Do you feel quilty when......?

#1

Do you feel guilty when you purchase something elsewhere rather than your LYS if it cost less?? :??

I posted on another thread here that I saw a book at my LYS yesterday for $30.00 and I really wanted the book. But then I found that book and another one I really wanted at the cost of ONLY $34.62 if I purchased them together!! So how could I NOT buy both at that wonderful price. :inlove:

I sure would not want my LYS to ever go out of business but that is a big difference in price. Both books would have cost me around $60.00 if I bought them from her. I’m not Mrs. Rockafeller!! :blush:

I do try and buy something from my LYS every time I go in. I bought some Bamboo needles last night.

I was just wondering how you “handle” your shopping “in” or “out” of you LYS?

#2

I consider them all my LYSs. :wink: My brick and motar gets enough of my $ and if they carry the yarn I want, I’ll buy it there, but for selection of yarns you can’t beat online. As far as books go…would you feel guilty buying from somewhere besides Amazon dot?
Nikki

#3

I would love to be able to support my LYS’, but so often their prices are so much higher that I can’t bring myself to spend that much more. I only shop there when there’s a sale, I’m in need of something immediately, or they have something I can’t get anywhere else.

#4

I think since my LYS is right here near where I live and I see the lady face to face it is different. But she knows that I do shop at the other LYS also. Its just that I hope enough of her customers are shopping with her so that she can stay in business forever! :XX: :XX:

I love Noro yarns and she doesn’t carry any of it. So I have to go else where for that. But if she had them I’d buy them from her but she doesn’t. So hopefully she has enough loyal customers that are keeping her books and yarns going in and out the door!

She offeres classes each month and I just got her newsletter but nothing she is offering interest me. I really like going to classes there but she won’t be seeing me at them for the next few months. Hopefully her classes in the Fall will be things I am interested in learning how to do.

#5

The two ‘normal’ yarn shops have lots of knitting and spinning classes, so I think they get income that way.

The other is connected to a merino farm, so I don’t think their income is mainly from the shop.

I can’t see spending $3 more per skein, though at the one shop. The other often doesn’t have enough of the same yarn for a full project. They’ll offer to order it, but geez, I can do that myself.

I have to admit, though, that I do always get at least a little something when I go in–even if it’s just a set of dpns. I do feel guilty walking out empty handed. :wink:

#6

Heck, I don’t even have a LYS. If I want anything good I have to order it. :rollseyes:

#7

Please support your LYS when you can! Independent shops need all the help they can get! You just can’t get the same level of expertise at the big stores.

Remember the idea of supply and demand. If you want your LYS to carry a particular product, buy it there. If you can find the product at a significantly lower price at another location, then go for it without guilt. The LYS will eventually (and hopefully) change their product mix to meet the needs of their customers. Be sure when you go in tell the staff hat you like so they can carry more of it!

I have made it a point to go my LYS first, then the big stores. Unfortunately, I just received an e-mail from one of our LYS that they are going out of business. Sad.

#8

My LYS just went out of business. I’m not sure if it was because of cost of doing business or a personal reason to close, but still sad :frowning: . Unfortunately, the yarn cost was astronomical for certain projects compared to online resources. I mostly bought tools and patterns from them.

#9

I shop at my lys as much as I can, but they only carry imported and usually expensive yarns which often need special care. As I knit for my grandkids and charity children and babies, I refuse to pay what it would cost to buy my yarn there. AND, I know my DDILs wouldn’t take care of anything knit with “fussy” yarn. And I don’t blame them. Little boys need things they can play in and that can be thrown in the wash. I knit for my lys, and purchase my yarn there for these projects, and when I can I get my yarn from there. I have suggested to the owner that business would boom if she carried a high end acrylic worsted weight, and she looked into it, but her partner wants to remain only imported and exclusive. So much of my business goes to the area Wally World and a mill store I have to travel to. samm who just can’t feel guilty about this. Oh well…

#10

I don’t feel guilty at all, I, too, consider them all to by my yarn shops :smiley: My fave lys gets lots & lots of business from me & all knitters in town, she’s always hoppin’ :thumbsup:

#11

I don’t know how my LYS does for business, and I’ve only been there a few times (going again this weekend though), but, to be honest, she doesn’t really carry the stuff I like.

Most of all the stuff she has is wool/wool blends. Which is fine, I’m just not a big fan of so much wool.
So, I pretty much do all of my shopping online. I bought my Denise’s from her, but I think that’s it.
I feel guilty not buying anything when I go in, but I’m not going to buy something I don’t need.
I like supporting local businesses so much more than big retailers…when I can afford it. If I can buy the same yarn online for half the price of in the store, that’s what I’m going to do.

