Working for Tandy

[Billy P]

Hey everyone, I just wanted to add another .02 worth to this thread. My local Tandy, Charlotte N.C. store is great to work with, the manager Billy Browne, is always helpful. Sometimes I'll call him and say hey bro I'm wanting to do so and so, I've got this on hand to work with how can I do it, and between us we'll come up with something. I like most other people call in my order and pay with my bank card. Wed. I called in a order, and we got to talking and when we hung up I had forgotten to give him my card no., he has my home ph#, but he didn't call me or anything. So Yesterday, Fri. when I got my package I found out that he had not gottenmy card# so I called him to give it to him. I asked wy didn't he call me back and he said well I knew that you'd be calling again to I'd just get it then. Yep they do lack some things, but I'd rather have them there than for it to be like it was a few years back when they were gone. I for one wish that I lived close enough to Charlotte to work there at least parttime. I don't know many Tandy managers, but the few I do know are great people, Billy Browne, Dave Howell, Clay Miller, etc, with a group like that working for them they can't be all bad. Enough rambling for now with Regards Billy P

[Hilly]

It is a corperation and the job of the management is to create return on the investment. If we want to complain we have to be able to give that return. If they invest in the quality are we willing to pay the price to make it worthe thier while.

With what has happened to Hidecrafters I would say no we are not. The other part of this is numbers there is not enough volume of people doing this craft to make it pay. It would be very easy to duplicate Bob Beards tool line down to every nuance and have them done in China but the 3d modeling would take some investment. Is there enough people to make that pay. I would say no or Bob would have done it by now. In my mind the best thing we can all do is start teaching and sharing our love of the art.

David Genadek

Do you know WHY Hidecrafters is discontinuing half their stock?

[David Genadek]

Do you know WHY Hidecrafters is discontinuing half their stock?

There could be million reasons but usually you discontinue an item because it doesn't turn enough times to justify the space it takes.

David Genadek

[Johanna]

It is a corperation and the job of the management is to create return on the investment. If we want to complain we have to be able to give that return. If they invest in the quality are we willing to pay the price to make it worthe thier while.

With what has happened to Hidecrafters I would say no we are not. The other part of this is numbers there is not enough volume of people doing this craft to make it pay. In my mind the best thing we can all do is start teaching and sharing our love of the art.

David Genadek

I would say the average American consumer appreciates the value of real leather, but can not distinguish synthetic from leather, or hand tooled from embossed, or handcrafted from mass production, the majority of the time. Al Stohlman, via Tandy, has influenced more leatherworkers in modern history than any one person in older times ever did. Now leatherworkers have the Internet.

Johanna

[David Genadek]

I would say the average American consumer appreciates the value of real leather, but can not distinguish synthetic from leather, or hand tooled from embossed, or handcrafted from mass production, the majority of the time. Al Stohlman, via Tandy, has influenced more leatherworkers in modern history than any one person in older times ever did. Now leatherworkers have the Internet.

Johanna

Johanna,

Having spent time with Bob Brown and Ellis Barnes I have been given several versions of the beginnings of the craft. Bob did what I beleave was the first instruction packet on leather craft. They sold some but not a lot in fact he still had a bunch that I brought to the federation show and sold 40 years later. Brown had two students that would end up shaping Tandy as we know it. One was T Joey Smith and the other Al Stohlman. Brown gave Smith a set of tools that he brought to Dick Mc Ghan (sp) that ended up being craftool. Smith was also responsable for many of the original designs sold through Tandy. What Charles Tandy really brought to the market was distributrion. As an artist Brown could blow Stohlman out of the water but he ended up working for the sherifs department because he had no distribution and none of his high end clients payed him. Stohlman found away of making a living through Tandy. The craft would not be where it is today with out those alignments. The thing to understand though is that this craft is a tough way to a make a living and Tandy love them or hate them have allowed the art to expand. Stohlman took Brown's ideas and really expanded them in the carving area. Now people like Peter Main and Paul Burnett are adding to that.

David Genadek

[AlcoveShop]

It is a corperation and the job of the management is to create return on the investment. If we want to complain we have to be able to give that return. If they invest in the quality are we willing to pay the price to make it worthe thier while.

With what has happened to Hidecrafters I would say no we are not. The other part of this is numbers there is not enough volume of people doing this craft to make it pay. It would be very easy to duplicate Bob Beards tool line down to every nuance and have them done in China but the 3d modeling would take some investment. Is there enough people to make that pay. I would say no or Bob would have done it by now. In my mind the best thing we can all do is start teaching and sharing our love of the art.

David Genadek

If you knew the gross profits being made on some of this stuff you might think twice. It all comes down to (for me anyways) what I call "an honest buck", or a "fair trade/value" where buyer and seller are getting equal return. Food for thought, dont want to derail the poll.

[AlcoveShop]

I would say the average American consumer appreciates the value of real leather, but can not distinguish synthetic from leather, or hand tooled from embossed, or handcrafted from mass production, the majority of the time. Al Stohlman, via Tandy, has influenced more leatherworkers in modern history than any one person in older times ever did. Now leatherworkers have the Internet.

