Sunday, January 5, 2014

Archiver's Closure - A Symptom of a Dying Industry?


This past week, Archiver's made the announcement that they were closing all of their remaining stores. For many in the industry, this came as no real surprise after Archiver's declared Chapter 11 bankruptcy and closed 11 of their 44 stores. Of course, in their announcement, Archiver's blamed their demise on the changing industry. This, in turn, has made many scrapbookers question the hobby. I have heard tons of people ask over these last few days, "Will scrapbooking survive?"

In my opinion, it is less a changing industry and more on bad business practices that put Archiver's in this position.

I met the CEO of the company at ScrapFest in 2009 and he said that he had headed other companies before, but not a craft company.

This worried me, even all those years ago. In my book, you have to know your business to grow your business. If you don't know your industry, you had better do one of two things: learn it quickly or surround yourself with people who do know it. I was hoping that he would do one of these, or even better, do both of them.

However, as the years progressed. I saw that that was not happening. I saw Archiver's jumping onto what they saw were "hot trends", devoting lots of advertising money and shelf space to what their buyers had thought would be the "next big thing". Unfortunately, the buyers often missed the mark and many of those trends never caught on with consumers, leaving Archiver's with lots of products on their shelves that weren't being sold.

When products sit on store shelves, it takes up room for new merchandise. If you don't get in new merchandise, consumers will go elsewhere to find it. Therefore, you need to clear that space wasted on slow-moving items. The most common way to do this is to put it on sale. However, for some reason, Archiver's rarely put these items on sale, or if they did, the discount was minimal and never increased. Common sense tells you that if something isn't selling at full price, mark it down. If it still isn't selling, mark it down further until it does. But so many times, I went to Archiver's and saw the exact same things sitting there on the shelves that were there last month or even last year at the same price. I often thought that this was just me, but it was confirmed this weekend when I shopped at an Archiver's store near me. As I shopped, I made note of the older products I saw. Basic Grey collections from 2009, tools long since put on clearance at other stores, Crop In Style rolling totes that had been sitting there so long that the fabric was actually discolored -- all of these items still at full price. It was further confirmed by an employee who had worked there since since the store opened; she said that there was product in the store that had been there since opening day in 2007.

When you aren't selling product, you aren't making money. When you aren't making money, you can't pay your suppliers. When you can't pay your suppliers, they stop selling to you. This happened on a large scale with Archiver's. In their bankruptcy filings, you can see that Archiver's owed hundreds of thousands of dollars to their vendors. This kind of debt caused many vendors to scale back or stop selling to them altogether, further lessening the amount of new product coming into the stores.

Finally, the last hurdle that Archiver's never cleared was their lack of advertising. If you want people to shop at your store, they have to know about you. But unless you were a fairly seasoned scrapbooker (or a newbie who knew a seasoned scrapbooker), you probably didn't know about Archiver's. They only sent out coupons to established customers and only advertised in industry magazines. Existing customers can only sustain a business for so long, especially with an ever-changing trend like scrapbooking. To grow, you have to attract new customers, and Archiver's didn't do this on the scale that they could or should have.

With all that said, I love Archiver's. I was lucky enough to have two stores within 45 minutes of my house and I have shopped regularly at both of them. I am truly going to miss them at what they brought to the industry. However, this situation should serve as a lesson to other retailers in the craft industry. Maybe this closure will make other stores better.

Is the scrapbooking industry changing? Of course. It always has and always will. But is it dying? No. Only when it ceases to grow and change will it die. There are too many of us memory keepers out there to let that happen.

 JANUARY 6 UPDATE: Many people have disagreed with this article. I admit that this article is my opinion. I am not trying to act like I know things that I don't. I am just stating my views.This was strictly a blog post about what I saw were the problems with Archiver's. Thank you to everyone for reading and commenting and correcting me when it was needed. 

39 comments:

  1. We have been saying the same thing for years. We are really going to miss our friends and employees from Archivers.

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  2. I completely agree with every statement in your post. The other sad unfortunate decision that I could never make sense of is to bring in VERY expensive photo equipment to compete in a market where you can go to Costco, Shutterfly or WalMart for photo images much more reasonably priced. Costco is .13 and Archiver's is .40 for a photo print?

