Tandy store closings

[chrisash]

Few companies Tandy Leather size  go under fully the bones are sold on to someone who no doubt will just go online only to keep costs down. There is a proven market for the goods with little competition for many items as a one stop shop, but selling the odd stamp  or item at a local store, does not bring in much money and leather sales are more expensive than other retailers

Edited May 15, 2020 by chrisash

[Hardrada]

20 hours ago, Arturomex said:

Perhaps that's a corporate decision. I'm in Canada right now

Ditto. Earlier this week I noticed they redid their website—new look and all... and my account was gone. I had to open a new one and lost all my wish list items. Not impressed.

To-day, their site won't even open. As if getting Fiebing's products in Canada wasn't already such a chore.

[Arturomex]

Yeah, their website was down for a long time yesterday, came back up and then shut down again.

I hear you about Fiebings. I think I spend almost as much time tracking supplies down as I do using them. I try to buy a year's supply of dye and finish in the summertime. Don't know if you've run into it but I learned that some outfits don't want to/won't ship liquids in the winter. Alcohol based or not.

Regards,

Arturo

[Hardrada]

17 minutes ago, Arturomex said:

Don't know if you've run into it but I learned that some outfits don't want to/won't ship liquids in the winter. Alcohol based or not.

Yeah, that's why I didn't reorder Leather Balm and Tan Kote in the months before the current situation. Now they're all out. I might still be able to get Edge Kote at Longview Leather, but other stuff is out. Irritating too that the Pro dyes can't be sent by CanPost (more dangerous stuff is shipped, I reckon, but... ah well).

Looks like Lonsdale has a new line of products, some of which seem to be options to Fiebing's offerings:

https://www.lonsdaleleather.com/supplies

Tried any of them?

I'm also at pains to find something to thin Renia's Colle de Cologne with (as well as Barge), the 4oz jar I bought has gone super gummy.

[Arturomex]

I looked at the Lonsdale Leather dye offerings but I haven't tried them. Italian made, I think. They didn't have the color I was looking for but I hope to give them a test before the summer ends.

The Giardini edge finishing system looks interesting. I did some more investigation on their web site and received an email from them this morning touting some new colors. My understanding is that it goes: base coat, paint, top coat. Again, I'd like to test drive it before summer ends.

Have you tried Zelikovitz here: https://www.zelistore.com/

I'm actually waiting right now for a UPS delivery from them. Dye and finish. Had a difficult time finding Fiebings black and wound up having to buy four 4oz bottles for a project I'd like to get finished. Of course, why stop at that? LOL  It's a little early to start stocking up but I figured I might as well start while they still had some product. Hope you can do the same.

Regards,

Arturo

 

[Hardrada]

No, I haven't. Thanks for the link!

[Arturomex]

Just received that order from Tandy. The postal return was my closest store. Everything I ordered was in there. And their website is back up and running.

 

[Hardrada]

Just saw that. Thanks!

[SolarLeatherMachines]

On 5/7/2020 at 1:01 PM, Chakotay said:

I'm scheduled to get an online order today. It'll be sad to see their retail stores go away. Hopefully they at least maintain an online presence.

But it does make me wonder how they screwed this up: You're practically the only 'player' in the leather game (yes, I know there's other sources . . . you know what I mean). Was it just mismanagement? Poor quality? Bad customer service? Just a dying craft not enough people are interested in? 

All of the above.  But mainly a dying craft.  Tandy had tried to rectify that by letting go of older folks, and hiring younger people.  But they still focused on western leatherworkers, and almost completely ignored the cos-play and renaissance booms that were happening.  They also tried to make their pricing more transparent by eliminating the tiered pricing levels. But the wholesalers immediately shifted to other suppliers, and the retail gains weren't enough to fill the gap.  

I know a lot of folks don't like TLF, but they've served the leather industry well for a long time, and many of us got our start there.  If they leave the market, given the current trend of aging population, there's not going to be anyone big enough to fill all the gaps.  Big cities will be serviced, but the small shops will all go away.   Considering that they're still in the middle of multi-year leases in many locations, I'd be very surprised if they didn't declare a chapter 11 bankruptcy, restructure their debts (including retirements, if any) and re-open.  That's usually how this kind of story goes. 

[garypl]

3 hours ago, Arturomex said:

I looked at the Lonsdale Leather dye offerings but I haven't tried them. Italian made, I think. They didn't have the color I was looking for but I hope to give them a test before the summer ends.

The Giardini edge finishing system looks interesting. I did some more investigation on their web site and received an email from them this morning touting some new colors. My understanding is that it goes: base coat, paint, top coat. Again, I'd like to test drive it before summer ends.

Have you tried Zelikovitz here: https://www.zelistore.com/

I'm actually waiting right now for a UPS delivery from them. Dye and finish. Had a difficult time finding Fiebings black and wound up having to buy four 4oz bottles for a project I'd like to get finished. Of course, why stop at that? LOL  It's a little early to start stocking up but I figured I might as well start while they still had some product. Hope you can do the same.

Regards,

Arturo

 

I’ve been using the Giardini edge paints for about a year or more and I really like them.  I posted some test results here comparing them to Angelus and Edge Coat and I think the Giardini paints are better wearing.  They are pricy when you have to ship them from Italy, but they sometimes have specials.  You can also buy them from Campbell Randall here in the US, but last time I bought from them they had limited colors and I think they were only offering them in the 1 liter size - this may have changed by now.

Gary