Dealers?

This is a complicated problem, but it mostly boils down to the economy. John could explain this much better than I can, but I’ll give it a crack.

The economy here in the states is not doing nearly as well as it was, say, 10-15 years ago. When people have less income, the first things to go are ‘luxury’ items such as collectibles and unnecessary art items. Less sales of pieces means less product moves means fewer stores carry them.

To complicate matters, most companies that make collectible gift-style items are outsourcing production to places like China where items can me produced for a fraction of the cost (due to lesser quality materials, and the cost of labor being so low over there). Most items are now being entirely manufactured in China or Mexico, etc. These less expensive items are far more likely to sell when people have less money. Even high-end name brands are outsourcing to China to cut costs and produce a product that a suppressed economy can afford. I was really surprised and dismayed when I looked at a hot-cast bronze piece put out by the Franklin Mint the other day and saw the “Made in China” sticker on the bottom.

U.S. society is continually leaning and gearing us toward the Big Mart Chain Store sales. Where things are less expensive because a chain store has the buying power to purchase millions of Product A and can therefore sell them at a much lower cost. If society is becoming used to going to HugeMart and buying all their trinkets and gift items for a low price all in a convenient location, they are far less likely to shop at their locally owned Gift Store. What’s more, that $150 dragon is suddenly way too rich for their blood when they are used to purchasing gift style items for far less (due to HugeMart buying power, and lesser quality/cheaper imported items, etc).

Not that I’m saying that its BAD to not want to spend that much- heck I’ll be lucky to spend half that much for gifts this year. The point is that with the economy the way it is, it’s harder for average people to afford something like a Windstone, which is bad news for both the people that sell them and for Windstone itself of course.

There are 4 stores within an hours drive of my house (southern NJ).
Store #1 only stocked candle lamps and they are down to three and they’ve been there forever. They will order from Windstone, but the minimum order is $150, I think.

Store #2 has a small curio dedicated to them…I think I bought 2 out of the 6 pieces thay had. The girl asked me if I ever heard of the emerald dragons, b/c somebody came in looking for them. 🙄 They will order for you.

Store #3 has one piece left and I don’t think they are ordering more.

Store #4 has a large curio dedicated to them, but it wasn’t very full. They had quite a few BGs and one or two stone pieces. They will order for you, too.

So it seems the demand isn’t high enough for them to stock much or even carry them:-/

“Dragon’s Lair” in Austin doesn’t carry Windstones- I live here and have never seen them there. I haven’t found a store in the area lately that carries even one Windstone Dragon, much less a variety.

Speaking of the American dollar!! I just made a Canadian Dollar purchase and found out that CAD is almost EQUAL to USD these days. They used to be 0.25-0.33% lower in value- has the USD fallen so far or has the CAD just done so well??

BTW- with prices of oil increasing and America’s dependence on it and the dollar’s value keeps falling, economists believe we’re due for a severe depression within the next 10 years.

Nam, I must make the vague argument- while Walmart benefits the lower to middle income class and hurts independent luxury stores I have to say in their defense- the fact that I pay less for groceries and other necessities there actually improves the way I can spend my overall quantity of cash-flow. I divert it to Windstones so stores like that can be a benefit to some businesses that they don’t work with.

and the store in Lubbock that did…..had only one dragon last I was there…and I talked to the owner but she wasn’t sure if she would order more….

I have found no stores in the Dallas/Fort Worth area either….

but then again…this is Texas….according to most of the people here that have seen mine…”dragons are evil”…

so that keeps a lot of stores from even thinking about carrying them….

Welcome to the “Bible Belt” My uncle had a 1970 Chevelle and had “WARLOCK” down the side… he was living in the Dallas area at the time and the “Bible Belt” did something and had him remove the word off his car…. FUNNY thing, the paint had faded so you could still see “WARLOCK”…LOL

I called the Collenys here in Amarillo and he said that he can order them, he has a catolog to look in AND he only carries a few durning Chrsitmas.

Speaking of the American dollar!! I just made a Canadian Dollar purchase and found out that CAD is almost EQUAL to USD these days. They used to be 0.25-0.33% lower in value- has the USD fallen so far or has the CAD just done so well??

BTW- with prices of oil increasing and America’s dependence on it and the dollar’s value keeps falling, economists believe we’re due for a severe depression within the next 10 years.

Nam, I must make the vague argument- while Walmart benefits the lower to middle income class and hurts independent luxury stores I have to say in their defense- the fact that I pay less for groceries and other necessities there actually improves the way I can spend my overall quantity of cash-flow. I divert it to Windstones so stores like that can be a benefit to some businesses that they don’t work with.

The Canadian dollar is up, and the American is down. When you bought the hatcher from me the Canadian dollar was worth $1.10 US. Now it’s sitting about $1.02 US.

I don’t honestly know if there is one store in Ontario that still carries Windstones.