    To me, that was their giant mistake in the end. They presumed that digital was taking over but in fact, it is a different segment in the market. Why try to compete with a huge store like that? It never made any sense to me.

    I'm going to miss my local Archiver's, but will continue to support my local scrapbook store the way that I currently do. If we do not, they won't be here either!

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  3. So many parallels to Creative Memories' demise. I rarely shopped Archivers, they aren't in an area of the town I go to (we're rural) that we frequent and when I did their products did not fit my style/needs.

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  4. Excellent points....I agree. All they would have had to do was conduct a poll of their established customers to find out what we wanted to see in their stores...and digi/photo printing stuff was NOT it. They couldn't possibly compete with Sam's Club as you mentioned...but also the sales of Shutterfly and Snapfish that do 9c prints through their "buy in bulk" deals, and then their periodic penny print specials. No way I'm paying 40c a print at Archivers. Best thing they could have done to keep business was to follow CHA trends, and stock what no one else carried...and be the first to do so. They did to some extent...new products like the WeR punch boards were a big hit, and they had them in stock before my local Michaels and Hobby Lobby. But they were quite stingy with their coupons....Michaels lets a person use a coupon every single day during the coupon's "good for" dates. With Archivers, you could only use one coupon for the duration of the promo...which averaged every two weeks.

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  5. Very well said. I won't miss Archivers for that reason. Also, Archivers is at least 3 hours from me, so it wasnt someplace I chopped often. I did go to Scrapfest last year, and was very disappointed in the prices in store. The stuff the had in bargain area was stuff from 3 or 4 years ago. Also, the vendors that has the displays and make and takes, were demonstrating items that were not available in the Archivers...they missed a great many sales because of it.

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  6. As an ex-Creative Memories Consultant, I can certainly see the similarities between the demise of the two companies. My only visit to Archiver's (we don't have them in California) was like fairy-land, but most things were SO expensive. And for sure the big takeaway here has to be that simply because someone has successfully run a business (or many businesses) does not mean that he or she understands the scrapbooking world enough to be successful. - Fawn

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  7. Excellent points...I totally agree and thought these too and I am not a business person AT ALL. So if it was so obvious to us, why not them. I will miss them even though I only went about once per year or so. I also didn't like that their in store specials/sales weren't carried over to their online store.

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  8. I agree with most of your points, especially about bringing in all the printing equipment. Please support an awesome local store - the LAST of it's kind in Atlanta - Altered Angel in McGinnis Ferry Road. If we don't support it, it will go away, as well, I'm afraid. Store owner Mary is so sweet and she gets in new items every day. Here is her blog and store info: http://alteredangel.typepad.com

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  9. I was a frequent shopper and Friday night cropper for awhile until I learned about the different online classes and shopping on the internet. Around a year ago, I received a survey regarding their stores and online shopping. I honestly told them that their prices were too high whereas I could go buy the same product online or at Michael's or Joann's for a much better price. I completely agree with all the above statements as well regarding their coupons and photo prints. I will miss my visits at the stores here in Minnesota.

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  10. You wrote this as if it is fact. You can't write something as fact and then turn around and say it was only your opinion. You are wrong on many points and as an insider I can state this as FACT!

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  11. You make some fantastic points. I have been scrapping for years and yet I didn't know about Archiver's until a year or so ago. After that I actually changed the mall I shopped at just so I could work a scrapbooking visit into my list of errands.

    I also love your outlook. Scrapbooking is not dying, it is changing. I actually just did a podcast about this a month ago (http://www.scrapowl.com/episode1).

    Hopefully, with the closing of Archiver's this will allow local scrapbooking stores to benefit from the people who are looking for new crop locations.

    Keep up the great work!

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  12. One thing everyone needs to remember is Archiver's was not a discounter like Joanne's, Michael's, or Hobby Lobby but rather a differentiator. This means Archiver's took the time to gather the best product, the most innovative, and the newest on the market as it came out. They trained their employees to know the product and teach how to use it. If you walk into Michaels and ask them for a Tim Holtz item, they don't know who that is, much less how something works. Additionally, Archiver's gathered a massive customer base that differentiates them from the other stores. The big box stores buy only the bare minimum at bulk prices and don't take the time to train their employees about products. Archiver's had items you couldn't get at any big box store. Being a differentiator, Archiver's had to charge a little more because it costs us a little more. So the next time you have to decide between a big box store vs. a small business, first decide who you would rather support for longevity. Getting things cheaper is NOT always better.

