My friend and I swap books all the time. The books travel back and forth between our homes in the cute little bags (paper or plastic) with handles. Perfect size for books. The bags have come from gift shops, Avon, quilt shops . . .
We reuse the plastic bags from the super market to put trash in to carry out to the garbage can. When we give people vegetables out of our garden, we use the super market plastic bags. Small waste baskets in the house are lined with super market plastic bags. Lots of uses for them and we do use them!!!!
It does seem like there is an increasing trend towards reusing bags and customers wanting to do that, so I would definitely consider something along those lines.
To be honest, the bag I've most enjoyed receiving my purchase in was a simple flat brown paper bag, folded at the top and stuck down with a store sticker. Paper bags with bases don't actually work that well for fabric, same with flat plastic bags with handles are similar, you slide the fabric in, but it slips as soon as you use the handles, I often carry a plastic bag out as if it didn't have handles!
What's the weather like where you are? if it rains frequently, paper might not be such a good idea!
I'd probably also have a supply of cheap flimsy plastic bags for small purchases, I really appreciate that if I buy a couple of small items, like thread, needles etc. I can slip it in my purse and keep things together.
A reusable bag project might be something to roll out after the first few months, once you've had chance to get to know some of your customers, that kind of thing. It would be interesting to see if anyone has looked into whether getting a tiny reduction on your shopping if you bring a bag, or having to pay for a bag if you don't has had better results.
Hospitals have plastic feeling giant sized bags that they put the laundry in- the sheets and 'gowns' that are provided. The laundry, bag and all, is thrown into the washer and the bag dissolves when hit with hot water. I read about this on a quilting website that said these bags make great water soluble stabilizers and are much cheaper than buying the water soluble stabilizers sold to quilters. (Isn't that always the way it is? Put the word quilting on it and the price goes up astronomically!) During one hospital stay I "stole" a bag off a cleaning lady's cart to see how it worked for free motion embroidery. I wonder where that bag could be???
Marilyn, congrats on getting this store idea into a real business. Please let us know when, the name of the shop (did any of the baseball swappers hit that homerun? ), and what's on sale. A couple of options in the eco-friendly category: partially re-cycled bags like these
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in paper or plastic. A hand-out pattern, free to customers, maybe wrapped in a contest:
I am often irked by the bagging practices at stores.
I have bags I have made, I walk a lot and often use a backpack. Yet when I go to a store and tell them I have my own bags, please use them, nine out of ten times they will put my stuff in a plastic bag and then put it in my bag. Sometimes they just flat out refuse to use my bags. In stores that have them, I usually just stop next to the bag recycling bin, repack, and chuck the bags into the bin as I go. One time I made a store manager help me. In truth I would just as soon they just scan the stuff and put it into a new cart and let me go off and pack it up myself. They don't teach them to bag properly at stores anymore. At least for single items most stores around here now ask if you want a bag for that.
Come on out of the corner, Kathyl. I was just thinking of lovely fabric from a real QS. If I'm buying the last of the bolt at WalMart from the bargain bin or a long hank of something of questionable heritage from a salvage store, I don't care if the checker wads it into a ball and hurls it towards my car. A real QS. sigh. Haven't been in one of those in a couple of years. Polly
"KJ" sniff sniff.....okay........I'll be sitting over here in the time out
Plastic or paper - definitely paper because it doesn't last 1,000 years, or however long those horrid biodegradable ones that go into flimsy bits that look as though a mouse has eaten them, last.
Personally I take my own fabric bag with me folded up small in my handbag (and a selection live in the car ready for grocery shopping), but if I didn't have a bag with me and had bought droppable things or fabric likely to get dirty I would want/need just a simple paper bag.