Johanna

Thank god for the internet! Influences and controls ebb and flow with certainty

[BillB]

Johanna,

Having spent time with Bob Brown and Ellis Barnes I have been given several versions of the beginnings of the craft. Bob did what I beleave was the first instruction packet on leather craft. They sold some but not a lot in fact he still had a bunch that I brought to the federation show and sold 40 years later. Brown had two students that would end up shaping Tandy as we know it. One was T Joey Smith and the other Al Stohlman. Brown gave Smith a set of tools that he brought to Dick Mc Ghan (sp) that ended up being craftool. Smith was also responsable for many of the original designs sold through Tandy. What Charles Tandy really brought to the market was distributrion. As an artist Brown could blow Stohlman out of the water but he ended up working for the sherifs department because he had no distribution and none of his high end clients payed him. Stohlman found away of making a living through Tandy. The craft would not be where it is today with out those alignments. The thing to understand though is that this craft is a tough way to a make a living and Tandy love them or hate them have allowed the art to expand. Stohlman took Brown's ideas and really expanded them in the carving area. Now people like Peter Main and Paul Burnett are adding to that.

David Genadek

I don't know if this helps with the history, but wanted to provide the information. As I mentioned in another thread, my Uncle sent me all of his leather craft tools and books. One of those books is:

Soldier Handicrafts

TM28-325

War Department Technical Manual, June 1945.

It turns out that the War Department was teaching arts and crafts as part o the Special Services Program to give soldiers something constructive to do during their off times. The book covers 18 different arts and crafts (in order as presented in the book): Leathercraft, Woodcarving and Whittling, Woodworking, Metal Work, Plastics, Clay modeling, Puppets, Braiding and Knotting, Celluloid Etching, Block Printing, Silk Screen Printing, Poster Design and Lettering, Cartooning, Drawing, Oil Painting, Tempera, Water Color, Mural Painting.

It is very interesting reading. For example, did you know that a "Skiver is sheepskin split by a machine into very thin sheets". I always thought it was the tool. This also helps me understand where all the art work came from that is found on the nose of aircraft from WWII. This must have had great influence on these people as they returned to civilian life, yet maintained their hobbies and passed them on to their children. I still remember sitting with my dad (Army Air Corps) and building a plastic model of a B-17 where we had to build the electric motors that would spin the propellers from basic components, including wrapping the wire around the armatures. This then created a whole generation or two of hobbiest that fueled the industry up through the 80's. No wonder we are seeing a decline, there is no similar program today that would yield a similar population of hobbiest.

[AlcoveShop]

I don't know if this helps with the history, but wanted to provide the information. As I mentioned in another thread, my Uncle sent me all of his leather craft tools and books. One of those books is:

Soldier Handicrafts

TM28-325

War Department Technical Manual, June 1945.

It turns out that the War Department was teaching arts and crafts as part o the Special Services Program to give soldiers something constructive to do during their off times. The book covers 18 different arts and crafts (in order as presented in the book): Leathercraft, Woodcarving and Whittling, Woodworking, Metal Work, Plastics, Clay modeling, Puppets, Braiding and Knotting, Celluloid Etching, Block Printing, Silk Screen Printing, Poster Design and Lettering, Cartooning, Drawing, Oil Painting, Tempera, Water Color, Mural Painting.

It is very interesting reading. For example, did you know that a "Skiver is sheepskin split by a machine into very thin sheets". I always thought it was the tool. This also helps me understand where all the art work came from that is found on the nose of aircraft from WWII. This must have had great influence on these people as they returned to civilian life, yet maintained their hobbies and passed them on to their children. I still remember sitting with my dad (Army Air Corps) and building a plastic model of a B-17 where we had to build the electric motors that would spin the propellers from basic components, including wrapping the wire around the armatures. This then created a whole generation or two of hobbiest that fueled the industry up through the 80's. No wonder we are seeing a decline, there is no similar program today that would yield a similar population of hobbiest.

Good call!

We tried for quite sometime to re-establish a program within the schools- at one time they had full curriculums that could be dropped into the laps of administrators; shining times for results. Since leaving the corporate hog Ive devoted considerable time to redoing this on my own (Of course I cant cover the whole US, but I'm making an impact regionally here)

Any of you small shops can do this as well; in your region(s) most administrative systems would much rather keep the $ local. (distinct advantage for you too, trust me)

All you need to do is make sure you approach them with a program that takes almost all of the planning and design into consideration; the easier you make it for them the easier it will be to secure that business. In other words, lay it out so all they need to do is call you for materials, and provide training for the teachers (I do it for free, and even had to recruit a few other instructor level folk to help out because of high response) and leave them with just having to fill out a pre designed order.

I also provide classes to military for free (as an advertising hook) and emphasize on domestic natured materials (a BIG issue with alot of those folk). On another note, this works well with the schools too!

Glad someone brought that up!

Edited January 21, 2008 by AlcoveShop

[Regis]

Alcoveshop,

Would you elaborate more on what you are actually doing? Are you woring with public schools? What grades/ages?

Thanks