Start a Scrapbook Store

The Craft & Hobby Association summer 2008 trade show is coming up July 18-20 in Rosemont, Illinois. While the event covers a wide range of crafts, from general crafts to fabric (this year’s theme is Kids Crafting), the scrapbooking industry will be out in full force.

Besides the obvious opportunity to see and order new products, store owners can network and attend various business-boosting events as well as hear speakers on topics ranging from finance to how the digital era is impacting scrapbooking and other crafts. Specific to the scrapbooking industry, the executive editor of Scrapbooking Retailer magazine, Beth Mauro, will join Memory Makers magazine executive editor Beth Williams will speak, as will Renee Pearson, who is affiliated with Creating Keepsakes’ Digital Scrapbooking Magazine. Wendy Smedley of Simple Scrapbooks will also speak.

Not all scrapbook store owners attend both CHA shows (CHA West is typically held in Anaheim in January), but many do. If you go, be on the lookout for show specials and up-and-coming trends, and be sure to read our article on scrapbooking retailer trade show tips.

If you’re the only scrapbook store owner in your region, or the others aren’t really the collaborating type, you might want to check out the new forums on the Craft and Hobby Association Member Networking web site. You have to be a CHA member, but if you are you can join in on a variety of discussion forums and learn about business building and networking, or get a heads up on new products and trade show news. The forum is at www.craftandhobby.org.

It’s always a good idea to know how to reach your customers in case you want to send out some targeted direct-mail advertisements, distribute a printed or e-mail newsletter or invite them to store crops. Nowadays, people may be wary of sharing their street addresses or e-mail contact info for fear of being inundated with unwanted communications. Encourage customers to sign up for your mailing list by making it part of a drawing or other promotion. (For example, everyone who signs up during a specified one-month period gets their name put in a bowl for a prize drawing. Or, every 100th newsletter recipient gets a bonus, high-value coupon.) Of course, use this information judiciously and don’t “spam” your patrons with lots of unwanted e-mail or share their personal contact information with other businesses.