A fabric store near me wraps larger purchases in brown paper which I think they have on a roll - like shops used to do 20 years ago
Sally at the Seaside ~~~~~~~~~~ (uk)
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Within a month, I'll be opening a fabric store in my neck of the
Seattle is making noises about eliminating paper and plastic all together (Portland has done this, it does work) unless you pay extra for the bag as part of your purchase, for each bag used at the store, this will go for take out food bags and containers as well. This doesn't bother me since I've been using my own canvas shopping bags for over 20 years and it's now just second nature to grab the bags when I grab my purse as I go out the door. I haven't brought a "store bag" into the house for years. I also take my own covered container to the neighborhood teriyaki take out joint or deli when I feel like not cooking, They give me a few cents off my bill. No big deal to my wallet but I also am not using Styrofoam and such. It's my personal choice. However, the owners of these take out places say that some of their other customers who have seen me do this now also bring in their own covered dishes....and also don't take paper napkins or plastic eating utensils.
The origami bag thing may sound all fine and well but if I had to stand in line while somebody was artfully tying up purchases I'd be miffed. The level of miffed-ness would directly coincide with foot pain, back pain, hunger pangs, fullness of bladder, chocolate cravings, hormone levels and the length of time I've had to put up with that ill behaved child who's running around the store, unsupervised, crying, whining, screaming and generally been a PITA. I'd probably walk past the 6 customers in front of me and dump that arm load on the counter, walk out and go straight to my computer to order online. If a fabric store could afford to pay an employee for the time just to 'origami' every purchase they have one hell of an overhead budget. Do you purchase a supply of hankies for those purchases of just one spool of thread? I don't think so, and not everyone wants to drop little things in their purse. Polly would not be the only one kicking a$$ if lovely, newly purchased fabric was used to tie up the goods. I think many would feel that way, me included.
Marilyn will have enough to keep her mind, body and account books balanced and all together getting this fabric store rolling and out of the red. I really don't think she needs to toss eco-warrior into the business plan unless this a *huge* priority. Does anyone here see the irony about "go-green" in a fabric store? Think about what goes into the manufacturing of most fabric or all those rulers and cutting mats. C'mon folks, think about it. A customer is at the counter with yards of commercially processed and dyed fabrics, plastic rulers, a synthetic cutting mat, various notions all in poly and paper packaging and she's supposed to have her customers to "be green"? What ends up in the landfill is realistically only a small part of global pollution. I realize and do believe every little bit helps but......well, I'm just saying.
IMO the best thing Marilyn can do now is to figure the rock bottom cost for the most viable bagging of purchases and go with it. Those water soluble bags run about .50 a piece, pretty pricey, that would rapidly add up to cutting into profit, not even considering the initial outlay of capital. Start up budgets are to the line in most cases so giving away percentages of anything for the sake of "green" is not necessarily a good way to go unless it can be effectively figured into advertising budget. Expanding customer base is the prime business advertising objective and spending money for 'green prizes' won't, in all reality, make or break a fabric store customer. Marketing give-aways are done to generate more purchases. Goodwill is generated by good inventory and exemplarity customer service. Does anyone in this group NOT shop at a store JUST because of the shopping bags used? Giving people an option, if it doesn't cut into the initial start up budget, would be fine. Frankly, if people don't care enough to remember their own bags they really won't give a rat's fat quarter what they tote home in the long run. Gimmicks, green or otherwise, don't make a business successful, pulling into the black in the shortest time possible does.
There are several independent businesses I shop at that have a donation jar at their cash register. If you bring in your own bag they drop a nickel, for every cloth or recycled bag brought in and used for purchases, into the jar for various eco or social causes as indicated on the label of the jar; save the whales, owls, swamps, spay a stray, food bank, kid needs a coat/book, community gardens, etc. It is a win/win concept. Customer feels good about contributing to the good cause and the store owner makes a tax deductible donation.
Bottom line - - - this is a business, not a sewing circle with hostess gifts. Good fabric stores are hard to find and even harder to make a go. Marilyn I wish you all the luck and success in the world with your new business. I'll just bring my own bags ;)
Hi Marilyn First of all, congratulations on your shop! I wish you the very best of everything.
I'm one of those that hauls my own bags with me everywhere. They're old and very used, but I always check and make sure they're in my car when I have a trip to any store scheduled.
