[Jewelry making - Article 00695] - Re: [Orchid] [Interview] Having a home show

[Stephen Walker]

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>     In addition to not having home shows, some of us could be doing
>     even more to hide our whereabouts. Unlisted numbers are a good
>     start... 

    Having just had a very good studio tour/studio show this weekend I
    feel fortunate that I have a situation where I do not live with that
    kind of fear. 

    I am mystified how people can be in business and hide from their
    customers. I see lots of websites with no physical address or phone
    number. What kind of confidence does this inspire with your
    customers when you are deliberately hiding? You certainly need to
    take precautions based on your real risk, but I think you need to
    think hard about what you are loosing when you go this way. 

    This thread expanded to include 3 different types of show. 1. A show
    at your own home studio. 2. A trunk show sort of thing at the
    private home of someone else. 3. A Studio Show at your workshop that
    is not necessarily your home. In my case I was showing at my
    workshop, which is a separate location than my home, although I have
    done it at home early on in my career. 

    Security is a big deal for jewelers, to be sure, but it has to be
    taken in perspective. Your risk is a whole lot more if your work is
    diamonds and gold than it is if you work in silver or even less
    precious metals. Your risk is also a whole lot less if you live in a
    lower crime area. 

    When we first started our local Studio Tour there was one woman who
    had recently settled here from an urban area that was terrified
    about having strangers come into her home studio. Those of us who
    were natives were a bit surprised about her fear, because she was
    making doll house miniatures, not especially inviting to thieves and
    also there is very little of the kind of home invasion, burglary of
    homes or personal attacks of the kind she feared. 

    Even though we have a low crime situation in this area, we do have
    all the standard security precautions, safes, alarm system,
    surveillance cameras with off premise recording, vicious dogs, land
    mines, nosey neighbors. But there was a retiring jeweler on Main
    Street of a nearby town that told me that in all his many years of
    business he never experienced a hold-up or burglary, even though the
    police were always calling him up in the middle of the night to tell
    him he forgot to lock his front door. 

    My point is that these safe Mayberry kinds of places still exist.
    The town mentioned above, Hornell, NY used to support 3 jewelers, but
    they have all retired and there is no one left but Walmart selling
    jewelry. If I wanted to do repairs I could have all the business I
    could handle. There is a big vacancy in that area and I suspect there
    is also in other similar small towns. 30 years ago young craftsmen
    were settling in out of the way places like this, but not any more.
    If the security situation really bugs you that much maybe you should
    consider moving to some place safer. 

Stephen Walker
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