What do you really want from Leather Land?

[candyleather]

I'm sure that the leathercrafters industries or manufacturers need more imagination for to made new leather stamps models and new craftaids models, and new patterns or new tools, even new leathercrafting books and more how-to tutorials. I would like read your opinion about and another questions you want write about this trouble.

What kind of patterns do you need and you don't get in your leathercraft store?

Which new designs for stamping tools do you need? I make any custom leather stamps for me and for my customers. If you send to me a pic with a model that you like and you can't get in the store, if i make it for sell to my customers I promise send one to you.

How much do you think is a reasonable cost for a leather stamp? As far as quality is concerned medium, not the expensive stamps with first-class quality.

What kind of books and how-to tutorials would you like get in the store?

Do you think that we have enough variety of leather, tools, thread, finishes, buckles, dyes or acrilic colours to choose from?

What do you miss in the leather world?

Thanks for your support!

[pepin1948]

I wish there was a wider variety of patterns for Celtic art and medieval/renaissance pieces. Tandy has gotten better at catering to this crowd and has some nice Craftaids in Celtic designs, but my favorite place for Celtic art is still aon-celtic.com

[Patrice]

Hi wish that Tandy and Hide Crafters would make more medieval pattern like : boots, shoes, sword scabbard, purses, medieval wineskin, and so on.

I would be great to see more people going in Ren fair on medieval fair with nicer shoes than white Nike

[whinewine]

Hi wish that Tandy and Hide Crafters would make more medieval pattern like : boots, shoes, sword scabbard, purses, medieval wineskin, and so on.

I would be great to see more people going in Ren fair on medieval fair with nicer shoes than white Nike

It's weird, but occasionally you see offered on ebay, pattern sheets on how to make things like sword frogs & other medieval items ... & these are Tandy (or The Leather Factory) tear-off sheets from at least several years ago. Why they do not continue these now (now that renfaire stuff is so big) is totally beyond my comprehension (maybe it is part of that 'brilliant' strategy that closed the Tandy stores some time back..."hey - if we close all the stores, we can save tons of money by not having to pay managers & assistants & keep inventory in all those different stores- everyone can order everything on line, 'cause all leather is totally uniform & consistent in quality, right???" ).

[Art]

And that is why The Leather Factory bought them for really what was a fire sale price about a year after that. Their business concept is quite good now and void of stupid mistakes; they will be around for a while. Their leather is all imported (their CFO made a claim recently that there are no tanners left in the US) and is a very important part of that business (also VERY high margin); it is not IMAO of the quality that they had before the closures, still, if you go and pick it out, you should be ok. Today they are very particular where they put stores and who they get to run them, and they do run them very much like a business. The Tandy of the late 90s was much like the Radio Shacks of today, in a bleeding death spiral. The Tandy of today is a much more solid, visionary, and well piloted company. Tandy (the person) built the Radio Shack business up from ashes with the profits he made from the Leather Stores, however without his vision at the wheel, the company did not have the ability to change to meet economic and retail conditions that changed rapidly in the 90s. Tandy today (well really the Leather Factory because that's who it really is) is building their stores one by one based on the profits from the other stores which is just all around good practice and will insure that there are more solid Tandy stores in the future. Good Company, but Tandy in name only.

Art

It's weird, but occasionally you see offered on ebay, pattern sheets on how to make things like sword frogs & other medieval items ... & these are Tandy (or The Leather Factory) tear-off sheets from at least several years ago. Why they do not continue these now (now that renfaire stuff is so big) is totally beyond my comprehension (maybe it is part of that 'brilliant' strategy that closed the Tandy stores some time back..."hey - if we close all the stores, we can save tons of money by not having to pay managers & assistants & keep inventory in all those different stores- everyone can order everything on line, 'cause all leather is totally uniform & consistent in quality, right???" ).

[abn]

Well said on all points, Art. Plus, all the Tandy stores I've dealt with have always had exceptional customer service.

Alex

[TRM]

Well said on all points, Art. Plus, all the Tandy stores I've dealt with have always had exceptional customer service.

Alex

You can thank Jim Linnell for that he has done a great job.

Ted

[barra]

How dumb am I. I was just reading Art's response about Tandy/Radioshack. In Australia to my knowledge there are no Radioshacks but we have Tandy electronics stores everywhere. We used to have dedicated Tandy leather stores but I have not seen one in years. Now we just have certain stores who may carry Tandy branded products. I guess I have thought about the name Tandy electronics and Tandy leather but never really knew that the company is one and the same.

Thanks Art for shedding some light on one of lifes great mysteries.

Barra

Edited July 8, 2007 by barra

[Johanna]

I guess I have thought about the name Tandy electronics and Tandy leather but never really knew that the company is one and the same.

The electronics business was sold in the Seventies, so, no, they are not "one and the same". (I have heard that Tandy determined that leather was forever, and there was no future in electronics!)

