Crafting success out of virus-era unrest
Companies filling desire for something other than TV time are booming
Kristi Leardo, who was an accountant for many years, dreamed of opening a crafts and knitting supply shop, but wasn’t sure if opening a brick-andmortar store in the middle of a pandemic was a good idea.
Before her 50th birthday last July, she made the leap. And now, she’s struggling to keep her shelves stocked.
“I’ve barely had to advertise. People are watching knitting and crocheting tutorials on Youtube and coming in to get all the supplies they need,” Leardo told the Star.
“What I find surprising is the young people and I mean young teenagers and 20-somethings who want quality fibres and yarns. They’re making their own accessories and doing a lot of gift-giving,” she said. “People don’t want to just watch TV. They want to do things that could give them some satisfaction.”
With people across the country running out of Netflix shows to watch as the COVID-19 pandemic drags on, boredom seems to have given a boost to some Canadian companies.
Leardo’s company, the Bee’s Knees Yarn Shop, is located in Summerland, B.C., where businesses often experience a winter lull in the tourist area. But locals are supporting her business, and other crafts stores and distributors are similarly struggling to keep up with orders.
According to the Retail Council of Canada, which represents about 45,000 businesses, home products, hobby and kitchen supplies are a lifeline for retailers as consumers want to improve their quality of life at home.
And there are more surprising success stories, too.
Dog trainers say they’re more in demand than ever because of all the pandemic puppy purchases, while adults are returning to pastimes they had earlier abandoned as a relic of their youth, like skateboarding.
Landyachtz is a Vancouverheadquartered company specializing in skateboards, longboards and bicycles, with retail outlets across North America.
The company’s sales dipped last spring when many stores shut down for governmentmandated lockdowns, but the company invested in digital marketing and soon saw sharp increases in direct sales and online orders.
“I think it’s because in times of uncertainty, skateboards are a relatively affordable escape,” said Blake Startup, who manages the company’s retail outlets.
“And longboards are appealing because you can cruise around the neighbourhood — they’re an alternative mode of transportation to a crowded bus.” After stores reopened, Startup often saw parents coming in to get skateboards for their kids for the first time.
“Usually one of the parents might have an old skateboard from the ’80s or the ’90s. They say they’re just getting something for their kids, but then I’d see the dad the next week coming back for a skateboard of his own.”
Nationally, sales at sporting goods, hobby, book and music stores saw two months of growth in the fall of 2020, but decreased by over one-fifth in December with the closing of brick-and-mortar retailers in multiple regions on Boxing Day, according to Statistics Canada.
Besides specializing in goods that are ideal for use in small groups or individually, the most successful companies are those with a strong online presence and ability to make online sales, says Diane Brisebois, CEO of the Retail Council of Canada.
And Canadians are not just shopping for themselves, but spent more than $5.7 billion on their pets in 2020, an increase of around $300 million from 2019, according to market data firm Statista.
Eighteen per cent of current pet owners obtained their pet during the pandemic, according to Narrative Research, a Canadian market intelligence company.
Many of those new pet owners needed help training their canine companions.
Andre Yeu, founder and head trainer of When Hounds Fly dog-training school in Toronto, saw his business grow by 25 per
cent year-on-year.
“In the summer of 2020, we had to turn people away and it was around an eight-week wait to see an instructor for in-person classes,” Yeu told the Star.
“We had begun doing virtual lessons during the first wave, and people also really liked the virtual option. Besides the safety reasons, dogs are less distracted at home and this lets the humans better absorb the learning,” Yeu said.
The demand has continued to be so high that Yeu hired five new trainers, with plans to hire more, and the company just signed a lease for a fourth location in Toronto.