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    1. They aren't discounters - they are retailers. They discount to move product - a good business practice as the article suggests.

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  13. The same things has happened here in Australia too! Stores have come and gone since I started scrapbooking in 2001. There are only 2 left within travelling distance of me now, and they are the original 2 from way back then! But, I actually buy online now.

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  14. As a previous CM consultant, now CTMH manager, I can't agree more. But one further thing I have to add is their lack of customer service. I very rarely had a good experience when shopping there. I would ask where something was and I would get a point in the general direction.

    I have to admit when I first heard that they were closing all stores, I called my CTMH upline and asked her opinion. Did she think that traditional scrapbooking was ending? Her (and my opinion) is that it it still going strong. It is just adapting. It is my job to help people adapt.

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  15. Very interesting. I am cracking up at the anonymous commenters. Lorrie, you put your opinion out there with your name on it, more than these anonymous commenters did. Some women are just so silly! LOL

    I do think "scrapbooking is dying". At least as we knew it. I have been working on a blog post about that and I would love your opinion on it when I get it finished over at hydrangeahippo.com. I never had the pleasure of shopping at an Archiver's as they were not in California and it wasn't a top priority to visit when I went out of state. So it doesn't affect me directly. But it does make me question the industry, our needs, and our values. We're telling retailers what we value and the ones who are still in business are responding. It's like that addage - you can have 2 of 3 things ut not all 3 - you can have quality cheap but not fast/efficient, quality fast but not cheap, cheap and fast but not quality. Sounds like Archiver's tried to do some of them all poorly. Anyways...I'll save all that for my blog post. I'm glad you posted this -- these are the kinds of discussions we need to have so that we can then think about things and have that influence how we proceed from here on out.

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  16. Lot of good comnents, I think intelligent discussion can help everyone learn what works and what doesn't. It is definately a sad day for scrapbookers.

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  17. Lot of good comnents, I think intelligent discussion can help everyone learn what works and what doesn't. It is definately a sad day for scrapbookers.

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  18. I love this post Lorrie, because I think you NAILED it.

    Last summer when I was in an Archivers I noted that they had the exact same product that they had been featuring a full 18months previously when I was in another state/store. Not only that, but for full price they wanted to sell me product "hot and new" by companies that had gone out of business years prior.

    Now were I an antique scrapbook supply collector I'd be in heaven. But if I want super old clearance stuff being sold for full price, I've got my own stash, thank you very much.

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  19. I agree whole-heartedly with this! The only piece that you are missing is the inspiration piece. They held classes but they were all corporate run. The layout examples in my area were the same in another. Rarely were there projects in their store that inspired me to make something. Compared to mom and pop stores, there were always beautiful layouts created by people locally. I felt connected and classes were more personal. This is just my opinion, though.

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  20. I enjoy shopping at Archiver's also but besides old product in the stores they charge .50 to 2.00 more for some items!

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  21. Count me among those who had never heard of Archiver's until the news broke that it was closing.

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  22. I will miss Archiver's greatly, but you have brought up some facts that I never really thought about until after reading your post! I guess I never paid much attention to the fact that a lot of their products stayed the same, and I did notice that they rarely had sales... but what I did love was being able to see newer products in person, because sometimes things hit me online and then in person seem like a total dud. If that makes sense... I guess what I will miss the most was the sense of community in person. I loved having somewhere to go once a month or every other month where I could just spend a day and be surrounded by others with the same paper crafting passion as me... don't get me wrong I love my online community so very much, but sometimes there is just something more confirming when you can see people working/talking/shopping for products just like you, and that you can hold a real conversation with. It will be so sad for me to lose this end of what Archiver's was for me and their crop nights. With all of the other small stores already gone and closed down it was my last place for personal interaction in this community (without having to pay an arm and a leg to travel somewhere to stay and crop). But thanks for writing what you have!

