Year in Review

It has been a year (and a bit) since I "opened" my little store, oh and the things I have learned!

I am still collecting hobbies - I attended a couple of online embroidery classes and thoroughly enjoy it. Then I had to make a fabric book to put my learning samples into, which resulted in my completely emptying my craft room, buying organization aides, inventorying what I have and putting it all back together. Now my shop inventory is on display and not hidden in boxes and I can still Make in this room.

I have been forced to learn yet more techie stuff, between Shopify and Meta my new grey hairs have been thinned a bit. I have become yet more distrusting of items in my email inboxes and have had to deal with AI Assistants that are next to useless. But all of this frustration has just reinforced the benefits I receive by crafting. Putting needle and thread to cloth, paint to canvas, or hook to yarn brings me back down into myself and away from the ethernet/cloud.

I am trying to maintain my values of protecting the environment, supporting small businesses and providing valuable crafting aides that support making - at all ages. I try not to source items from Amazon as it is rife with Chinese made products that I can't determine if their workers are treated fairly or not - hate to assume the worst or are sourced out of the United States which would incur tariffs. But even when I source from Canadian wholesalers I am still getting products that may contribute to harms against people or nature because of where they source their goods. I even encountered a Canadian manufacturer who would not sell wholesale to me because I was not a "bricks and mortar" establishment.

I started this shop just as the US tariffs were being put in place, so I didn't need to pivot (getting so I don't like that word) just decided to not purchase from the US. Instead I went looking to the east in Europe and the west in Australia and Japan. And you guessed it, I still am faced with tariffs in some cases, but not as much as what the US is charging, and then there is the shipping. There are a number of items I would like to stock, but would the consumer be will to pay what it would cost? I have found some wonderful items from the Netherlands (embroidery kits), the Ukraine (wooden magnetic embroidery frames), Japan (sustainably-made mini looms) and hand-dyed cotton thread from a Canadian company manufacturing in Romania.

My online sales are slow, I suspect it is likely due to the shipping costs. I will have to research my options in the hopes of finding a lower cost provider. My pop-up shop sales however are improving probably because they are repeat customers getting to know my products, and they don't incur the shipping costs. I also need to research advertising options to reach a larger audience within Canada. And whew, competition is fierce! Locally I have 2-3 competitors, regionally it is three or four times that number, provincially I can't even imagine how many competitors there would be. I am trying to cater to rural makers who may not have access to craft suppliers or to Makers looking for better quality or unique items.

My plan was to have this little shop established by the time I retired, so I had something to keep me busy and provide a little bit extra income - thankfully this was like a 5-year plan! After my first year I will be reviewing my business and marketing plans and adjusting to implement what I have learned this year to make this "little shop" even better.