Retail Stores Hours Not Matching Consumer's Shedules

It's certainly acknowledged that small retail stores are being challenged as today's consumers watch their disposal income more carefully.

And as all of us boomers stay home nesting and cocooning--crafting must be on the rise. It intrigues me that many specialty craft stores gear their operations to employees rather than for potential customers.

Needlepoint stores seem to close at 4:30 pm on weekdays and earlier on Sat. Knitting shops also rarely stay open past 5:30. Heavens forbid closing at 7:00 or later.

What are we to do? The large chain craft centers such as Michaels which have better hours and wonderful selections with great prices offers little support. The crafter goes it alone without any support or advice from talented employees . There are few classes and demonstrations in many markets.

There are those of us who are "want to be crafters" but opportunities to learn fundamentals are a real challenge.

It's interesting that the customer is the loser. When stores gear their hours to when employees can go home for dinner without staggering these times to attract new customers who have scheduling constraints.

Hopefully they will survive these times.