However, in my shop, I use the paper bags with handles that are made from recycled paper and fibers. They're not fancy, by any means. They're plain, brown kraft paper with raffia handles. However, they leave themselves wide open for stamping with paw prints or doggies or my shop logo. My favorite stamp, that is stamped on every bag, says "Have a doggone great day!". I love it......... I sit around and stamp bags during "down time" at the shop, and people just love them. I tie the handles together with ribbon that has paw prints on it. They're really quite cute. And I'm sure you could find tons of quilting and/or fabric related rubber stamps. If you need help finding stuff, let me know. Good Luck!
I have some reusable shopping bags, but I'm not organized enough to remember them more than half the time. I do manage to go in for primary recycling-reusing bags "as is". My best one was braiding a new handle for the garbage can out of plastic grocery bags- it's still going strong 5 years later. When I collect a bunch of plastic bags I can take them to the library where they offer them to patrons to carry books in. I also used a huge number to stuff a duct-tape double of me (a neat idea from Threads Magazine some years ago). One LQS used to have floral paper bags I used for gift wrap or sometimes for a snazzy lunch bag. Whatever you choose, as long as it protects & keeps together their purchases, your customers will care more about the fabric than the bags.
Jane in NE Ohio Glad to be using the 'puter after thunderstorms all day.
German law is interesting and worth consideration: every retailer is legally obligated to accept and dispose of all packaging used on whatever he sells. I.e. I can take back to the store all the little plastic trays, bags, and whatever, rather than adding them to my own trash bill. (We pay for trash collection according to the size of the trash bin.) Normally I don't bother and just take it all to the recycling center myself, but if packaging on something annoys me, then the seller gets it back! In any case, I always have a shopping basket for the supermarket. And every supermarket here has a packing table on the way to the exit, where you see people stripping down their purchases. Some even take the cardboard boxes off the frozen pizzas and leave them in the store. Roberta in D
"NightMist" schrieb im Newsbeitrag news: snipped-for-privacy@news.madbbs.com...
When I am purchase batting or a large amount of fabric, or fabric and a bunch of notions I love a plain brown paper bag with a handle. I don't mind getting a little plastic bag with a handle if my purchase is small.
Great ideas, Roberta. (Gene says it's the same w/ the German car industry, recycle, reclaim.)
Why not start out "eco-friendly"? If not now, when?
Thinking of all those plastic islands in the ocean because people can't be bothered to think about it when packaging the products:
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Many times I've stopped a store clerk from putting a bag of quilt batting into a BAG!! Duh! Same for bed pillows (already wrapped in plastic!), large packages of toilet paper (wrapped in plastic!), and big bags of pet food. Thinking ahead only takes a second or two. Paper or plastic: paper w/ all it's processing, including toxic dyes, or plastic, which isn't an infinite resource,
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a bag that is made of recycled material, paper &/or plastic, for justa few pennies more. . . what's it worth? Considering where Marilyn livesand the environment she might wish to protect.. starting out eco-friendlyseems like a good choice. And wouldn't have to touch the profit $$$ line. R/Sandy
One local quilt shop sells canvas totes with the shops logo, I think the initial price is $30. Then each time you return to the shop you receive a 5% discount if you have your tote. The totes are equal in size to a large paper bag. Just something to think about. Bonnie NJ
I think as long as it has handles your customer will be happy. I don't care for the clear plastic bags with the straight top edge that some of the local shops use because they are so slippery and hard to carry.
However, why not reward those who bring their own bag? Grocery stores here give 5¢ off for doing it. Maybe something like that or how about a punch card where you punch a hole for every time they bring their own bag and after so many they can pick a free fat quarter.
One local shop here has started selling those shopping bags with their logo on it like the grocery stores do.
I have just returned from a two week trip to Salt Lake City and was able to visit two quilt stores. One was recommended by the group and boy, was it worth the trip! The other shop was just up the street from my hotel and was very nice as well. Both were very large shops with really nice classrooms. I didn't buy fabric due to space constraints in the suitcase, but I did get some nice patterns and a 12" flying geese template which I will use for my large scarps to make twin size quilts. But I digress. What I really liked is that both quilt shops used clear plastic bags of good quality which also contains their shop logo and address. I will reuse the bags to hold some small hand projects and will also have a reminder of a wonderful trip. I do use plastic bags but I make sure they don't make it into the landfills.
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