Cost of doing business

Is your business space too large to be profitable? Is it smaller than it has to be? We've heard store owners comment lately about the cost of doing business in relation to the cost of space rented. One retailer asks our blog readers to figure the amount of business they are doing per square foot of space vs. the cost of the rent of the space. Do you feel the return is adequate? Please let us know what you think.
Erin & Kathy

Hot Times at Summer CHA

Did any of our readers out there attend Summer CHA this July? While CHA reports that attendance was down, there were still plenty of new product offerings for the art stamp retailer, including new stamp designs from Inkadinkado, Serendipity Stamps, Rubber Soul, Rubber Stamp Tapestry, Crafty Secrets, Savvy Stamps and many other companies. Even Ellison and Hot Off The Press, two companies that have traditionally focused on products other than stamps, have gotten into the game with sets of clear stamps to complement their product lines!

I also had an interesting talk with Creative Imaginations’ Alison Wong. She and fellow artist Danelle Johnson, also of Creative Imaginations, have developed the Creative Café program in collaboration with AccuCut, Hampton Art and Bazzill Basics Paper to revitalize the papercraft industry. A few of their ideas for stores include providing an “art bar” stocked with open-stock bins of tags, ribbon and chipboard shapes and extending papercraft into realms such as party décor.

What was your most useful discovery at the show?