A quick look furniture upholstery materials

[baileyuph]

Just recently fabric discounters at the retail level have become more crafts supplier oriented and less upholstery vendors.  There is a message there in that industry, times are tough for just recently a large numbers of Hancock stores are closing.  Some have gravitated to the craft interest and moved away from handling as much upholstery material.

That is the message, apparently the furniture market is still buy new "priced items", then perhaps just pitch it and buy more in time.

Doyle

[sofadoc]

It's possible that with fewer upholsterers, consumers have fewer reasons to buy upholstery fabric. So fabric stores have to branch out into crafts, and other artsy-fartsy stuff that consumers can screw up on their own.

[MinUph]

I'm sure there are many reason these Hancock stores are closing. Most being unrelated to Upholstery fabrics sales. Floor space by itself could be a factor. Think how many more little wheels for cars can fit where a rack of fabric once lived. Or plastic flowers :).  I don't see fabrics slowing down myself. Although I did hear of Boca Bargoons possibly closing their Tampa store also. It has not been verified but what I heard. I see it as a good thing for us. We can sell more fabrics. I for one like the idea of these retail price happy stores going away. I doubt it will change our business for the bad, only for the good. If we take advantage of this supposed change we can reap the benefits. Think positive people. We have a trade that is alive and well.

[sofadoc]

Another factor to consider. Every year, online sales take a bigger bite out of brick and mortar store sales. Wal-Mart, Best Buy to name a few. I'm sure it's the same for fabric stores.

[gene]

Didn't Amazon recently become a bigger company than Wal Mart?

91 millions adults are out of work in the good ol' US of A but this cannot be the problem, because this current administration says we only have 5 1/2 % unemployment.

I love this new math. It doesn't get the bills paid for a lot of folks, but it sure helps those of us who are doing well to feel good.

gene

[sofadoc]

We have a trade that is alive and well.

I'm not prepared to debate that statement since I haven't done any research on the numbers. I guess it's all about perspective.

I had an old 1965 copy of my local Yellow Pages. There were 8 upholstery shops in a town of 20,000. They all had anywhere from 3-6 full time upholsterers. Now, there are 2 one-man shops including mine.

But of course, there weren't any fabric retail stores like Boca Bargoons or Hancocks. If a customer wanted their couch recovered, they had little choice but to order it from the upholstery shop's sample books.

There used to be about a dozen fabric/supply salesmen that called on us monthly. It was common to have 2 or 3 salesmen at the same time. Some of them would wait outside as a professional courtesy to the one who got there first. Now, I'm lucky if I see a couple of them a year.

I field around 5-10 calls a day from people that expect their couch to cost a mere fraction of the $500 they paid for it new. Every time I explain the reality of upholstery costs to them, I'm fairly certain that I've lost that customer forever. But as long as I have more work than I can do, I don't worry about it.

Is the trade better off now than it was in 1965? I don't know. But it has certainly evolved into something different.

[SteveA]

The trade does not get the business it once commanded but It's still decent  As a kid I worked on a delivery truck servicing upholstery shops some 45 years ago.   We had between 3-10 stops a day and the boss had approx. 35 upholstery shops as steady customers.  Today those shops are few and far between.   There may be 2-3 shops left in that same area - furniture was good quality and well worth re-doing in those days.
SA

[sofadoc]

The trade does not get the business it once commanded but It's still decent

Is it possible that it only seems decent because there are fewer shops to compete with?

One supply salesman tells me that he used to have 2 or 3 stops in every town along the highway. Now, his stops are usually 50-80 miles apart. Many small towns that once had an upholstery shop haven't had one in years.

I'm sure that shops still thrive in populated affluent areas. But across the heartland, they're moving toward extinction.

furniture was good quality and well worth re-doing in those days.

That pretty much sums it up. The number of quality frames in people's homes continues to shrink every year.

[kodydog]

Lake City (population 13000) had 3 full time upholstery businesses 10 years ago. They now have none. Two of them closed during the great rescission and I just moved to High Springs. White Springs had one little old lady upholsterer. She just retired. Gainesville had 10 or more full time upholstery businesses but are now down to half that. A lot of upholsterers just couldn't make it through the hard times and others retired. And not many young folks are picking up the trade.

[MinUph]

And not many young folks are picking up the trade.

This is the big issue I see. But I am a positive thinker. I hear talk about young people starting to realize that they need something they can make a living at if not interested in college. I usually employ one younger person to strip, PU and Del. and they seem interested in learning more.

  Time will tell where we end up in this business. I stay positive because of where I live I guess.