Let me invite you to Hanji

Take a peek inside my bricks and mortar shop.

I thought it was about time I invited you inside my shop, which I opened last November.

Hanji (which means paper in Korean) is a shop filled with paper, books and maps. Here’s where I make books, maps and also pack your bookbinding kits. If you’re new around here, I’m a paper artist and bookbinder. I run an e-commerce business teaching bookbinding on my website and I also make artworks from paper.

Hanji

I actually didn’t mean to open a shop, it sort of fell into my lap one day. I popped into the shop to introduce myself to another artist - who I wanted to invite to my creative co-working day I was running at my local arts centre.

I met Amy who was moving around the corner and also makes maps. Take a look at her work below:

https://travelsofamym.com

Five minutes later, I had the opportunity to move in and start my own shop. What a moment!

Hello lovely painted counter! I love you!

I spent a month, decorating and agonising over what I would use it for. I wanted to run workshops there, but I soon found I didn’t really have the space. I’ve somehow managed to have a small studio space where I can make things and pack kits, and the rest is a shop space for all my many maps. Customers can come in and choose a map to be folded into an artwork.

A bit like this;

In the past I’ve always had studios inside art spaces. A couple of times a year we would run open studio selling events, where the studio gets turned into a shop so people can come in and buy your art. They were great for meeting customers and having conversations. But that only happens a couple of times a year, so a lot of the time you’re guessing at what will sell.

In this article I’m going to share some lessons I have learned in the past six months since opening my first bricks and mortar shop, in the hope it will help someone else in a similar position.

Observe and Listen to your customers

What’s so different about having an open shop/studio is that I can observe and see what resonates with people. I have conversations with everyone who comes into the shop and what I imagine will work, isn’t always the case. It’s actually been fascinating to see what people want to commission and buy. Some of my best products have actually been suggestions from customers.

My advice is to listen and observe. If you’re not ready to open a shop just yet, try doing a market. Have a range of items on display at different price points and observe what your customers move towards. Ask questions, give them facts about your pieces. Keep it lighthearted. Make notes of your best sellers.

Is the location and support system there?

Another big part of me opening the shop was its location. Hexham is a beautiful market town in Northumberland. There is a visitor culture here that stands alone from, any other market town in the county. It’s the only town with an arts centre, independent cinema, museum and Abbey as well as a monthly farmers market, which attracts thousands of visitors each weekend. There’s also a really vibrant indie shop community. From a fantastic indie toy shop , to galleries, art shops, plant shops, bakeries and lifestyle shops, it provided the perfect support system for my, very niche shop. I don’t think the shop would work in a different location without all of these things. I have also found that the business community are incredibly supportive of each other. Something I really wanted to be part of.

What’s also happening is a proposal for Hexham becoming an official art town. So it really is the best time to be starting a business here. These things were really high on the priority list of opening the shop. I wouldn’t have done it without these things in place.

How’s it going? No really, how’s it going?

November - January was really busy with the Christmas rush. The origami maps have been my best seller. I had a rethink and decided that I wanted to make them as affordable as possible (while also making a profit obvs!). So I made the three main sizes (mini, medium, large) all under £100.

I ask customers to choose their location and also include an off the shelf frame in this price. I was new to the town so I wanted to engage as many people as possible. Now six months on, it’s still going well so I have no current plans to revise the pricing just yet.

For those who aren’t local to the shop, these maps are available to order online at the same price.

The most popular size is the medium map. I like to call it the Goldilocks of all the maps.

I source my maps from charity shops, but then I realised I could put a sign up in my window for people to donate all their old maps to my shop, so now when I open up, there’s always some maps that’s been posted through the letterbox. How handy that map sizes fit perfectly in the letterbox! Well done map and letterbox makers!

February - May has been really quiet, which is expected, but that’s fine because my online business is always busy. I also launched the bookbinding club here which has been fantastic. It’s really nice to have multiple sources of income, so if one is quiet I can focus on the other thing. My street is quiet, which I like because I can get my head down and pack orders. I think I would really struggle if I was in a busier location.

So all in all, opening the shop has been a really positive experience. I’ve met customers who have bought online from me in person, which is especially lovely.

Oh but there have been a few mistakes….

Mistake 1.

Deciding what the shop would be before opening. So, deciding I would run workshops and then put it on my window vinyl, when that hasn’t actually happened. Whoops!

Resolution:

I decided instead to start running workshops at the arts centre on a monthly basis, which is just a stones throw from the shop. Win!

Mistake 2.

Bringing in lots of wholesale items when I first opened and not selling them.

I was panicking my stuff wasn’t enough! So I brought in lots of paper decorations at Christmas and then only sold about 20% of stock. I also brought in other artists books, which hasn’t sold as well as my own stuff. I realised that though they were really beautiful, they weren’t under my brand which is what customers were interested in. I thought I would save time by not having to make EVERYTHING in the shop. I also brought in lots of older work to fill the walls, but I’m now rethinking that as some of the pieces look quite tired. I’ve learned from that and now I’m mid-making lots of new books, boxes and artwork while it’s a bit quieter.

Resolution

Just make more stuff. Girl, you are enough! 🤣

If you want to visit my shop - I would so love that! Here’s a link to the address and a list of the current in person workshops in the town I’m running.

If you’re far away and can’t visit (why not?). Kidding. I’ve got lots on the website and watch out for a new tutorial coming to the membership next week. It’s a challenge month, so I’ve set a prompt to try this month. If you’re subscribed to paid you can read about it here:

Bye for now.

Ps. I love my shop!