Woodcraft closed

[hermit]

Anyone happen to know why the Woodcraft in Pittsburgh closed? Just my luck, I was thinking about bringing home a lathe yesterday, and the store closed as of July 14.

Todd

[cgallery]

Woodcraft stores that have opened in the last 5-10 years are (to the best of my knowledge) are all franchises. I imagine that it wasn't making enough money (or even losing money), and the owner decided to pull the plug.

Our local Woodcraft store seems to be doing well. I was just there yesterday and purchased some gear from one of the owners (husband and wife team). They keep bringing new stuff in, so it looks like they are doing okay. I cross my fingers for them, it is a tough market segment (lots of people prefer to save money by purchasing online), complicated bt the fact that these certainly are tough times for much of their working-class customer base.

[crokett]

The store here closed for a while and then reopened a few blocks away. I was there a couple months ago after the reopening. Most of the staff was the same as the old store. Apparently rather than buy the old store the new owner waited for the old store to close, then got the franchise rights that much more cheaply. I was also told the new owner has 2 other stores elsewhere.

[Uncle Cracker]

Except for just a couple, all Woodcraft stores are privately owned. Some make it, some don't. That may be more a function of the individual ownership, staff and location. I know the one near Orlando is moving in a week or so into a much bigger place, with multiple shops for classes and a much larger lumber area. I have not always agreed with some of the attitudes in that place, but they are apparently doing OK.

[drumpriest]

Huh, didn't know they closed, but I can believe it. They were a pretty surly bunch, and they were losing business. They also were carrying less and less stuff over the past year. Got to the point of me not even checking there for things, as I knew they wouldn't have what I needed.

There is still Rockler in Pittsburgh, and it's a pretty good store, but it's a lot farther away from me than Woodcraft was.

[final_t]

Speaking of moving, the Columbus store is apparently going to be moving from Hillard to the Bethel & Kenny Road intersection. I don't know exactly when, and if they are having a moving/grand opening sale or not.
It's just a touch too bad they didn't get the empty store right next to the Stiching Post for the him & hers shopping.

[rnelson0]

Careful with the thread titles, I thought you were telling me they all went belly up in the week since I last went to one

[mineengineer]

Thats news to me

I didn't realize they closed either, dont go there much, liked Rockler better.

[hermit]

Where is the Rockler in Pittsburgh?? I live in Somerset, so its about a 2 hour drive to where the Woodcraft used to be. Luckily, I didn't make a special trip like I used to do occasionally, as I was visiting my SIL, and we decided to drive down. It was kinda weird, since it looked like the doors were just closed. All the merchandise was still in its place. Usually, when someone goes belly up, there are going out of business sales.

This is starting to tick me off. There was a Woodworkers Warehouse in Altoona (about an hour drive) that went out a couple years ago. Now this. There is nowhere around here that caters to woodworking (just Lowes and HD). I used to create a wishlist, then LOML and I would make a daytrip for shopping. She would go to Target, while I was in Woodcraft. Now I probably have to buy online. Problem is, I learned a lot from those guys when I went in the store. Thats what I was hoping for with the lathe.

Sorry about the thread title.

Todd

[drumpriest]

North of the city, on McKnight road. From Somerset you are probably taking 76, yeah? If you take 76 to 376, then yeah north on 579, you take the McKnight road exit, and it's 7 lights up that road on the right, right by Ross park mall. If you plan on coming up some weekend, let me know and I can meet up with ya if you'd like.

[hermit]

Hey thanks Keith! I know the area well. Back in the late 90s I used to work on Mcknight road. I lived in Mount Troy. I will give you a holler when I come down (up really I guess).

Todd.

PS. Just got a letter from Woodcraft today about the closing. You probably did too.

[drumpriest]

No worries Todd, if you get up here, let me know. If I can free up the time I'll tell ya what I know about lathes, and introduce you to the guys who know more.

[cabinetman]

There's a Woodcraft about 7 or so miles from me that I go to for something specific, and a Constantines store about half that distance. So, my plan usually consists of price shopping and checkin' out the new stuff at both places. A while back I found out the Constantines store in NYC had closed (probably because Bruce hadn't been there in a while). I was shocked. That store in NY had been there for eeons.

So a couple of weeks ago I was up near the Woodcraft Store and thought I'd stop in. Guess what? Not there. Well, I knew where it was and drove up any down the street thinking maybe the sign blew off, but no luck. It was an easily identifiable store with their corporate design. So, I got on my cell phone, called 411, and had them connect me to the number. Well, they had moved about 1/4 mile away in a "L" shaped shopping center. It was a little different layout than their free standing store, and smaller. But they were well stocked, and had a nice display of stationary machines.

Both stores offer classes on different subjects, and I only find out about the Woodcraft ones in their fliers. Constantines only posts a message board outside their store. Neither store does any local advertising to draw in traffic. It's understandable why stores like that have problems.

[os1kne]

Huh, didn't know they closed, but I can believe it. They were a pretty surly bunch, and they were losing business. They also were carrying less and less stuff over the past year. Got to the point of me not even checking there for things, as I knew they wouldn't have what I needed.

There is still Rockler in Pittsburgh, and it's a pretty good store, but it's a lot farther away from me than Woodcraft was.

I agree Rockler is twice as far from me as Woodcraft (which is far enough), but I still found myself going to Rockler at least as often b/c they consistently have what I need, where Woodcraft had been hit or miss. However, I am a bit sad that Woodcraft closed - a smaller number of woodworking stores is bound to have a correllation with the number of people that get interested in woodworking, and less competition probably won't be a good thing for my wallet.