I’d hate to see her go out of business, but maybe since she’s pretty much the only LYS here she’ll be ok. :thumbsup:

#12

I but at my LYS when I can but alot of times I can’t so have to buy elsewhere… I do feel guilty though and usually won’t show them that project that I’m working with other yarn… however usually every 2wks they see me and I purchase even if its just a skein of DK at 3.00 :rofling:

#13

I will sometimes spend a little extra on yarn at my LYS because of the service. My favorite LYS knows me by name and always remembers what I was working on the last time I was in and asks about it next time I come in the store. They also remember the little things I mention to them about my family. To me that is worth the extra money (most of the time!) in a world where personal service is ajust about gone.
At the same time though, I am all about a good deal, so if I can save more than a few bucks by getting it somewhere else I will do so without guilt :lol:

#14

I don’t feel guilty at all when I order online. My LYS just started carrying sock yarn, so I can buy it there now instead of on the Web. I compare prices a lot & shop my LYS if the online savings isn’t much (or gets wiped out by shipping costs). I spread my knitting money all around. :lol:

#15

One of my LYS in Rochester is owned by b****es. Seriously, if you ever find a review of Knit ‘n’ Purl in Brighton, you’ll understand. I always feel guilty when I DO buy from them!
There’s only one LYS I know of in Annapolis and they don’t usually have much that I want (except Encore!), but I’ll get needles there sometimes. They were my first LYS. I wanted to make a Harry Potter scarf and couldn’t find a nice blue OR bronze, so I went there. I also got the 16" circular needle there. I bought Encore and I think a Susan Bates circular. I asked for their cheapest needle. They told me some day I’d want something better like an Addi or Bamboo and I kind of laughed. I told my dad on the way home that there was no way I’d ever spend more money on a needle. Ahhh, and that was only about 9 months ago! :roflhard:

#16

your LYS shouldn’t be crazy enough to think that they are the only place you shop for goodies! I think they generally want to hear about the great finds you come up with too…remember they love yarn as much as we do!

As far as the books go, they are about the only thing that isn’t on sale when my LYS has a sale or coupon. They told me that their margin on them is so small that if they did put them on sale they wouldn’t make much money. they just can’t order enough books to be able to offer the great prices that the big stores can. So I am pretty sure they know that we get our books at more affordable places! :thumbsup:

#17

I do believe in supporting stores in the area that I want to stay around. That said… my ability to support them does have it’s limits. I don’t have a local LYS, so online stores ARE my local LYS, if you don’t count the yarn cellar in my own home :roflhard: I know my daughter’s consider my house their LYS (with my encouragement).

Spend the $25 you saved by buying the books elsewhere at the LYS, that way you get more, they get business, everyone wins! :wink:

Mama Bear

#18

Our last LYS here in town other than Ram Wools will be closing at the end of the month. I find it frustrating because that leaves me with no option but mail order for some stuff, and I avoid that at nearly all costs. I have asked at Rams about particular items such as the province yarn that Regia has put out {they will not be ordering it in}, and Bryspuns {which they will not carry}. I had to get my best freind to go to Mary Maxim’s in Paris to get me the Manitoba and BC that I needed, and I bought the last set of Bryspuns at the LYS that’s closing. That particular set is way too long for my liking, and I’d like to get more, but I probably won’t.

DH and I have always tried to do what shopping we can at local stores, whenever reasonable. We have an old-fashioned hardware store at the end of our street that is like a walk into a time chamber when you enter the door. Our grocery store, while not locally owned, is one of the extremely few tiny neighbourhood-sized ones still around, so we will go there rather than to a SUPERmarket. I won’t be stupid about it either though… I can get a 1kg can of coffee at work for between $4-5 {before my discount}, and the cheapest brand at the grocery store is nearly $10 for the same size. Since we don’t have a discount book outlet here, the prices at Ram’s are the same as at Chapters, so I will make a special trip to Ram’s if they have the title I’m looking for.

#19

btw…just for the record…i almost NEVER feel quilty…though i do like quilts a lot! :wink:

(yeah that was really just for my amusement!)

#20

brenda…your pretty sharp to notice I mispelled the word. But I’m glad everyone else KNEW what I meant!! lol I also do make QUILTS besides enjoying knitting. :roflhard: Best of both worlds. :XX: :XX: