Got any Craft Store Horror Stories?

I took classes at a yarn store in Fells Point. The instructor for the beginning knitting class was great so I returned to buy yarn for my first big project and to meet a friend to go to their knitting group.

The group had just started for the day and I picked out a lot of yarn to start my project with. I went to check out and the owner (who I hadn't met before despite taking the class and buying a lot of yarn for scarves and things there) waited on me. I was buying a lot of yarn (well over $100 worth) and she offered to wind my yarn into balls for me. I thanked her and she took my yarn. She started to wind the first ball then lectured me on how busy she was and how she really didn't have time to wind them in a really nasty, aggressive, put-out tone. I pointed out that she offered to wind them for me and she said that she'd do it but that she was really doing me a favor that she hoped I appreciated and really didn't need or want to wind them. It was bizarre. She continued to loudly complain to me. I finally stopped her and said that I didn't want the yarn after all; I didn't feel comfortable spending so much money somewhere where I was resented and yelled at for agreeing to a service that was offered to me. She made me pay for the ball she started to wind but refunded me the rest of the money. I stuck my head in the backroom where the knitting group was to tell my friend that I was leaving and the store owner followed me in, loudly announcing that I was leaving because I was "upset" that she was a "bitch" and having a bad day.

I haven't been back since, which is a shame, there are not too many independent yarn stores in Baltimore.

I know where that second photo was taken! It's a shop I know well. What a bummer about the yarn shop, I don't understand when businesses treat customers like that. It must not have been the owner if she was acting like that, although you never know.

I had a recent bad experience. I purchased fat quarters that were 3"+ off and emailed that night after I saw how short they were (I had a busy day the next day and wanted to make sure I was prompt about letting the owner know) and asked if I could bring them in for an exchange after explaining what happened. I was told "no refund" or exchanges. After she found my blog and read it (where I did not mention the name of the shop) she recanted and said maybe we could do something, although rather rudely. Because of how it was handled I do not patronize that store anymore nor do I recommend it to anyone. It's not like I was asking for my money back, just an exchange.

I do have to say that the employee who cut the fabric wrong did contact me separately later and offer to make it right. I did not take them up on it as I was already burned by the whole experience. My feeling is that is how it should have been handled in the first place. Customer service is a HUGE deal to me. Bad service = no business from me.

How funny that this is your topic as I just posted my own bad shopping experience on my blog: http://kleiosbelly.wordpress.com/2009/10/06/eme...

I don't want to recount it all here but will note that mocking a customer in an attempt to get them to spend twice as much as they were planning is a good way to lose a sale!

But my story has a happy ending because I went somewhere else and now I have a newing sewing machine -- whoo hooo!!

Gosh I'm sad to see so many people having the same problems with craft stores as I do. I get the looks up and down quite a bit and for the most part have grown a thick skin to it. However there is one fabric store that managed to chase me off for good.

I had been into the store on several occasions and got the condescending treatment often but they had unique crafty googahs and a wall of afghan acrylic sorted by color that kept me coming in regardless. So I signed up online for a knitting class there to learn to do two socks on two circular needles. I walked in for the first day and met the very friendly teacher and shortly after the other student in the class breezed in. Turns out the other student (I’ll call her R) is a store employee. We get the full run down on R’s sewing status, brief knitting status and her status as a mother as if all of this is a badge of honor of sorts. All the while I’m getting the up and down looks as I was at least ten years younger than R and childless to boot. Good grief. I explain that I’m been got some experience knitting and we pull out yarn and needles. Now the store we were at had a very small section of Regia sock yarn, mostly in garish colors, so I bought yarn elsewhere without thinking about it. R takes one look at my yarn and rips me one side and down the other about the fiber content as if it’s small Donegal content were the devil. I was so aghast I couldn’t respond and the teacher had to save me by switching the topic. The rest of the class went a lot better from there on but it was still uncomfortable. How I managed to drag my butt back to class for three weeks after I’ll never know. Needless to say I will never set foot in the store again.

Oh, geez... I have many horror stories.

