Scrapbook business offers challenges, rewards

What do you do and how long have you been doing it?

We provide a creative way for people to safely store their photographs and memorabilia. I’ve been doing it for about 12 years and the store opened in October 1997.

We try to be knowledgeable of new products. This industry has grown by leaps and bounds. Craft Trends magazine recently reported scrapbooking is a $2.5 billion industry.

We have all kinds of embellishments, and paper crafting is becoming a big part of the scrapbook industry. Truthfully, we put more in the store name, because we didn’t know where this business was heading. We offer classes and demonstrations on how to use the products and we get a lot of people not interested in memory books, but who want to make greeting cards.

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How long have you lived in the Rogue Valley?

I have been here on and off for the past five years. My husband still has a business in Southern California, so both of us have commuted a great deal. He’s a CPA in Downey, Calif.

What inspired you to go into this line of work?

It was a very addicting hobby. I was a high school teacher, teaching home economics, English and nutrition science in Montebello, Calif., for 25 years. I’ve always liked crafts of one kind or another. This one caught me off guard.

I taught Stacey how to do it 10 years ago and she pleaded for me to open a store. She was looking to change jobs and I was looking at early retirement and looking for something different.

What decision or action would you change if you could do it again?

In the beginning we wished we would have opened a bigger store. It was 1,200 square feet. But now we’re glad we enlarged in increments. We’re up to 3,500 square feet. So many small businesses fail the first years because they try to do too much.

What’s the toughest business decision you’ve made?

Probably both of us giving up secure jobs to pursue a dream. Stacey was at the Medical Eye Center for many years.

Who are your competitors?

There are several small scrapbook stores that have opened in and around the valley. Many chain stores are starting to carry a limited amount of supplies. Many Internet sites come and go on a regular basis. Lots of times I go to one of the sites and they are no longer there.

How do you define success for your business?

In the early years, all we knew was the product line was growing so rapidly, and in order to stay competitive we needed more space.

Our classes started growing and we needed more space to teach classes.

What’s happened in our area is development of Creative Corner — where you can take care of a lot of your crafting needs. Stamp Struck and MT’s U-Frame-It are there and Calico Junction is moving right across the street from us.

What are your goals?

I truthfully don’t have any plans for another store. But I would like to increase our inventory.

The staff would like to continue to learn new and more techniques to teach our customers and then supply the materials necessary to complete the project. Our last expansion was to build a great big classroom.

We usually have a limit of 35 people who come in for 12 hours or more. We’re actually thinking about doing weekend classes.

What training or education did you need?

We teach Scrap Book University classes and we had to go to New Jersey to be trained.

I had no business training, but I knew scrapbooking and I knew a lot about the techniques and products.

Stacey had a lot of experience in managing and public relations and we would not have succeeded if she had not been there to manage the store and handle customer service. I would scour the Internet for new products and samples and then have them sent up here.

What’s your advice for budding entrepreneurs?

Be prepared to work harder and longer hours than you ever imagined, because so many businesses fail in the first few years.

People think the hobby is so much fun that they’ll open a store and just do their hobby. I had no idea it was going to be as time-consuming.

To suggest an idea for this column, contact reporter Greg Stiles at 776-4463 or e-mail business@mailtribune.com

A brief look at the business

Owners: Gloria King and Stacey Coffman

Ages: 60 and 36

Address: 41 N. Ivy St., Medford

Phone: 857-4998

Employees: 8

e-mail: staceyattheking@aol.com