Craft Focus - June/July 2022 (Issue 91)

83 RETAILER INTERVIEW It’s been very strange opening and closing and opening again but we’ve proved ourselves pretty resilient, mainly thanks to our very loyal and enthusiastic customers! Have you seen a boom in the craft industry recently or a new type of customer? The teens! Our post-pandemic customers are definitely including a lot more teens who have taught themselves to crochet. We had a lot of customers looking for ways to occupy themselves during lockdown and the shop ran on embroidery kit sales for several months! Lots of people have discovered how calming craft can be, just when they needed it most, and it’s really gratifying to hear people tell us how they got through lockdowns with their needles and hooks! Tell us a bit about what you stock? My aim in stocking Slipstitch is to make craft accessible to everyone. We have a gorgeous range of wools that include some super affordable options and some more luxury ones. We have all the haberdashery you’d expect, tons of books, lots of fabrics, and craft kits too. People always comment on how colourful it is. It’s very inspiring to get to sit amongst all these yarns and fabrics every day. What brands do you currently stock? Are you looking for any new products or styles? We stock DROPS, West Yorkshire Spinners, Rowan, Rico, Erika Knight and some indie dyers. It’s funny, the things you realise you’re looking for: sometimes it’s investigating entirely new brands and other times it’s looking at the shelves and thinking, we really need a machine washable aran that doesn’t come on a skein. What kits or new trend are you currently excited about? Honestly, I thought I wouldn’t go for tanks tops, or ‘slipovers’ as the young people are saying but TikTok got to me and I’m planning an oversized chunky tank top. I’m a little concerned I will look like Wallace from Wallace and Gromit but they’re so fun − I love seeing how so many young creatives are just going for it. Why shouldn’t your jumper be multicoloured floral granny squares? It’s dopamine dressing and I love it. Do you visit any trade shows? We do! We’re just down the road from Alexandra Palace so the Knitting and Stitching Show is a must. I come home with a list of ideas a mile long. Are you active on social media? How is this useful for the business? Yes. I know most shops focus on Instagram but I’ve always been a Twitter person (I’m @rosieatlarge) so I just tweet about what we’re doing behind the scenes during the day. It’s actually our biggest driver to the website. I did a lot of Instagram Lives during lockdown and it was such a nice way to keep everyone in the loop of what we’re doing but without it being overly sales-y. I was just waving my projects around and having a chat. We’re on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and TikTok as @slipstitchldn Do you have any plans for the future of the store? Workshops etc? I just want to keep getting people to knit! There are grand plans for the studio underneath the shop where my office is − I’d love to film more online content there. It’s a crunchy time for small businesses but it’s important to focus on continuing to grow and not just trying to tread water. Do you have any tips for people looking to start their own retail venture? I guess I could sum it up as “you don’t know what you don’t know” and that’s actually very comforting because if I’d had a list of everything I needed to learn before I started, I never would have done it! Because I took over an existing business, I was in at the deep end. If I started a new venture, I’d start smaller and use that to learn what your customers actually want. What’s the one product you couldn’t live without? Probably my Clover Darning Needle Set − I could never find a sewing up needle when I needed one. Now all my tapestry needles are safe in a tube! It’s a small thing but has revolutionised my life! SLIPSTITCH 108 Alexandra Park Road, Muswell Hill London, N10 2AE

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