I’m not as good about going thru my shop e-mails as I was when we were open every day. I’m not sure why, but I’m guessing it’s because I don’t go downstairs every day to piddle around in the shop. I haven’t decided whether that’s because I’ve gotten lazy in my old age, or because I have the distraction of Rick still working from home. It’s probably more of the latter since I tend to stay upstairs where he is and actually stop to eat lunch when he’s here, neither of which I used to do. Don’t get me wrong now, it’s been quite nice having him here every day to have tea with. That alone has gone a long way in getting rid of my huge stash of tea. But I digress…
What I really wanted to tell you about are the e-mails I’ve been getting from various vendors over the past couple of months. Each of them contain pretty much the same information which boils down to price increases on both fabric and other items we quilters purchase to facilitate our need for creating and the ability to display our creations in a fitting manner. While it’s never fun to be told that you’re going to have to pay more for the pleasure of using something you love, it really shouldn’t come as a surprise to any of us given the events of the past year. How any independent business, i.e. non big box retailer, survived is not only amazing but a testimony to their ability to problem solve and to the loyalty of their customers. The fact that any “non-essential” company survived is nothing short of a good-sized miracle. Personally, I thought all along that quilt shops and similar venues were just as essential as the big box stores. While we might not have offered food, we did offer our own form of comfort to those who would have soaked it up had they been allowed to get out and about whenever they wanted. I actually wrote a blog post on how quilt shops were essential but never posted it as Rick feared it might ruffle some feathers. Again, I digress…
It seems like I blogged about price increases only yesterday, but when I looked back it was actually in December 2010 that I brought it to your attention. Talk about flying time! At that time, I had been told by a sales rep that fabric would be going up to $10 per yard. Right now it’s coming in at $12 per yard, although last year, or maybe it was the year before, I heard through the grapevine that some shops were already up to $14 per yard. WOW!
So, what can you expect this time around? Well, here’s a little sample for you. In future, you can expect the price of precuts to be 10% higher. That means that the 5” charm squares you like working with will now be $11 a pack instead of $10 as they have been for the past few years. The 2-1/2” mini-charm packs will go from $4 to $4.50. The wire ware vendor that we’ve used ever since I bought the shop back in 2004 will have a 12% increase according to one source from which I received an e-mail, although I have not verified that directly with the vendor. This doesn’t bode well and isn’t news that I like passing on to you. Looks like we just might have to cut out another latte at our favourite coffee shop in order to feed our fabric habits. Since fabric doesn’t add to the waist line, I think it’s a pretty good trade off. What do you think?