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Are you beading happy? This is a jam packed newsletter so make sure that you read all the way to the end! You read correctly! In order to show our appreciation of you, our customers, and to celebrate our 3 year Anniversary, we will be offering a gift with purchase starting November 24. For every $15 you spend you will receive a pack of beads....That's right, the more you spend, the more you receive! So if you spend $15--you get 1 pack of beads, $30--2 packs of beads, etc. We will do this until supplies last or until December 31--whichever comes 1st. Each pack of beads should make an average size bracelet! Don't let the holidays catch you unaware! These little packs will allow you to make a simple bracelet to give...you need only to supply the clasp, beading wire and crimps. Not too shabby!
During the month of December, we will be offering demonstrations on Saturdays instead of classes. We will be showing different things you can make as gifts and a variety of techniques that are quick and easy...and we know that when the holiday crunch is on, quick and easy are the best words you can hear. This is not a make and take event, but a chance to see some easy things you can make. Instruction sheets will be available at no charge. Demonstrations will run from weaving a simple snowflake to working with memory wire to working with dry felting. We will offer at least 2 demonstrations on each Saturday so be sure to check the website to find out what we will be showing! http://www.beadalotta.com/calendar.html We will still have classes available Tuesdays and Fridays so book your class now! Special Guest
What is "smudging"? Sage smudging is performed to "cleanse" an area of negative energy--to chase negativity from the area and to prevent it from coming into the cleansed area. Join us for this wonderful piece of Native American Culture on December 12!
For Some Serious News We just wanted to address some more serious news. We've been hearing rumors that Beadalotta is "closing". We are NOT closing our doors. We were going to move to another location in Fond du Lac, but after much hard thinking we opted to remain in our current location and we will be at this location for at least 2 more years. But we wanted to address another matter as well as nixing the rumors. With the economy the way that it is we wanted to honestly answer how we were doing as a business. We understand that money is tight..you work hard for the money that you are making and are being more conservative with how you are spending that dollar. Michelle (for those of you who do not know) has worked another job for the entire time that the shop has been open and she is very aware of the cutbacks that companies are making--reduction in hours, layoffs and reduced income. But we wanted to let you know that without your support, we will be forced to close our doors. I am sure that this is true of all small businesses in our community. Our business is our livelihood and we do not live extravagently. We do not have additional income from a spouse or a significate other. We LOVE what we do and we wish to stay in business so that we can share this passion with you. You may wonder why we don't offer frequent sales or have coupons to redeem. Jackie, the owner of Uptown Fibers in Sylvania, OH said it best in a newsletter: "To honestly answer your questions, I am not PLANNING on going out of business, but it all depends on sales. Plain and simple. And, quite honestly, sales are significantly below what was expected and what is needed for long-term survival of the shop as it exists today. The last thing I want to do is break your heart. . . and mine, and I’ll do anything to try to keep that from happening. Which is why I have information to share with you.
Why Shops Don’t Survive Substitute "beads" for "yarn" and you have our business in a nutshell. We need to sell our products in order to get new products in. If we don't sell our beads/bead products, we can't order more/new products. You also may question why our prices increase (we do lower prices on items too when we can get better pricing--and not many specialty stores do that) in this down economy. If our cost to purchase goes up, we have to increase our price to you. We do not always pass this increase along to you but absorb it ourselves in order to keep our pricing competitive with other stores. Because we are a small business, we are proud supporters of The 3/50 Project which is about spending your money in YOUR community. We know that this is not always possible, but when you spend your hard earned money at a locally owned business (like us, The Knitting Room, Scrapbook Cottage, our local bakery), $.68 of each $1 you spend stays in your community. If you spend at a large national retailer, only $.43 stays in your community and if you spend online--$0. So The 3/50 Project is about each person spending $50 per month in their community at locally owned and operated businesses. This keeps those unique, quirky business, like us, in the community so that you don't have to drive to get these items. We appreciate you, our customer and friend, and hope that you do not mind our honesty in how our business is doing. There are many of you that support local businesses and we applaud you for this! We also wanted to address the "sharing" of patterns you learned in class. We hear this over and over again....Customer X will come in and say that Customer Y is going to show them how to do a project that they learned in a class that was taken with us. Yet Customer X doesn't buy many beads or bead products from us. They only come in for the "emergency" item here and there. We know that you are enthusiastic about learning a new technique and want to share that passion. But, this "sharing" hurts our business. It is the only thing that we have where we really make a profit to sustain our business. This "sharing" hurts you too. And you think "This doesn't hurt me"...but it does. You spent YOUR money to learn this technique yet you are going to "share" this with someone for free. We know that we cannot stop you from doing this, but please don't tell us that you are learning something from someone who we taught...We are losing and you will too when we are no longer in business. We know that this email may offend some of you, and for this we offer our sincerest apologies, but we believe that we can be honest with you, our customers and our friends. We are looking for your input in what you would like to see in our shop. Please take our short survey so that we can serve you better in the upcoming year. Click here to take our survey We look forward to seeing you soon! Bead Happy! The Beadalotta Gals |
Join us on December 12 between 1 and 1:30 to hear Mike Cook play his drum and he will be smudging the store to cleanse it. We met Mike when he came into the shop to have earrings made for his then bride-to-be and her attendants for their wedding. If any of you have ever been in the shop while Mike's been in, you'll know that he's a very happy guy with a contagious smile!