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  23. I believe your comments are exactly right on!! My local Archiver's has been yawningly boring for quite some time. I've never understood their inventory purchases nor their marketing. I've always appreciated knowing I could get my hands literally on many colors of cardstock, better than anywhere else here in central Ohio - but, most anything else, why would I pay their price for paper & embellishments I could buy elsewhere on sale? As for the one 'anonymous' comment about how well their employees knew their stock - eh, there's a bit of truth to that, but, that in no way compensated for their prices. I'm sorry the employees will be out of jobs, I am not sorry for a company that apparently continued to make poor business decisions.

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  24. I will miss the joy that was shopping at an Archiver's store and being able to see in person the collections I adored. I agree with Anonymous who was talking about Differentiation. I never bought "average" supplies that I could find at a big box store. I saved my coupons and bought those special products that I couldn't find anywhere else and needed right now versus waiting for it to arrive in the mail. I agree that they didn't have as many sales, but it was the only place that was dedicated to what I loved - scrapbooking! Sure they had card classes, but the focus was on scrapping and I loved and appreciated that. I loved talking with an employees about the wonderful wood veneer that we both adored. So fun to share this passion with people who speak the same language in a store where we're surrounded by lovingly displayed products! I have local small stores that sell papercrafting supplies, but they tend to offer card-making classes more than anything else - it's just not the same feeling as shopping in Archiver's (and they are further away from me.) I will miss being able to pop into a scrapbooking store while I'm out running other errands. Best of luck to the employees. I feel for you.

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  25. I agree wholeheartedly with your summation of the problem with Archiver's. Here in Austin, TX they had a beautiful store with more up to date products. They closed that store and opened 2 new stores. One of those new stores only lasted a few months before it closed. The other store ended up with inventory from another store that closed. The shuffled inventory was OLD. In fact, on their shelves were some scrapbook paints that were hard as a rock and had been discontinued by the manufacturer several years prior to becoming inventory at the new store. I brought this to the attention to one of their associates and the response was...oh well!! Really!!!

    I agree also with some of the other comments about the big box stores not having the latest products but going to my Archiver's wasn't any better. Archiver's was a good 30 minute drive one way for me. I became frustrated in traveling that distance to find NOTHING that was current that I was interested in purchasing.

    I watched several really good scrap/stamp stores go out of business because Archiver's came to town which was very upsetting to me and my crafty friends.

    I also found that their classes were more geared to new scrappers/stampers and never found one that I was interested in attending. I feel there was no real diversity in the classes they offered.

    I'm also aware of some of their business practices in dealing with their vendors. I've heard of several vendors who never got paid for purchased product.

    Another thing that always has bothered me about Archiver's. If something was out of stock that I needed/wanted no on knew when or if it would be back in stock. They were happy to put my name on a list in case it came in. Sometimes that was ok but other times I just couldn't wait until it MIGHT show up.

    I, too, found that their pricing was higher on some things. I didn't mind paying a bit more because it saved on shipping costs if bought on line.

    I'm sorry for the employees who will not have to look for new jobs in this market. I hope they can find employment quickly.

    Anyway, thank you for speaking your mind and sharing your opinion...and allowing me to share mine.

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  26. Thanks so much for your piece. I have had great experiences at Archiver's in 3 different states. I will really miss the crop nights as they were the ONLY place in my huge metro area that I could go and crop. I always had great customer service and felt like the employees were excited to see me and see what I was working on. So I am so sorry they are closing, especially if different business practices could have made a difference. But I don't think the industry is dying, just changing. I am thrilled that scrapbooking is evolving into more storytelling and not just showcasing a "perfect" picture. Thanks for posting this and to all those that left comments.

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  27. I totally agree with your take on Archiver's. The last time I was in the store closest to me (ninety minutes away one way) when I asked where the new Tim stuff was, I was told he was a fading trend. I felt so insulted as a customer that I never went back. But I would also say that these observations also fit all the big box stores in my area (only an hour away one way). They never have the new stuff and the products are the same for way too long. I hope retailers pay attention and change their practices. I don't make the same type of scrap books that I made five years ago. My format has changed to mini albums with much more emphasis on mixed media materials. That's partly a reflection of my changing interest and an older family with less photos. So glad you shared your thoughts. Hope someone pays attention.

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  28. Great post and your opinion is spot on. As a long time Archiver's employee who left two years ago for family reasons, I love Archiver's and it wonderful store employees. This industry isn't dying but retail is more competitive and only by making smart business decisions can scrapbook stores survive.

