Craft stores

ian_brown

ian_brown

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Joined
Jan 22, 2007
Messages
308
Which tying products do you buy at craft stores? I took a trip to Michaels, and found some really nice products for less than fly shops charge. Here are a few of the things I found.

2mm craft foam in lots of colors ($.79 for a big sheet)

Turkey flats

Raffia

Pheasant feathers

Sculpin yarn
 
I too have found the foam at Michael's and the price is unbeatable. That's a large sheet for under a buck. I looked at Pheasant feathers, but didn't see a nice enough looking bag to pull the trigger. Stock seemed to be low. I've got all the turkey feathers I need. I've also found glass beads and containers for the beads there. Yarn can also be had at a good price. There are lots of materials there that can be substituted or in many cases are the same product at a better price.

Good thread.
 
Michael's and others, like them, in my area have always been 'go tos' before I hit my several local fly shops for a vast majority of materials cheaper than the shops.
I can usually find far better peacock hurl, than at a fly shop, for 1/3 the regular price. I've also found bleached peacock hurl, and hurl died red as well. Ostrich hurl, is another goodie at my local craft shops, as is 99% of my yarns.
Varied threads, crystal chenilles, beads and for an endless supply of great flats and marabou............around this time of year for Halloween costumes, a "feather boa", 8 feet long, for around $8.00 gives me a year or more supply!!
Waterproof markers, tons of different containers, very unique and useful tweezers, you name it!
Also, don't forget the "yardage stores" along these same lines!
I use a scalpel for cutting out beetle and ant bodies, along with various tasks of intricate cutting of foams, etc. I found a beautiful set up at a "Jo-Anne's Fabric" franchise outlet for $9.99.
It's all aluminum, sharper than a razor blade and came with both, curved and straight blades. (2 extra of each style).
 
I get all kind of matuka feathers and eggs by the dozens for pennies.
 
And the next topic you are going to say to someone support your local fly shop, who is about to to go under...Or you wonder why shops are closing..... :-(
 
Sandfly I'm with you. Although, I have purchased sticky-backed foam sheets at walmart for strike indicators, does anyone honestly need 100 pink yarn balls for eggs? Although the 100 pack may be $1 and the 20 pack at the fly shop is $.50; think of the cost of the hooks to tie 100 verses 20 (last time I checked, to carry 100 flies of the same pattern and size was overkill).
So figure in the cost of the extra 80 hooks at 15 cents each, in order to maximize hwta you purchased at the craft store, and now you made a finantial goof.
Now if you are a commercial tyer, it's not a bad idea. Although from working at a fly shop, which is severly struggling, all of the commercial tyers that come to us get a discount.
 
The Rag Shop chain went out of business this summer and I cleaned up at the local store. got 90% discount on the final batch of feathers, yarn, beading wire.
 
Sandfly, I agree, with your stand on "supporting your local fly shop".
However, with my closest one, being just under 107 miles away from me and the nearest fabric shop, about 5...............
Plus, "dollars spent, are dollars spent". The last hurl I picked up, at the craft store, was $1.19 for enough to keep me tying for a good month. When visiting my fly shop, he had packages of it, about 1/3 the amount, for over $3.00.
When I asked him about "long, surgical style tweezers", he replied; "I carry ENOUGH styles of tweezers already!" (of course, no shop can carry every item, I realize that).
A certain body yarn I like using, is $2.30 A SKIEN, (300 yards), at the fabric store and $3.05 for TWO yards, at the fly shop.
But, for "supporting my local shop", I don' buy my necks at craft stores, (OR off line, where they're usually MUCH cheaper). All my tying threads, not "fancy threads" come from my fly shop, as do all my replacement tying tools, etc.
My local shop also got my money for my Thomas and Thomas, last month, a new Loop reel, a few fly lines, etc.
Even though, as you probably are aware more than some... things are almost always cheaper, on Internet auction sites, "On-line only fly shops", and so on.
But, I refuse to purchase my big ticket items from these places, regardless of the money I may save. Those items, always come from my fly shop. As, do, about 90% of all my tying needs.
"DO I, though" buy enough of the bigger ticket items often enough to help support my shop? Yes, my bride reminds me DAILY that; "You don't "NEED" another fly rod!" "What's wrong, with the 17 fly reels you ALREADY own?" "You paid, HOW MUCH. for just a PIECE of a dead chicken?"
I went to an "estate sale" this past weekend and couldn't believe my luck, when I found a near new Abel TR-1 for $10.00. Fortunately, it was also attached to a G-Loomis, that set me back another $20.00 if I wanted the combo.
My fly shop carried Abel reels, of course, as well as Loomis rods, but I'm not stupid either! (dumb, no doubt, but not, stupid!).
Like I said, "it's dollars spent, to dollars spent" and I feel that I more than enough, support my "local" shop despite my craft store fetishes!?!
 