-At almost every fabric store I visit--with the very notable exception of Bolt in Portland--my husband is treated like an accessory, despite that he is a sewer too. The worst is at a large fabric store here in Portland, where the fabric cutters will actually wave the women in line behind him ahead of him, because they figure he's just holding my place in line, rather than having fabric cut for himself. Traditional "quilt shops" are often guilty of this--and I personally find the whole "husband waiting area" extremely offensive and won't patronize anywhere where there's a sign that says something like "husband parking." It offends me deeply--imagine if a strip club had "wife parking" in a waiting room!

-Many traditional quilt shops are, frankly, not welcoming to me as a young looking person. It's even worse if you happen to mention that you're a garment sewer--at least that's my personal experience. It feels like if you're not making a quilt (and hence spending a huge sum of money), you're not really worth their time. I think perhaps it's because many quilters see making a quilt as the be-all and end-all of sewing. I have a friend who has practically made a catalog of her poor treatment in these kinds of shops (she's a very skilled garment sewer). I think my favorite was when I asked them to wind a skein of yarn and they simply said, "No." and walked off. Huh?

-There's a larger, popular yarn store in Portland that is downright rude and unhelpful; I assume that since I'm not a regular, I'm not worth their time. When I've asked for help, I've actually been met with an eye roll. Obviously, I don't shop there anymore.

But, with that said, there are lots of independent shops that treat their customers wonderfully, whether your a regular or just popping in. In Portland, here are some shops where I always get great service: Bolt, Collage, Twisted, Paper Zone (not sure if they're independent, actually). They're always warm and helpful, and I see them treat everyone that way.

hmm keep trying to think of bad craft store experiences but I just usually end up leaving a store if the employees are not helpful or I talk to the manager. I've mostly come across employees that are more interested in gossiping then helping. the local craft store is good though, expensive but the employees at least try to help when you ask.

had many problems with art supply stores tho :/

I went to a small LYS when I was ready to start my first knitting project... a simple garter-stitch scarf. The woman in the store sold me, rather than something easy to knit and simple to understand, alpaca/merino boucle AND a lightweight merino yarn, insisted that I double the yarn as I knit, as well as expensive circular needles. With the two strands of yarn to keep track of, and the way the boucle obscured my stitches, I had no idea what I was doing, and the rows were all different lengths so the scarf was all wavy, and I kept losing track of which side was the right side with the circular needles. BUT the woman made a sale of, oh, 80 dollars or so.

Wow I guess this says something about the state of a lot of LYS's. I have too LYS- one is actually a huge store with national web/mail order business but it's local to me and locally owned. At this store I'm always helped, even when they have bus loads (literally) of people visiting I can find someone happy to respond to my questions. At the other very small YS (that's closer to me and so small it's literally the size of my living room it's so small) I feel alone, left to wander the shelves while other more welcome knitters are greeted and taken into the fold. I get "the look" and am just passed over, even when I'm the only person in the shop.

I never go there anymore. Besides the dirty looks and unfriendly nature I had three distinct bad experiences that got me to that point.

1. This was the very first YS I ever went to when I decided to start knitting. I was intimidated and lost as to what I needed. I had one knitting book and it told me to find my LYS... as they would be my haven. They were unhelpful and unfriendly. I bought one pair of plastic needles but couldn't get any direction on yarn or other perhaps better materials so I ended up leaving to buy yarn at a chain store.

2. I chocked that first experience up to my own ignorance and bravely went back for my second project. I "knew how to knit now" (with no help from my LYS btw) and knew what I wanted to make. I bought a really expensive yarn on the recommendation of the person behind the counter... assured that it was only take 2 very expensive skeins to make the scarf displayed. At the end of skein two I was no where near finished even though it was the exact size of the scarf in the store (I checked). I went back to buy skein 3 and they casually commented that they didn't have that color upstairs and would have to go downstairs to check the stock... like that was the end of the situation and I should pick something else. Needless to say I waited while skein 3 was found. When it came to needing skein 4.. yup 4, less than a week later... they actually didn't have the yarn anymore and I needed to work in a non matching (from another shop) to finish.

