he was going to go crawling out of my hands and eat their precious stamps.
Jane
Jane I hate stores like this. Or the ones taht post NO children allowed or if your child breaks it you buy it. I wont buy from an unfriendly place like this. just because one child might be bad doesn't make them all like that.
love your ideas wish the west side of the us got the picture that the midwest sees. I went to minnesota once and WOW they have some awesome stores there. nothing like our little ones.
laura
Quote:
Originally Posted by Palapala
I agree with Betsy - a punch card drives to to buy more and more!
Here are some things that I like:
A monthly email newsletter telling of specials, classes and new arrivials. Plus the "Stamp of the Month" which is usually a new stamp offered at a discount.
Paper by the Pound - love the new shipments because it means I RUSH there to get my hands on beautiful metalic papers before everyone else!
Large variety of paper punches
Creative classes with good follow-up. If you cancel a class, make sure you reschedule and call right away. If you don't reschedule, a phone call stating that would be nice. (Still waiting for one store to get back to me for a class that was cancelled OVER 8 months ago. I don't go there anymore...)
My stamp store constantly has new examples on the floor, right next to the product that was used to make it. AND they let us take pictures of their samples so we can recreate them - I think this is one of my favorite reasons why I love them (Country Needleworks in Jenison, MI). They are there to help me.
Stamp Clubs and on class night we get 20% off our purchases.
Quarterly Open Houses where they have many make 'n takes - all free. I always buy stuff at those. No need to sign up, just come. You should see all the women packed into the aisle just waiting their turn to stamp!
Used Stamp Sale twice a year. For a small fee, they help you sell your used stamps. You just sign up, mark it and turn it in. Its a mad house and its awesome!
i only have one stamp store and while the selection is great the prices are not and neither is service. the owner seems rather snooty and i always felt like i was not welcome whenever i walked in there. turns out other people i have met felt the same thing. i've stopped going there since an awesome scrap store opened 2 years ago. Super friendly, and great service.
Now i only buy stamps there or online or thru a SU demo.
The closest non-chain "stamp store" is about 20 miles away from me, so I don't go there often to begin with. They carry all sorts of craft items from stamping and scrapping supplies to cake decorating supplies and artificial flowers.
They do have the largest variety of stamps in the area, both in subject matter and in manufacturer. They are the only Hero Arts dealer within a 60-mile radius. They have a lot of other stamping related items, such as Twinkling H2O's, punches, and the best ink pad selection locally.
However, the clerks there appear to have their "favorite" customers, of which I am not one. Maybe if I went there more often I'd become one; I don't know. When I go in there, I am usually ignored until I step up to the register to check out (assuming I'm even buying something). I've overheard them tell other customers to make sure they get their preferred customer card stamped, but I've never been offered a customer card.
They also don't seem to restock items on a prompt or regular basis. A while back I went in there several times over the course of a month and they were continuously out of black Staz-On. And their prices are usually higher than what other places charge - depending on the item, the difference can be as much as $3.00 more than what Michael's charges for the exact same item.
What really ticked me off with them was a couple years ago, I was looking for a particular stamp Hero Arts had just introduced. The store didn't have it in stock, so I asked a clerk if it could be ordered. She assured me it would be no problem, took down my name and phone number and which stamp I wanted, and said they'd call me when it came in. After six weeks I hadn't heard anything, so I called them (long distance, I must add). I was put on hold for several minutes, and then was told by some woman with a very condescending tone that they couldn't order "just one stamp" and they didn't have the one I wanted in stock. I was so flustered I simply said "thanks anyway" and hung up. I found it hard to believe that they hadn't ordered a thing from Hero Arts in 6 weeks and that they wouldn't have been able to include the one particular stamp I wanted in a purchase order for the store. It also made me mad that no one had called me in all that time to let me know what was going on.
I guess the points I'm trying to make are: keep a wide variety of good-quality products; treat all customers fairly; and don't promise customers something if you're not able to follow through.
