The Leather Factory is closing.
I received that bad news recently during one of my bi-weekly, clear-across-town visits to this wonderful store.
As I understand it, The Leather Factory was founded in Chattanooga in 1980, and has sold leather, leather working tools, and accessories both locally and by mail order for a third of a century since then.
Originally located downtown, Tandy Leather Factory Store #001 has been out near Bonny Oaks Drive for several years now.
I quickly contacted the company headquarters in Fort Worth, Tex., to express my dismay at the loss of this store, and soon received a call from Matt Everage in Fort Worth. Right off the bat he said what we’ve come to expect concerning such things: “It’s just business.”
He told me that the local store simply hasn’t had enough sales. He continued to say that the local population of only 170,000 could not justify a store here. Chattanooga supposedly can’t compare with Nashville, Knoxville, or Atlanta. I didn’t try to argue with him that our local metropolitan statistical area is claimed to be somewhere between 500,000 and 600,000 folks. And what’s the total population of the area that is closer to Chattanooga than to any of those three neighboring cities?
Then he said that the local store’s mail-order sales to other states should have been handled by stores nearer to those customers. So he thinks local workers have built up customers by stealing them from other stores? That doesn’t sound right. I think they’ve built customer loyalty by treating folks right.
But “It’s just business!” justifies closing a good store and ‘laying off’ several workers.
I receive mail advertisements from The Leather Factory twice a month, because I’ve been shopping there for many years. When I asked what other advertising the company does locally, I was told it’s mostly done on ‘social networks.’ Maybe that works for some folks, but it doesn’t work for me.
No mail-order or online shopping experience can match the pleasure of stepping through that gray steel door off Bonny Oaks and inhaling the unique smell of leather–all sorts of leather. There is bare cowhide in all sizes and thicknesses, ready for cutting, tooling, dying, and sewing. There is hard, translucent rawhide. There is finished upholstery and garment leather in all colors and grades. There is sheepskin, and cowhide, and other types of skins with the hair on. There is every kind of glue, dye, paint, and surface treatment used in leather hobbies and industry. There are rivets, buckles, brass rings, zippers, grippers, and grommets, and all the special tools needed to install them. There are patterns for and examples of dozens of different kinds of projects from summer camp to professional quality.
And now we’re losing this good, unique, and important business. No, it’s never employed even a dozen people all at once. No, not everyone is interested in leather and leather working. But good local folks have been and are involved with the store, both as employees and as customers. And now all of us are being dumped, because someone in Texas has decided that it’s just business.
I wonder if the mayor, the Chamber of Commerce, and other local officials even know about this. I wonder if they care. I wonder if they are exerting or will exert any effort to persuade the Fort Worth headquarters to leave The Leather Factory in Chattanooga, and to help this good local business to succeed.
Wondering and wishing are pleasant activities, but I’m afraid we’ve already lost The Leather Factory. I plan to make a few more visits, and to buy all the leather and accessories that I can reasonably afford, because I have no desire to drive to Knoxville, Nashville, or Atlanta twice a month to see what good stuff I can find there.
Larry Cloud
Chattanooga