3. Still a relatively knew knitter the site of a moth flying out of a shelf of yarn didn't scare the socks off me. I bought yarn that day and soon learned what it meant to throw a stash out.

I've never gone back.

Many years ago, as a beading Newbie, I took my three small children with me to my LBS. We were the only customers in the family owned shop and the register was staffed by the owner's twenty something son. I was perusing the displays when he suddenly started screaming profanities, grabbed a gun from behind the counter and took off running out of the store. These were the "good old days" when cell phones were not portable. Rather, they were "car phones" and were installed in cars. I had no means of communication and three nervous kids. I was afraid to leave the store because I didn't know what we would walk into, so I hunkered down with my children and waited. The idiot returned several minutes later and simply told me that he had "told that (expletive) not to set foot on his property." I bid a hasty adieu and got the heck out of there. I opened my own bead store within the next year!

It never fails, when I want to feel like an inept crafter, all I have to do is visit our LYS. Whenever I go in to browse yarn, I get the evil eye from the "usuals," slouched in randomly placed easy chairs, (some directly in front of shelves and alcoves, making it impossible to examine an entire row of yarn), knitting at rapid pace with snarls that read: What is SHE doing here?

Also, the folks at our LYS would rather cough up yarn balls than help anyone locate a particular fiber or assist someone with understanding a pattern or project. I invited a coworker to visit the LYS during our lunch break. My coworker brought a pattern she had printed from the internet. We spent 15 minutes admiring yarn before my coworker asked the YS employee, standing idle at the register, if she could recommend yarn for her pattern. The employee examined the printed pattern and replied in a monotone: "This pattern is from Hobby Lobby. It requires synthetic yarn. WE don't sell synthetic yarn." She then turned her back and went off to admire the work of some snarling person slouching in an armchair.

As a solitary crafter by choice, I don't understand the tendency to create crafting cliques. Didn't we have enough of that in high school?

Like many here have issues w/ the LYS. The closest one to me was very snooty towards crocheters. From the people at the register, to the teacher who teaches crochet. Conversely, a store 30 miles out, the teacher and her customers wouldn't mind stopping what they're doing to help me. Go figure.

We have a local fabric store chain here in West Michigan - some of the stores in the chain are great, and others... Well... I refuse to go near.
I went into one, looking for fabric with skulls on it - I was making a pirate skirt for my daughter. I asked an older woman and got "the look" (over the glasses like I deserve to be smacked with a paddle), and a withering response that we don't sell that "kind" of fabric here. I replied that I bought some just on the other side of town at a sister store, to which the woman ignored me the rest of my visit. Haven't been back to that store since.

Oh my - these are all terrible!

I'm laughing right now though because I remembered that there is a WHOLE THREAD on Craftster dedicated to bad LYS experiences. I know I posted the story I shared here on it. I am looking through my old (ancient) posts on Craftster, and I found another bad customer service story. This is my copied and pasted young self posting on Craftster:

***
I got "THE BOOK" (referring to Debbie Stoller's Stitch n' Bitch Nation) as well...

And may I say I was extremely perturbed when I asked for it at the counter at Big Chain Bookstore and the girl looks right at me and says "There are much better books than that, you should look at blah blah blah blah if you want to expand your repertoire." I said: I'm a huge fan of Debbie Stoller, that's the book I want. We went to the shelves to see them being freshly taken out of their boxes and sales girl goes: "Oh the it's the new one *grabs it* I guess the patterns are cool."

Yes sales girl, they are cool.

SO HAPPY I LOVE SnB NATION!

***

I still see that sales girl to this day and refuse to acknowledge her knitting snobbery...off to search for thread on Craftster

Diane,
One of my bad experiences is similar to yours. There is a local scrapbook store in town that is locally owned. There are almost always 2-3 people working at any given time. It seems whenever I go in they say hello without looking at me and when I ask for something I am looking for point me in the right direction and let me wander the aisle searching for it. This normally happens when they are in conversation. It happens more often than naught.


