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Thread: Anyone else here not a huge fan of woodcraft?

  1. #91
    Join Date
    Jan 2010
    Location
    Tampa Bay, FL
    Posts
    3,895
    I buy a boatload of stuff from our local Woodcraft in Clearwater, FL. Real nice guys / manager / owner. They have been a non-stop source of good advice for me from when I started in this hobby. Delivered my SawStop and constantly special order stuff for me.

    It's a tough business. The margins are quite thin, and the target clientele is aging. My biggest complaint is one of inventory. It's frustrating when they have 1 of an item, and I need two (although Lowes and Home Depot do the same thing lately too).

    I try to order from them instead of mail order, just so they stay in business, despite it being easier to just click online and have things appear at the door.

    I think there is a lot to be said for a nice, well run business that is in your neighborhood, so you don't have to wait a week to get in supplies when you need them.

    And I do order from Rockler, and Lee Valley. They have different stuff, and Lee Valley's customer service is superb.
    - After I ask a stranger if I can pet their dog and they say yes, I like to respond, "I'll keep that in mind" and walk off
    - It's above my pay grade. Mongo only pawn in game of life.

  2. #92
    Join Date
    Mar 2008
    Location
    New Hampshire
    Posts
    168
    Mike Brady,
    I don't think your suggestion fell on deaf ears, it's just that corporate doesn't really have any incentive to encourage stores to start sourcing stuff on their own. Also, it can cause a conflict of interest. For example, I know of one tool company that got Woodcraft to agree to not carry another specific company's tool line. So I'm sure Woodcraft would rather avoid complications, yet I think all stores can sell non-woodcraft merch. The one I work at does. We buy lumber from outside sources, have had used tools on occasion, and the one I work at buys stair tread gauges I make from me to sell in the store. I wish Woodcraft corporate would buy them from me. It would make up for a lot of other things.

  3. #93
    Join Date
    May 2013
    Location
    Johannesburg, South Africa
    Posts
    1,076
    Jamie, does Woodcraft HQ not buy from you because you are selling as an individual or some other reason? Is it easy to set-up a company to do this?
    "If you have all your fingers, you can convert to Metric"

  4. #94
    Jamie,
    I didnt get to read your original (unedited) post. But I'll bend my knee in respect to anyone who's got the strength, self discipline and determinarion to work three jobs.
    Fred

  5. #95
    Join Date
    Mar 2003
    Location
    Monroe, MI
    Posts
    11,896
    Quote Originally Posted by Ryan Baker View Post
    So you're not a big fan of Randy then? He left to get into tree farming.
    Maybe....


  6. #96
    As far as woodcraft promising not to carry another brand if they sold a specific line, I don't think that's unusual in retailing, especially if the retailer has a significant amount of market share (and WC does have a pretty large market share). If you're a maker of a product supplying something to WC, and you get into a situation where you guarantee that you'll be able to stock WC stores with product up to a point or whatever, and you tool up and hire to do it and they pick up a competitor line at the same time and cut your sales in half, you'll not be too happy about it.

  7. #97
    [QUOTE=Jamie Cowan;2160862]Mike Brady,
    " it's just that corporate doesn't really have any incentive to encourage stores to start sourcing stuff on their own".
    One hundred eighty degrees from what I have been told about their sourcing policy. Like many franchises, they require that everything in the store be bought through corporate. Perhaps your store has some leeway on that, as does the Atlanta store. I have a good friend who worked at the north suburban store in Chicago, which is a franchise, not a corporate store; and he told me everything they sold except wood was right out of the catalog matrix of merchandise. Sounds to me like there are different deals for some of the franchises and corporate stores. My point is that the sterile formula they utilize makes the stores dull and out of touch with what we in this forum would consider exciting and new.

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