Arts and Crafts Stores
5945
The U.S. arts and crafts industry serves a very diverse population of artisans, artists, crafters, and hobbyists. These individuals engage in a variety of creative pursuits using paper, fabric, leather, metal, wood, stone, glass, plastic, and other materials to produce unique handmade items.
Arts and crafts have existed in American culture for hundreds of years. In the 1770s, dissenting Quakers who chose to retain violent trembling or shaking in their worship services became known as Shakers, established their own communities and became well known for crafting woven goods and furniture of the highest quality. Their culture and religion still impact the United States.
Despite weak economic conditions that had a negative impact on the U.S. retail market in general, the arts and crafts industry thrived during the early years of the twenty-first century's first decade. The Hobby Industry Association (HIA) indicated that hobby and craft sales grew 11 percent in 2001 and 13 percent in 2002, reaching $29 billion. This strong growth was attributed in large part to the September 11 terrorist attacks. In their wake, Americans began spending more time at home and found a renewed interest in more nostalgic pursuits. Crafts also were a way for cash-strapped consumers to make more affordable homemade gifts for friends and loved ones.
The industry continued to thrive during the middle years of the twenty-first century's first decade, achieving a record year in 2005. According to the Craft & Hobby Association (CHA), annual retail sales reached $30 billion that year. The association's Consumer Usage & Attitude Study further revealed that 75 percent of American households had at least one member who had engaged in crafting.
Cross-stitching and home décor painting were the most popular crafts during the decade's middle years. However, scrapbooking, which ranked third, remained a very hot industry segment. DSN Retailing Today indicated that the annual market for scrapbooking supplies was $2.55 billion in 2006, an increase of 28 percent from 2001, while the National Craft Association's Scrapbooking in America Survey placed the scrapbooking market's value at $4.0 billion, according to Photo Marketing. However, despite its continued popularity, scrapbooking was no longer growing as explosively as it had during the late 1990s and the early years of the twenty-first century.
A handful of very large public and private companies dominate the retailing side of the arts and crafts industry. These include traditional brick-and-mortar enterprises like Michaels Stores Inc., Hobby Lobby Stores Inc., and A.C. Moore Arts & Crafts Inc. However, companies like QVC Inc., which sells goods via television and the Internet, and catalog-based enterprises like Oriental Trading Company Inc., also hold significant shares of the market. Beyond these major players, the industry is home to thousands of smaller, independently-owned hobby and craft stores, many of which focus on particular types of arts and crafts like scrapbooking or rubber-stamping.
Beyond the aforementioned retail channels, direct selling also has a significant place within the arts and crafts industry. Independent demonstrators peddle products on behalf of companies like St. Cloud, Minnesota-based Creative Memories, which markets a popular line of scrapbooking products. Another leading direct seller of arts and crafts products is Salt Lake City, Utah-based Stampin' Up! With annual revenues of roughly $200 million, the company sells its rubber stamping products via a network of approximately 40,000 independent demonstrators throughout the United States and Canada.
Independent demonstrators normally earn a percentage of the sales they make for arts and crafts companies. Most of these sales are made by soliciting people to host small in-home classes or workshops, also known as "parties." The person hosting the party invites friends, family members, and co-workers to enjoy food, fellowship, and demonstrations showing how to create items (scrapbooks, gift cards, and other related items) with products offered by the demonstrator's company. While a large number of independent demonstrators work on a part-time basis, investing most of their earnings back into their hobbies, for others it is a full-time endeavor. For example, in the December 2003 issue of Stampin' Success, Stampin' Up! profiled one highly successful demonstrator who averaged more than $10,000 in monthly sales.
The end market for arts and crafts products is incredibly broad, reflecting the industry's diverse customer base of artisans, artists, crafters, and hobbyists. Many of these individuals engage in arts-and-crafts-related activities for enjoyment or to earn a secondary income by peddling their wares at craft shows, malls, bazaars, yard sales, expositions, and via the Internet. A smaller number actually earn their livings by making handcrafted goods for others.
Because of the industry's diverse customer base, the finished products produced by end users vary widely in type and quality, ranging from crudely constructed items made from Popsicle sticks to breathtakingly beautiful works of fine art produced by master craftspeople, including ironwork and blown glass vases. Broad arts and crafts categories include children's crafts; home décor; the needle arts, including quilting, crocheting, embroidery and needlepoint; paper crafting approaches like rubber-stamping and scrapbooking; jewelry and other wearable goods; holiday crafts; soap, candles, and body products; and even doll-making and toy-making. However, even within these large categories there is considerable diversity in the items produced and the techniques used to produce them.
Of great benefit to manufacturers in a variety of industry sectors is the wide range of materials crafters use. Common materials include paper, textiles, metal, clay, wood, plastic, leather, rubber, glass, stone, and wax. Crafters even take discarded items like computer circuit boards and turn them into items like Christmas ornaments, coasters, and so on.
In February 2004, the Hobby Industry Association (HIA) and the Association of Crafts & Creative Industries (ACCI) combined to form a new trade association called the Craft & Hobby Association. In addition to supporting its membership base and operating two industry trade shows, the new association sought to make its mark internationally through research and educational activities.
According to the CHA, its vision is "to create a vibrant industry with an exciting image, an expanding customer base and successful members. The goal is to stimulate the sales growth of the craft and hobby industry worldwide by creating consumer demand, helping members succeed and leading the industry."
CHA translates its vision into reality via national promotional events that increase knowledge and awareness of craft industry products, as well as two annual craft and hobby trade shows, which the association claims are the largest of their kind worldwide.
The CHA's predecessors played a hand in the industry for many years. HIA's roots stretch back to 1940, with the formation of the Model Industry Association. Eventually, the association's focus broadened and it was re-named the Hobby Industry Association (HIA). Representing hobby and craft supply designers, manufacturers, and distributors, HIA's main objective was to increase industry sales. To accomplish this, the association conducted research on consumer participation, demographics, and more, and sought to heighten members' awareness and knowledge of industry products. HIA also helped to promote the industry through National Craft Month. At the time of its conjugation with ACCI, more than 4,900 companies from every segment of the hobby and craft industry were HIA members.
ACCI was founded in 1976 as the Mid-American Craft and Hobby Association (MACHA). MACHA initially served members in the Midwestern United States. However, by 1984 it had evolved into a national body called the Association of Crafts & Creative Industries. ACCI played a major role in the area of industry research, and arranged the industry's first Gallup survey in 1992. In addition, the...
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