One other story happened at a locally operated yarn store (that went out of business btw). I was buying some Noro yarn to make a felted bag. She told me that Noro was the best and the type of Noro I wanted. I was purchasing over $100 worth of yarn. I had a $100 gift card and I was paying the difference. I gave her the Visa gift card and when I tried to give her another for the $8 and change balance and she asked me to give her cash as "they charge us a lot to process a credit card." I was buying $100 in yarn and she was going to quibble with me over a charge for $8 and change.

I had almost the exact same experience in a quilting shop when I began patchwork... and I still come across these kinds of shops from time to time where women in their 50s/60s eyeball me, decide I'm not serious and don't/won't help me at all. As soon as I cop 'that' look, I'm outta there!

And... in my local Spotlight which is a big chain craft store here, I waited in line 10 minutes to be served, everything was going smoothly albeit slowly, until the woman behind me took a ticket from the counter and as soon as I stepped to the front of the line, they called out the ticket number. I put my stuff down and walked out and haven't been back since.

Firstly we've got Crafty Planet here in the Twin Cities and it's fantastic, always. Hip and fun and lots of funky fabrics and yarns for just about anything. They are super involved the in community.


I've encountered some ageism at other older indie fabric stores in the area. I'm not that young (early 30's) and I'm not very alternative in my looks, but I guess I don't fit the usual clientele demographic they're going after. It's not any one incident that makes me say this, just a general feeling of being brushed off, passed over, and last to be helped. I've bought some fairly expensive cuts of fabric and been reminded, in a condescending way, about the price before they cut it - as though I couldn't afford it, or I was wasting my money, or wasn't skilled enough to use it. It's frustrating because I feel I could learn a lot from the older ladies and would visit the store more often if I felt welcome. Maybe when I'm 50 they'll respect me. I haven't given up on it yet.

Well, I hate to take another blast at LYS's but some of the worst customer service I have ever experienced is in three different ones I have been to:

1. The owner of a local store [since closed] used to spend *all* of her time either talking/complaining loudly on the phone or yakking loudly with someone in the back of the store. I flipping hate that. You can park your personal conversation for the 15 minutes I am in your shop. If I'm there for much longer, you can talk quietly.

2. I once went to an LYS where the proprietor literally stood behind me the entire time I shopped and then would have the driving need to "re-stock" directly in front of me, wherever I was standing. I was totally confused by this behavior until my friend explained after we left: She thought I was going to steal something. (I was *shocked* by this revelation, by the way. Not to sound all old lady about it, but: "Well, I never!")

3. I rarely go to this other LYS but sometimes I find myself in the neighborhood and I check it out. And regret it. The workers are pretty friendly, but the place is a MESS. There is yarn everywhere. Half-empty bags out on the floor and filling every surface. The books (for sale!) are stacked into falling-over piles. It's such a bummer. They sell beautiful yarn, but clearly do not care about the customer experience. I don't want to buy expensive yarn that someone else was stomping all over earlier today.

Meanwhile, I have had many *good* local store experiences, as well. Pat -- perhaps you'll want to hear those stories from everyone at some point and Diane can get The Happy posted here as well. :)

Yes! There is definitely a place near where my family vacations that ALWAYS wants to restock right where I'm standing. They sort of snooty anyway, but seriously, if they're going to follow me around...just follow me, don't make me move every 3 seconds.

Oh Yes! The HAPPY experiences would be quite a relief! What do you think, Diane? Maybe you can put out a call for this on a future post!

Absolutely! Let's ask for those next Monday!

Well, this is not quite a nightmare, but I like to patronize my local quilt shop, but every time I go in there to buy fabric for soft sculpture birds they always assume I am buying fabric for a quilt. No matter what I say they never seem able to shift gears. The last time I was there I explained that I am buying this dark blue fabric to make soft sculpture crows with. I chose blue, I said, because black does not photograph well. The saleslady seemed to think I was printing images onto the fabric to make a quilt with and proceeded to go on and on about how she does not like printing images onto fabric and prefers instead to buy pre-printed fabric. I have spent hundreds of dollars in this shop and each time I explain that I sew three-dimensional birds, but they don't ever understand what I'm talking about. I feel like shouting, "People do buy quilting cotton for projects other than quilts!"

What about clipping one of your lovely birds on your shoulder the next time you go ? They would probably remember the "bird lady", the next time !

I was in a quilt shop purchasing felt - about $25.00 worth - (and had been there the day before purchasing another $25.00). Anyways, I asked if they had a bag with handles since we were in a downtown area and would be doing a bit of walking - well, she gave me a snotty look and said they save the bags with handles for the more expensive purchases. No smile - nothing. Made me feel really cheap for even daring to ask! Then I got over it - and will prob. not be back!

I live in Barcelona and I know All You Knit Is Love and I can tell you that it's the only yarn store in the city where you can touch the yarns without any problems. Jen and Miquel, the owners, are wonderful people.

Fortunately, I have had nothing but good experiences at independent yarn and craft stores.

However, when I was 20 I worked at a fabric store (a quasi-national chain in Canada). All of the other ladies who worked there were of a very traditional mindset. On a couple of occasions, some of my poor artsy friends would come in to browse the bargain wall for some project or another, only to be scolded for a bad fabric choice by one of my co-workers (sure ya can't make curtains with THAT!). On another occasion I recall a co-worker telling a customer that a purple flannel with alphabet letters on it was inappropriate for a boy-child.

There is nothing worse than uncreative people selling creative materials!

I went into a a new yarn shop where I was ignored upon entry... and then, after picking up a skein of Misty Alpaca she literally had me try on every sample in the store. I know she was trying to be helpful and make a sale, but I kept telling her I knew what I was looking for. I loved her items, but I wasn't interested in new pattern ideas. She was so pushy it really turned me off. I ALWAYS want to be greeted when I first walk in to a shop. That way, I can ask questions if I need to or they can tell me any special about the shop, but then I also want time to look around on my own.
While checking out I asked her if they had any crochet-friendly items for sale. She chuckled and said "Ohhhh, we don't know how to crochet here!" Wah wah! I smiled and nicely said... "Well, you should learn!" Another woman in the shop said "Do you need a crash course?" It was nice to have another crocheter in the shop on my side. It seems like a bad business move not to have ANY crochet items in a yarn shop. I know crocheters don't always hit up the Local Yarn Shops as often as they hit up the bigger craft stores, but to have NOTHING for crocheters seems super silly.
Hopefully she'll start adding crochet classes and notions soon.

Sadly, I have a lot of stories and they mostly revolve around fabric stores (have no idea why).

I went to my local fabric store, I like to support the stores in town even if it's a little more expensive. I asked if they had cream linen and they didn't. But I decided to look around and found some other fabric I liked. I took it to the counter to have it cut, and she said in the most snarky tone "well this doesn't look like linen". I was shocked, and just replied "it's for another project". The worst part, it was the owner that made the comment!

I do kumihimo and felting as elements in my jewelrymaking. Early in my exploration I went to a yarn store that is within 2 miles of my house looking for supplies and some different materials to work with. I went to the counter with my 4 mismatched skeins, and the woman behind the counter asked me what I was doing with all that odd yarn and didn't I want multiples of them to make sure I had enough to complete a project. I explained my interest and that one skein would likely be a lifetime supply for what I did, and the woman said to her friend that "this will mess up the counts." When I realized that her big concern was that I'm going to mess up the quantities of skeins in each dye lot they had, I never went back, and have gone to a lovely yarn shop about 20 miles away that has asked me to teach kumihimo.

Ouch....I was kinda sorta hoping that there would be few comments to this post, Diane....but I guess that slow craft store sales are due to MORE than the economy. Frankly, the stories that have been shared are similar to dismal experiences that I have encountered, as well. Thank goodness for all of the crafty retailers who GET IT, and BOO HISS to those who don't!

Agreed... these stories are making me ever more grateful for the good
places. :-)

Crafty Chica just added this one, via Twitter: http://tinyurl.com/ydzccl3

I made a special trip to check out a yarn shop (that is no longer in business) that was probably a 45 minute drive away. When I got there it was run by a very attractive older woman, dressed to the nines. She looked like she might have been a model. I was very impressed with the yarn and the patterns. Only, everything I picked up I was given the comment, "why would you want to knit that you are too young to like that." Eventually, I picked up some yarn for a scarf that I suppose she deemed age appropriate for me! What a shame, I would have dropped a bundle in that place!