On the flip side of the coin, I've visited a number of stamping and scrapping stores while out of state. My favorites have a wide variety of products, lots of the newest "hot" items, and friendly workers who don't mind answering questions. And for the record, I bought that Hero Arts stamp I wanted at a store in Utah that offers everything 10% off every day.
I love punch cards that earn you $10.00 towards your next purchase. I'm not so keen on the ones that earn you a discount. Or the ones that you have to purchase. That doesn't make sense to me so I always skip those. Coupons at Michael's and JoAnn's are nice, but I like to support the local shops. Especially when they keep up with the new product releases.
Oh, the one thing that I would absolutely LOVE and that would get me to your store first, every time - new, seasonal merchandise, especially stamps, well ahead of the season. I don't think that many stores stock their seasonal merchandise with swappin' folk in mind. Because of swaps and workshops, I'm always looking for seasonal images before most of my LSS's get in their seasonal stock.
__________________ Please Don't Squeeze The Lightbulb.
our closest one is Micheals.then there is one that is 1/2 hour away.but the traffic to get there is aweful.so I very seldon go that way.but it is very nice.lots of samples for scrappin and stampin.always has new products coming in.and they always keep up to date on the newest trends.I just wish they were a little closer where it wasn't so hard to get throught the morning traffic.but su keeps me busy anyway.
__________________ WHAT IS A STAMPPIN ADDICT!
It's someone who buys stamps they didn't normally like at first,only to see it in Split Coast Stampers gallery in a different perspective.
I went to two recently. They are not near my house, but a short road trip away.
One store had an incredibly friendly and helpful owner. She really seemed to know about her merchandise.
The other store I fell in love with even more because it had three areas: stamps (a massive area), an SB paper area with punches, templates etc, and a final separate little cottage with amazing SB supplies, endless ribbon by the yard and Hero Arts stamps.
Both stores were friendly and helpful.
The only downside to owning a stamp store would be pleasing all styles. I was looking for inky antics stamps and both stores didn't really have much. They had some, but not much. I recently started Googling stamp companies and looking at the different lines of images and I was astonished at how many companies and styles there are to choose from! How can a store owner ever possibly keep in stock all that's available!
At both stores, I spent around $50, I will go back when I have the time, but I did place an online order with Inky Antics for about $150.
Stamp Clubs and on class night we get 20% off our purchases.
HTH
Palapala--How much does an average class cost? With that cost what do you receive? Just the project made? Or do you get a bag with left over materials as well? Based on your overall post, I assume the classes are good value for what is received.
We have an store in town that just started offering classes and the prices are outrageous for what you get. For instance, they had an Easter paint can class for $25. Given I can make these on my own and what materials cost, I was shocked. I assume they must be paying the teacher a goodly sum. I have no idea what the turnout was.
well, I kn ow that the thing I don't like about the only one we have is: The name is something rubber stamps, but it is really a scrapbook store. Has very few stamps. I like a pure stamps store like The Paper Cat in Seattle. Classses are great too and some samples on the walls (which Paper Cat didn't have) Also like the one in Poulsbo, WA, but the name escapes me just this minute.
-V
I don't know if there is one here or not, if there is I'd sure like to hear about it. I know of some scrapbooking stores, but they don't have as much in the way of stamps as some of what I'm hearing y'all talk about. I'd love to see a stamp store! WOW!
I shop at one of my local stamp stores because the owner and the employees are really nice, they have a lot of stamps, and they get the new stuff in quick.
Don't underestimate the value of customer service. This stamp store is in the same shopping center as a HUGE new Michael's that has more stamp stuff than I have ever seen in a Michael's before. The stamp store sells stuff for slightly more than I can get it elsewhere...but they are soooo nice to me and my husband (I almost always bring him with me) that I just love visiting & spending my $ there!
(At a competing stamp store, the owner--who appears to be motivated by the almighty dollar based on her many remarks to me--once told my husband that he should go across the street to shop at the classic car lot while I shopped in her store...I was not very happy since I don't like to shop alone...AND he was specifically looking for some Stampscapes...he did not leave and I do not go back to that store, even though they have a lot of stamps)
In my book...customer is service is everything. I WILL pay more for it!
What I don't like most is that we don't have one! The local scrapbook store has a few Hero Arts stamps. I can go to Michaels, limited selection. Or God forbid our local JoAnns, which is the worst of it's kind I have ever seen! ( I even wrote to their headquarters to say how disappointed I was in it...looks like a flea market! LOL) I know of a great one back in Florida, so I'll have another year untill I move back to see if it's still there.
__________________ "In the end, it's not the years in your life that count. It's the life in your years." Abraham Lincoln
Palapala--How much does an average class cost? With that cost what do you receive? Just the project made? Or do you get a bag with left over materials as well? Based on your overall post, I assume the classes are good value for what is received.[/url]
Usually $15 to $25 depending on the class. Usually if there are extra supplies and time, we can keep making until we run out. I always walk away feeling as if I got my $$ worth. Here is an example of an upcoming class:
Stamping Garden Party
$18.00 includes all the supplies to make 3 stamping projects.
Refreshments, Pick a Posy Discounts, Drawings and Give-aways
Seating is limited so sign up soon!
To me, its just the whole package that makes it great. Plus, the instructors are always super friendly. And honest. I can't remever what the item was, but I had picked the almost 2x expensive brand and she stopped me and asked why was I getting that one? Ummm, its a name brand????? Asked a few questions and told me based on what I wanted to use it for to get the cheaper one. Not out for the buck. Oh, and that time it was the owner who told me to go cheaper.
__________________ ~Barbara
Wife to the most wonderful man in the world - he sits through all my "look what I made!" sessions!
Local Stamp store??? You mean Walmart?? I'm notlucky enough to have a Joanns or Michaels, the nearest one is 35 miles! I became a SU demonstrator so I could help support my 'habbit'. I love SU! and usually stick to that. I did get to visit a great store in Chicago when I visited my brother, and will have to go back there when I decide to visit again...
I live in rural Vermont, not much around me- but I travel to shop and always plan trips around quilt and stamp stores. We have a wonderful LSS in Essex Jct. which carries so much and is just plain fun to visit. I get there a couple of times a year. I walk in and say " What do I need to get"- Gwen the owner always spends time showing me the latest techniques. I get a great newsletter from her every month. It always includes a template or an idea. The other thing I do is look for stores online before I travel. My husband and I just returned from a short Maine coast vacation. I found a lovely little shop in Kittery, Maine-ly Stamps ( love that name) and of course on my way home I had to travel through New Hampshire to Keepsake Quiting and make a stop in Wolfboro at the Straw Cellar ( which carries stamps etc) . My mother lives near Albany , NY so I know where to get stamping supplies there- Stampassion in Latham, NY. I think it just great fun to browse around for rubber no matter where I am. My wish - Stamps and fabric together - not a box store- now that would be too much to ask for. Maybe I should leave teaching and start my own.
Location: in a seaside cottage in Maine, IRL off the Beltway in Northern VA
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Hmmmm.
What I love is:
1)They call me by my name when I come in (feels like Norm from Cheers when they do that :mrgreen
2)The owner is a super nice lady who one day when I saw a sample card (another good thing) and was wondering how they did the BG on it, she actually called the company right then and asked for me
3)I belong to two stamping groups there
4)If I hear of a stamp I would like (other than SU)the owner always lets me look through her cattys (Penny Black esp.) and orders any stamp I want and then gives me a 10%-20% discount on the order depending on the amounts. (I love SU but PB and HouseMouse are right up there too ;))
What I don't like:
1)They close at 6PM on Wed, Fridays
2)Need more designer paper (but thats actually growing)
What do you like/dislike about your local stamp store?
