What's Up with Tandy Leather

[Paultalks]

Folks, I have been trying to get an answer from Tandy on their WPB FL store opening. They stopped responding to my inquiries and blocked me from messaging or commenting on their FB site. This without notice. I was very friendly and inquired about once every week. The puzzling part is they told me it was closed to state restrictions. The one in Tampa a Covid hotspot has been opened for over a month. All other businesses, restaurants, gyms and craft stores are open for well over a month now. I occasionally make a trip down to the store about 30 miles from where I live There are lights on in the place and a video running. Someone is going in there periodically and the store is fully stocked. Any ideas? Anyone with this same similar issue. I need a local supplier/partner. 

[Tugadude]

I think they are doing a decent job of communicating.  I received email notification when my local store reopened, I was surprised by that!

 

On their website your store is on the list of temporarily closed.  There is also a list showing which locations are soon to open.

TEMPORARILY CLOSED:                  

 

New Orleans #20

Tempe #115

Winter Park #125

Houston #133

San Bruno #142

Amarillo #143

Jacksonville  #146

San Antonio #147

Lubbock #149

Houston Southeast #156

West Palm Beach #159

Corpus Christi #175

Miami #180

McAllen #185

OPENING SOON:

	Watauga #107
	Allen #184
	Austin South #186

 

 

[Alaisiagae]

This might be a stupid question, but did you call the customer care phone # on their website? It's not for the local Tandy store, it's for their main offices (I think). You could say you're really excited about the WPB location and want to have an estimated timeframe for when they expect the store to open up. Depending on whether you think it's worth bringing up, you could describe what you told us here, that you were blocked from commenting on FB. 

[Paultalks]

It makes sense not to open Miami, as they in general ignore anything the government tells them to do.  Tampa has been open for weeks and that is an area not much different than Miami in population. Then you have little quiet WPB in comparison. It makes no sense. I did call and leave a message. I informed them several times it was impacting our community leather work classes. I also checked with local officials and there is no restriction on their business like they said there was. I just want some honesty. If they need help reopening, we will help them. Thank you for your responses.

[Paultalks]

I sent an email to the CEO of Tandy Leather yesterday. Curious to see how long it takes to get a reply.

[LatigoAmigo]

On 8/3/2020 at 10:52 AM, Paultalks said:

There are lights on in the place and a video running. Someone is going in there periodically and the store is fully stocked. Any ideas?

Sorry to hear of your woes. When you were there did you leave a note? Did you ask around the neighborhood? Maybe it is simply a staffing issue. Feeling your pain.

[johnv474]

Even if Tampa is open, they probably shouldn't be.  That county is currently at 100%+ of ICU usage in their hospitals... similar to 35 out of 67 of Florida's counties, including Palm Beach county.  

You may not care about that, but I imagine a lot of the people in those hospitals didn't either until they got sick and realized this wasn't a hoax.  

If I were the CEO of Tandy, who surely gets hundreds of emails daily, I would leave such an email sans reply or say "when it is safe".

My local store had an employee or two  mostly cleaning, organizing, and rearranging.  They were not open to the public for months.

I would strongly suggest ordering what you need online and having it shipped.

Edited August 9, 2020 by johnv474

[Daffy]

Permanently closed my local store in Peoria,IL....

[Tugadude]

I have to imagine with the sheer number of stores they still operate this situation is taking a toll on them.  Add to that the difficulty if acquiring product from overseas with the current delays, etc. and it has to be a nightmare.

 

[chrisash]

Afraid you just have to look at the competition who work from one or two places

The Tandy model was great when wages were low and lots of home buyers, Now the whole market has changed with the internet with prices dropping from all around the world, you just cannot having store holding large quantities of slow moving stock sitting on shelves when you can run one major warehouse selling on the internet

You save wages, Rent, Rates and transport logistics and money tied up in stock

Fair bet that in three-five years time Tandy will have just a couple of stores in main cities and closed all the rest for e-commerce, and the same with most of your town shops who cannot compete with the internet warehouses  selling to the whole country with little staff and you paying the delivery costs