I walked into the local craft shop at 8:30, only to hear as soon as I walked in "we'll be closing at 9". Um, ok, I can probably get the two things I need before that. Then at 8:45 they shut off half the lights, including the aisle I was browsing in. Considering how much money I dumped in there since I got my license, I was a little ballistic. Oh well, it was probably about 2 hours after their bedtimes anyway, and they did miss watching Wheel that night...

Oofph! Mine happened at an independent yarn store as well. I was looking for a substitute yarn for a beautiful fine gauge tunic that was featured on Knitty a few years ago. I showed the woman the pattern, and the suggested yarn and The following conversation happened:

"This is knit on size twos."
" I know."
"Do you KNOW how small that is?" (Her tone implied that I was an idiot).
"Yes, I know, it's SMALL!"
(She then proceed to pull a sock out of a drawer and she showed it to me...)
"This is knit on size twos and it took about ten hours. Do you know how long that tunic is going to take you?"
"A long time, I KNOW."
"Fine." she said, and proceeded to show me a rack of yarn - "Look at these."

I did. And then I left, and never went back. I was so insulted. Hey - I want to buy some fine gauge yarn at your store - have some enthusiasm for the project that *I* want to do. I don't give a flop about your fine-gauge sock. (Incidentally, I never made that tunic either).

Wow, things are not looking good for local yarn stores here, are they?

Does it count if it's in France ? I live in Paris, in an area crawling with fabrics shops. More than once, when I ask a basic question about a product, the answer is "how would I know ? I'm not a sewer !". I even entered a tiny notions store, once, with the lady there not looking up because she was busy *filing her nails*. She seemed quite upset when I asked her a question. And I won't speak about that time when I asked for double sided interfacing I had already bought in that very shop : "uh ? don't even now what it looks like, just have a look at everything and tell me if you find it". - Sigh - :-).

Ouch!

After scrimping for months to pull together enough money to buy good yarn I went into a yarn shop. I asked if they had Vogue Knitting and the clerk did the same old scan and sniff and gestered toward a wall. When I started looking at yarn I picked one up, glanced at the ball band and put it down. The clerk told me I could find cheaper stuff at a craft store. The reason I put down that ball of yarn: It wasn't the quality fiber (wool) I wanted.

I never shopped at that store again, even though it was literally half a block from my home.

I went into a locally owned stamp store looking for Diamond Glaze (a friend told me they sold it there). I had nearly the same experience with the women behind the counter to engaged in conversation to even greet me. I have worked a lot of retail and I think you should ALWAYS greet your customer and then leave them be if they don't need help. When I asked about the Diamond Glaze, they all looked clueless. I bought nothing and haven't been back.

In a LYS in Barcelona. I went there because they carry Noro Silk Garden and wanted to knit Brooklyntweed's Striped Noro Scarf. Well I asked if I could see the yarn (in this shop everything is behind the counter and a "no se toca" (don't touch) policy is in effect). The lady went: That'a a very expensive yarn... (she falted to add "and you look poor")
me: yes, I know. I would like to see it anyway.
she: well, it's september, this yarn is in the backoffice, what do you need such yarn in this warm weather??
me: ok. bye.
That was two years ago... never again.

A yarn store where you can't touch the yarn is insane! If you are still in Barcelona, I went to www.allyouknitislove.com and they were so wonderfully helpful! It's a small shop with lots of local yarns, and it made my trip! Also, their website is always happy.

ACK!!

We had a little store that was a charming throwback to the 70's. They carried DMC perle cotton -- I was using it to tat lace back then, so I'd stop in whenever I had a couple spare bucks. Try being the only human being in town that tats! I just my "small" purchases weren't enough to warrant a conversation. Heck, had she kept me in the store a scoosh longer my impulse buying would have kicked up and she could have made her sales projections for the day. She closed about 6 months after I found the store. A couple years later I gave up tatting. I don't really miss either of them. Any wonder tatting is considered a "dying art?"