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  29. Lorrie I have never been to your blog before got here through May Flauns post. I was an Archivers Employee for 9 1/2 years and I agree with what you said. I am so glad that you said it. Scrapping is not dying and it made me mad when that is what I heard my manager (someone who doesn't scrap) said. I loved working there and will greatly miss it but I know first hand why the stores failed and you hit many of the reasons right on the head. Thank you for your post.

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  30. I, too, worked for Archiver's. My store closed in April 2014 and I was heartbroken! What Lorrie says it true. Many times we passed along to the HQ what our customers were looking for in product and workshops. They would not listen. They had an agenda and would not stray from their strategy.

    Working for Archiver's was a great experience! I loved my job, coworkers, the products and, especially, our customers! It's an awesome concept but they wanted to veer off the beaten "scrapbooking" path and go with home décor, etc. which was not what our customers wanted.

    Sad to see it close.

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  31. I agree, when I moved from a place that had recently lost an Archiver's to one who didn't have one anywhere around, I didn't understand why. I had moved to an area of the country that was economically better off and I thought surely since there are more people with better jobs it could better support a store like Archiver's. Then I found out that they had shopped the area and deemed it too expensive to rent a space, I remembered all the changes the company had gone through with their crops and how the staff had mostly moved from being ladies who knew me and what I liked and pointed me in the direction of the new goods I wanted to see to people who were very sweet but obviously trying to upsale me very time I walked in the door because they were supposed to. The products in the clearance sat there forever and never got cheaper, so sad...

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  32. I agree 100% with you. the prices were to high and there weren't enough coupons to keep my attention. I said for years they were to exspensive and I knew I could get the same item cheaper else where or could use a coupon. also only allowing 1 coupon and not accepting competitors. .I saw it coming.

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  33. I completely agree with Teresa! I, too, am an employee of Archiver's that is losing their job. I think mismanagement, greed, and poor hiring (management, in particular) is the reason for this unfortunate turn of events. Scrapbooking is NOT a dying industry and to suggest otherwise is irresponsible. I read a study that said only 1% of traditional scrapbookers switched to digital exclusively over the last couple of years. If I find the article I will link it to this post. I believe that Archiver's got a little too "big for their britches" and that more could have been done to head off this unfortunate turn of events. With this specified area of crafting...those in charge need to know what they're talking about. If you don't know the industry, you won't succeed. I will miss all of our "regular" and devoted customers.

    Karen

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  34. I completely agree with Teresa! I, too, am an employee of Archiver's that is losing their job. I think mismanagement, greed, and poor hiring (management, in particular) is the reason for this unfortunate turn of events. Scrapbooking is NOT a dying industry and to suggest otherwise is irresponsible. I read a study that said only 1% of traditional scrapbookers switched to digital exclusively over the last couple of years. If I find the article I will link it to this post. I believe that Archiver's got a little too "big for their britches" and that more could have been done to head off this unfortunate turn of events. With this specified area of crafting...those in charge need to know what they're talking about. If you don't know the industry, you won't succeed. I will miss all of our "regular" and devoted customers.

    Karen

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  35. Your blog speaks the absolute truth. I couldn't have said it better!!!!!

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  36. I am an ex-lss owner. My experience as a brick and mortar retailer and listening to my customers express quite often they don't have time or may mention how long it has been since they were able to scrapbook (probably true of most crafts). With that being said, a woman finds it hard to spend retail money on something they may not get to play with soon.

    Does ammo, guns, fishing tackle, poles, horse tackle, rodeo fees, hunting and fishing licenses, deer leases, excursions to CO for Elk or AK for Pike ever go on sale or bought online?

    Maybe we should have a scrapbooking season. Every weekend we get together and crop the entire weekend for several weeks in a row. Go home and show what we "caught".

    Archiver's: I am sad to see you close. I shopped when ever I traveled and there was a store close by. It was cheaper for me to buy one sheet of paper for .99 than an entire pack wholesale for $12.50.

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  37. I only went there once, and I have a small craft business and went in with my sales tax certificate and was told that I could not use that there. But what has really changed my crafting needs has been Anna Griffin and Sara Davies on HSN. The deals that you can get there ladies its so worth it. They have more items on their 24 hour craft event for items that you will never find in any local craft store. Better prices, and just more bang for the buck.

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