If you are here and reading this post then you wanted to
hear the story of the decision to close Rock Paper Scissors. Thank you for taking a few moments of your
time to learn a little more.
This decision was not an easy one. I love what I do every day. Anyone who knows me personally knows that I
have a deep love for my community. My staff, my customers, my reps, all of the
amazing friendships I have made in the industry. I have loved growing a business and a
community.
I also take the responsibility of being a small business
owner seriously. I know that my staff
needs their paychecks to pay rent and buy food and pay bills (and buy
fabric). I know my teachers need their
checks to pay their rent and save for a house and offset bills. And my reps rely on my orders for their
commissions which do all the same things.
And the manufacturers rely on the independent retailer like me to buy
their product so that they can stay healthy and viable and employ people here
in the states and keep factories running here and abroad and continue to produce high quality products, not lesser quality big box ones. Designers rely on us to buy their patterns and
fabric, help to market them through social media, and support their work. For all of us, this is not a hobby but our livelihoods.
And
the local guilds rely on us for space and discounts and support. And the local community relies on us for new
and interesting classes, especially the kids as the schools phase out Home Ec
programs. And all the people who rely on
me to do their quilt math. And that our
community relies on us as a space to escape to when the world seems dark or
mean.
I personally have seen lifelong friendships form before my
eyes. People that never would have met
otherwise, met here. Whether it was from
taking a class or going to a guild meeting or just being introduced to others
through us. I have watched people with
no prior experience take a sewing class here and skyrocket into the Q-universe. I have watched women who had just moved here,
feeling unsteady in a new place, get embraced by this community, allowing those
women to find roots here. I have watched
people with little confidence blossom as teachers – really good teachers – here
at RPS.
Pretty amazing, right?
And you thought we just cut and sold pretty fabric. We are so very much more.
And I know that. I
know how much more a small business like mine is. So I worked really hard and made changes and
did everything I knew how. Then I
learned more so that I could be smarter and make more changes and be the very
best we could be. We missed the mark
sometimes but we did an awful lot of things right.
Because I knew how much more this store represented to so
many people, including myself, I had to think very long and very hard about
this decision.
But, at the end of the day, I was working so hard and such
long hours, carrying the stress of owning a small business and all that goes
with it AND the responsibility for others inside me 24/7. And the rent and property taxes (especially
in metro NYC) and worker’s comp and merchant services fees and everything else
keeps going up. The pressure from online
and big box stores keeps getting steeper.
The perceived value of buying
cheaper, and/or at a convenient time, goes up and the perceived value of local
small businesses continues to go down. Even
my own health care premiums have skyrocketed (I have to carry an individual
policy as a small business owner who supports herself). This
is just the reality of the environment small businesses live in today. The “name of the game” as a friend and owner
of a small business said to me recently.
Though I know how very much this store means to so many
people, including myself, I have chosen to close this beautiful space. I could
keep working harder and smarter but I am choosing something different. I am choosing to use this knowledge and time
and energy and smarts, that I have worked so very hard to build, in other and
different ways. I am not sure where life
will lead me but I am excited about the possibilities, the opportunities that
have yet to show up at my door. I love
this industry and would love to be able to remain a member of it but we shall
see. In the meantime, I will keep living
a well-intentioned life, designed by me, still involved in my community,
surrounded by my tribe.
To our customers, both my staff and I say thank you from the
bottom of our hearts. Not only would
this store not be what it is today, but our lives would not have been as rich without
the wonderful community of this store.
We love you oh so dearly!
To those I have developed relationships with in the
industry, thank you. Thank you for
welcoming me and including me and sharing conversation and thoughts and ideas
and your wonderful support with me.
And to my staff, my amazing staff, seeing you every day is
what I will miss the most. You are smart
and creative and funny and supportive and kind.
Simply, you are some of the most amazing and strongest and kindest women
I have ever known and I am so very grateful for you in my life.
Except for creating my beautiful family and watching them
grow, there is nothing I am more proud of than what I have built in this
magical little snow globe. Thanks for
joining me on the ride!
From the bottom of my heart,
Beth