The Leather Factory was formed by ex-Tandy employees, just like Hidecrafters. Art is right, by the mid-Nineties, Tandy Leather stores were bleeding red ink. At that time, Tandy was diversified. They owned a framing business, Joshua Tree, Pier One Imports and who knows what else. Tandy Leather was just a small blip in their radar. In 1998 or so, I think the shareholders wanted to see some returns on investments, and that's when the whole thing collapsed. It didn't surprise me that they went out of business- what was unbelievable was how they had stayed in business so long running it the way they did. One fellow manager described life with Tandy then like "Rearranging the chairs on the deck of the Titanic".

When the Leather Factory bought the Tandy business, they essentially got some older accounts back and the Tandy name. The production facilities they had proudly showed us a few years earlier were gone. Many dedicated employees in Ft. Worth had moved on to other things. The accounts had been neglected, the suppliers had shifted, and the Leather Factory closed the full circle with their new acquisition.

Tandy Leather stores are skilled labor intensive. They don't have high retail profit margins. (You make more on a hide the more you cut it up, and the more you cut up, the less of it you'll sell) The accounts they service out of sight of the walk-in customer, the ones who used the catalog to place their orders, are the ones that pay the bills, not people stopping by to make impulse purchases. You cannot hire just anyone in the leather business, either. This isn't a Wal-Mart, where the customer is expected to know how to work the cat litter and toothbrush he just bought. Anyone who thinks they are a leatherworker should try answering the phone in a busy Tandy for a week. You learn to take notes, because you can't possibly know all the answers, and even you did, you don't have time to explain them, over and over. Even if you have never made a "thing-a-ma-bob", you need to know how to figure it out, as well as remembering how many mallets per scout you need tonight, and where to find brain-tanned alligator. (Okay, no one ever asked me for that, but I wouldn't want to bet that somebody hasn't been!) I notice that the Leather Factory hired some of the best that Tandy had. That was smart. These folks could not be replaced. From the start, I think the Leather Factory had more focus, even when the two companies were competitors. I believe that Tandy/TLF will be a successful strong retailer in the future because of their demonstrated ability to cater to the market. I have heard unsubstantiated rumors that Hidecrafters will soon be sold. It will be interesting to see the big guys sort themselves out with their customers. But the fact remains, the customers and retailers are often the very same people, because leather isn't as easy to sell as groceries or car parts. The general public is a bit intimidated by the medium until it is "taught". The customer's confidence that they aren't going to ruin all their investment is the best sales tool. Just my 2 cents and change...

Johanna

[Art]

Hi Barra,

In Oz, the Tandy conglomerate was run by InterTan and was later sold to Dick Smith Electronics (DSE). Tandy in the US sold off the Electronics Business before the PC came in to make Radio Shack what it was. However Tandy continued on and at one time had about 350 stores, I mean Leather Stores, wow. I have seen studies that the US can support maybe 100-120 stores and it becomes obvious from that Tandy would fail.

At one time Tandy comprised of Tandy Leather, Radio Shack, Bombay, Pier 1, Color Tile, and who knows what else. Imagine running that animal.

Leather Factory is a wholesale operation selling to Michaels, A.C. Moore, Jo Ann, Hobby Lobby, and some to Wal-Mart.

The philosophy at Leather Factory is to build slow to a target of 100 or so stores, I think they have 60 or so now and plans to open 10 or so a year. They only paid $3MM for Tandy so they are not burdened by large capitalization. They run their stores on a 60% gross margin and net out 10%-15% margin. It takes 9-12 months to overcome startup on a new store and start turning a profit so a slow growth is required, however the stores stay constant during economic fluctuations. It looks like they are growing 8% to 10% on the top and 20% to 25% on the bottom; good numbers.

If your goal in life is to manage a TLF store, Managers make 28K base (more in California) and 25% of store profits.

Art (who owns a few hundred shares)

How dumb am I. I was just reading Art's response about Tandy/Radioshack. In Australia to my knowledge there are no Radioshacks but we have Tandy electronics stores everywhere. We used to have dedicated Tandy leather stores but I have not seen one in years. Now we just have certain stores who may carry Tandy branded products. I guess I have thought about the name Tandy electronics and Tandy leather but never really knew that the company is one and the same.

Thanks Art for shedding some light on one of lifes great mysteries.

Barra

[Hoyden]

You know what I really really really want?

A swivel knife small enough to fit in my hands. I have very small hands and I can't find a small enough knife that doesn't leave my hands aching after a few hours. I can carve with either hand so I switch back n forth.

The smallest I found was the one that came with the 7 tools from Tandy and even that is too big.

To put it into perspective, from the base of my palm to the end of my middle finger is just over 5.5"

[ClayB]

You know what I really really really want?

A swivel knife small enough to fit in my hands.

You might want to check out Barry King's swivel knives. I have one of his small ones and it is at least a half inch smaller than the adjustable Craftool ones at their shortest adjustment. Barry's measures about 2 3/4 inches from the base of the cradle to the tip of the blade at it's shortest adustment.

Clay

Edited July 25, 2007 by ClayB

[candyleather]

Hoyden, why not to order one tailored, customized, to a knifemaker?