Change Is In The Air, Again

Today I am writing to admit that I have been struggling for a while now. It was late last year that I came to a realisation that the physical location of Artisanthropy saps so *much* of my energy that I no longer have a social life, and I am withdrawn from my family. The shop is doing fantastically - we have so much local and online business, but it’s grown to a point that I can no longer manage it with the skills I have, and I have no energy, or time, to grow myself to where I need to be, to handle its continued growth at this time in my life. My burnout has reached a tipping point, and I’ve had to make a decision that I never envisioned would happen. I have to close the store. 

We will, of course, continue online. There is no reason not to - we have lots of fantastic inventory that you all want, and I want to get it to you. 

Many times, coming up to this decision, I have felt sick to my stomach. I thought, maybe I’m fighting stomach bugs - or maybe it’s just the stress of the decision I had to make.

I don’t love this, but it needs to happen. If I want Artisanthropy to continue existing in any shape or form, I have to eliminate the energetic drain that owning a bricks & mortar brings with it. On top of that, my kids don’t seem to need me any less as they get older - and our time together is so limited, I can’t face the thought of missing any more of it than I already have. Moving to online only provides me with the greatest flexibility to both be with my loved ones, and continue to supply you all with the things you need to keep being creative.

I understand this decision will be disappointing to some of you. To others, you likely won’t even notice. All I know is that change in this life is necessary - and this change has been coming for some time.

Thank you, thank you - to all of you whom have supported us throughout the years. It has truly meant the world to us to connect with you on your projects, provide a safe space for crafting, and help you make your life more colourful. 

If you have always wanted to own downtown Whitby’s yarn shop (20 years next year!), and can see yourself at the helm of this rather large ship, navigating it through whatever may come going forward, please reach out. I’m open to discussions about transitioning ownership to someone excited about this truly incredible business.

If not, I hope you will all stick with me on this journey. I look forward to many more years of crafting humanity through Artisanthropy.

For Our Local Artisans:

We are closing the shop to the public in just under 2 weeks. Our last day, and last social, will be Saturday, November 15th.  Socials will be free for the next two weeks. We will continue to fulfill online orders and offer local pickup after that, but it may not be at the shop as hours will not be scheduled going forward after the 15th. I will be using that time to pack up and move to a secure storage unit.

If you have orders pending pickup, please make sure to come by and pick them up prior to our closure. Please reach out if you need to arrange shipping for your orders. 

All existing pre-orders / special orders will be dealt with in as timely a manner as possible. If you are close to the shop, and the order arrives after we shut our doors, I will deliver it to you.

Will continue to take preorders / special orders during the transition time, and of course, beyond.

Classes in the Studio at Artisanthropy will continue through mid December, as scheduled. I haven’t worked out what will happen with classes scheduled for after that point - we may find a local community centre or church with space to rent out and we may be able to offer them there, or we may have to cancel and refund the classes. I’d much prefer the former. More to come on that.

As we are moving to fully online, there will not be any huge liquidation sales. We do have our regular sale area and that will remain in place until we close, and then it’ll be available online afterwards. There may be some niche sales as we go along. More to come on that later.

All furniture and chattel will be posted for sale. If you donated or loaned something to the shop at any point, and would like it back, please reach out to book a time to pick it up once we’ve closed - there are some very unique pieces that have been provided at various points in time, and I’m happy to give them back to you.

If you are a local-only customer with an aversion to shopping online, please ensure you come in and use any store credit or gift cards you may have in your possession prior to our closing date. We will not be providing any refunds on those; you are, of course, always welcome to hang on to them and redeem these online at any point in the future. Neither store credit, nor gift cards, expire.

We will continue to vend at fibre festivals.

If you've made it this far - this isn't goodbye. It's just "See you on the flip side!"