Hey Everyone! I was reading the Eagle this morning, and look at the article I found.
Scrapping one store
The
scrapbooking business is still going strong, but it's not in the boom years it once was.
That's why Scrapbook Garden owners Bob and Kathy
McCreary decided to close one of their two Wichita stores.
Their store at
Eastgate Plaza on East Kellogg closed Thursday. Their store at Maple Ridge Centre at Maple and Ridge will remain open.
What prompted the decision now is the east-side Scrapbook Garden was going to have to move because
Eastgate management wanted the space.
"They had a clause that they could move us in the event that they had a larger tenant," Bob
McCreary says.
It looks like that new tenant may be a beauty-related business. More on that soon.
McCreary says while the popularity of
scrapbooking comes and goes, the boom days of when it first became a favorite pastime are gone.
When he first opened,
McCreary says,
scrapbooking "was a very new craft and was expanding very rapidly."
Now, he says, "there's been a lot of consolidating in our industry."
McCreary says it made sense to combine his business into one strong, viable store, and he thinks customers don't mind.
"They understand the predicament that we've been in,"
McCreary says.
"We feel there is certainly enough loyal customers in Wichita to support our one store."
My personal comments about this
newspaper article ---
Once again, it appears as though "some people" are out of touch with reality!
The statement : ..... he thinks customers don't mind.
Don't mind what -- that you don't respect them enough to say thank you for the years of patronage they have given the East store. The first and most important thing that was drummed into everyone who was employed at
SBG was "Customer Service". How is what they did providing Great Customer Service. These same customers who have been fighting changing traffic patterns due to construction for more than a year, come to the store on Friday morning only to find white paper over the windows. They call the store and get a recording.
What surprises me --- ( I know, I know) is once again the fear of personal contact. It's just amazing to me the panic that seems to be associated with CARING about someone. It is just so foreign to "some people".
The statement: They understand the predicament that we've been in.
This is so funny coming from someone that told all of us to "not mention the construction. We don't want to draw attention to it." Yea, once again, let's bury our head in the sand and act like it's not there. Thereby avoiding any personal contact or, oh my, communication!!!
And yes, the customers do understand the predicament. But there is a right way and a wrong way to handle predicaments. Once again, some people "chose poorly! " (Name that movie! ) Winner gets a prize!
The statement: --- enough loyal customers in Wichita to support one store.
Key word here that gets me is loyal. LOYAL - insert personal definition here. For those of us who were LOYAL to Scrapbook Garden for years, this is how we are treated. All I can do is shake my head. Loyal --- wrong on
sooooo many levels.
I can tell you one thing, I will be loyal. Loyal to myself in knowing that I was a good manager and a good representative of Scrapbook Garden for my 3 years there. Knowing that I, repeat, I was loyal to providing good customer service to the customers that chose to shop there.
Loyal to the friendships made in the 3 years at
SBG. Bob and Kathy may have taken away my job, but they will NEVER take away the friendships I have gained while working there.
Again, the reason my blog name is what it is ----SCRAPPERS UNITE!!!!