I'm not chastizing anyone, I've done it too and I own a shop..Theres some things you get at a fly shop...But at least think do I need all that material??? or just a small amount....Besides its not the fly shops fault its the suppliers...I've noticed the dubbing packages are getting smaller and lighter for more $$$ in the last few years...We still sell in lg quanity ....Also the craft stores do not carry the colors to match the flies right......
 
Sandfly you're right. I do still spend more money at the local Gander Mountain on fly material only because my local fly shop closed up.
 
i do like to support fly shops,and most of what i own comes from feathercraft,but how can one resist getting some material at craft stores.stretch magic is great for ribbing.pearl arts and crafts has lots of feathers,ac moore sells rabbit pelts.
with that said,if there was a fly shop in center city philadelphia i would probably get everything there.
 
I found some glittery eggs at a craft store in a package of 6 dozen for 87 cents and saw the exact same ones in a fly tying section in a local sports store for $1.99 a dozen. There were furs and feathers sold at least a fifth of the cost of a sports shop. Who is over charging who? It looks like the suppliers are gouging the retailers, or the retailers should have had more sales.
 
buckbarrett wrote:
I found some glittery eggs at a craft store in a package of 6 dozen for 87 cents and saw the exact same ones in a fly tying section in a local sports store for $1.99 a dozen. There were furs and feathers sold at least a fifth of the cost of a sports shop. Who is over charging who? It looks like the suppliers are gouging the retailers, or the retailers should have had more sales.

Was it a chain store? The chain stores have centralized purchasing that reduces thier costs considerably. The local shop probably pays more from a distributer than what the chain store sells retail.
 
It was a local store that has 3 other outlets. The items I was talking were the the exact same product in both the outdoor store and the craft store. They just called it something different. Put it in a different package. I believe they are ripping off the flyshops.
 
What if Fly Shops ceased to exist?

Sure, with my, and seemingly others on this site's vast knowledge and resources, at this point, it wouldn't be a problem.

However, we all would probably have to work considerably harder and finding materials, stream reports and locations, or in some cases, other like-minded individuals to listen to us drone on and on about hatches and stocking methods. I'm thankful to have a few places in my "territories" where I can stop in, ask stupid questions, and shoot the bull, and if I drop $10 or $20 bucks while doing so, it's no different than down at my local watering hole.

No one can be expected to buy everything from their local shop, and "support your local shop" takes on different meanings for different people. I like what everyone is saying on this thread and it coincides with what I do. To each his own.

No one person will ever be the sole cause of a shop going under, or for that matter, staying afloat.

Although I wish I had frequented my local hardware store, just down the street, a bit more before they folded. Now I have to go to HD 6 miles away and buy a box of nuts, when all I really needed was 2.

Dale
 
I never knew anyone who owned a fly shop that made any kind of fortune at it. And they never closed because they ran out of money. The only reason was age.

If you want to own a fly shop these days you better do it for the love of it or find something else to sell as well like a guide service or guns or lodging or something. The good ones are and always will be a novelty. Someplace really cool that you stumble onto and look into when you find them because you share the interest in fly fishing. I know that's gonna **** off sandfly to hear that but that's how I see it.

There was a time...in the days of soda fountains, hardware stores and family owned diners but you aren't going to find many of those anymore either. I'm not saying I like it, I'm just calling it as I see it.

So for now we're stuck getting in the mini-van, stopping at walmart for leaders, then wendy's for dinner on the way to lowe's to buy fuses so you can fix the electric at camp and go fishing. Sucks...huh?
 
Hey, there are also other ways to show your support for a fly shop - buy the owner a beer or a sandwich next time you run into them.

We all got to eat, drink and be merry.

D
 
I used to bring the guy (john) at the (former) fly shop in Greensburg some of those nasty cigars he used to chew on.
 
No doubt things are cheaper at craft stores.

You can't replace expert advice, shooting the breeze about flies/hatches and maybe picking up a couple things that would not be broadcast on a website.

For example; good directions to the latest hotspot or even the best hot meatloaf sandwich etc...

Most shops provide instruction and classes etc..
(where you gonna go for your workshops if they are gone?)
This is also a great place to meet fellow like minded flyfishers.


For a journeyman like myself; I would gladly pay .50 more to keep what I consider a valuable resource in business as I need all the help I can get.

sandfly- I will be visiting you sometime in the spring as I have Pine Creek on my radar for 2 years now but have not made it up there.
 
Come on up in late may for the drakes, no problems with crowding...the rewst of them who go to craft stores will be charged double, I have them on a list... :-D :lol: :lol:
 
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