Knitting and crochet are currently enjoying a surge in popularity. Supported by an active publishing stream of new how-to titles and an abundance of gorgeous new yarn offerings, sales of all things yarn related are booming.
As a management consultant who also knits and crochets, I am continuously shocked by the basic business mistakes that many yarn store owners make. They fail to discern their customers’ needs and wants, and make no effort to understand either their cost of sale or the true value of each of their customers.
Time is right to open a yarn shop, but many yarn vendors fail to make a go of this business. Their failure to thrive can be traced to some common pitfalls. If you avoid the following mistakes, your dream career of yarn store proprietor can indeed come true.
1. Yarn stores that are small, dark and cramped. Many new yarn or knitting stores open with too little space, with decor and lighting that detract from a customer’s ability to view and select colors easily.
2. Yarn inventory that only reflects the owner’s personal tastes and lacks appeal to a broader audience. It’s true that you can’t stock every color of every yarn, but you should strive for balance between quality basics of various fiber types, and tempting luxury yarns in a variety of colorways. Regularly add new lines, and advertise aggressively when you have some new type of yarn in stock.
3. The class table clique. You know who I mean. They come for a knitting or crochet class and take up residence at the class table. They may or may not be high volume yarn buyers, but when they monoploize staff time and make it difficult for your other patrons to browse because their knitting bags are blocking traffic flow, they are probably more of a drain on your business.
4. Failure to support your in-store sales with email advertising and an online retail channel. It is extremely difficult to compete with the pricing offered by online yarn vendors. You must move aggressively to lure people out of their homes and offices to buy yarn. Special offers, free demonstrations of new knitting or crochet techniques, and book-signings can all help bring the yarn buying public into your store.
5. Store staff that lacks warmth, and is so busy tending to the class table clique that they fail to greet new patrons warmly. I recently attended the grand opening of a yarn store where the proprietor was too busy being congratulated by her family and friends to attend to customers who wandered in. The store had limited in-stock yarn inventory, a scarcity of tempting knitting and crochet samples, and very few books and patterns. My ten minutes in that store are probably the last minutes I will waste there.
6. Trying to cover your costs with high retail mark-up, instead of higher sales volume at more competitive prices. If your markup is too high, buyers may look at and fondle your luxury yarns, and buy for their larger knitting and crochet projects online. You will have become an unwitting front end for your lower cost online yarn competitors. Carry basic yarns of an obviously higher quality than the chain stores, featuring some unique color combinations.
7. Only being open for business during the day. Don’t buy in to the stereotype that only women who don’t work outside the home have time for knitting and crochet. Many working men and women knit at lunch or on the train. Many of us (and this is a population with substantial discretionary income to spend on luxury yarn) don’t get home until well after 6 pm. Consider offering classes and staying open several nights a week until 9 pm. Open Thursdays til 7″ just doesn’t work for the knitter with a full time job and a commute.
