Every hobbyist knows the feeling: “I love this beautiful fill-in-the-blank, I must have one in every color, size and shape.”
For Stephanie Christou, an ah-hah moment happened when she spent $200 on the paper flowers she used to create custom greeting cards and realized she needed to do something different. So, as the long-time owner of a second-hand clothing store, she opened Bottom of the Bin, Florida’s first retail shop featuring pre-owned craft supplies.
“We started with a permanent location in a flea market to test the concept, and then opened this store in Seminole about a year ago,” she says. “Everything in the store is pre-owned so things that might have ended up in a landfill become someone else’s new craft.”
Bottom of the Bin features racks of arts and crafts supplies organized by craft and then by color. Crafts range from jewelry-making and quilting to paper crafts such as scrapbooks and the custom cards that started Christou down her new path.
“Hobbyists tend to buy extra and have left-overs, but they also get bored with what they’re working on and decide to try something new,” said Jenn Reinke, a one-time customer who soon became an employee because she loves the concept.
While some thrift stores have sections set aside for crafts, hobbyists didn’t have the option of trading in their old supplies for new materials rather than donating them, Christau said. “We give customers store credits immediately so they can clean out their craft rooms and move onto new projects without making another big investment.”
The store takes anything usable, including opened markers and non-flammable ink – which customers are encouraged to test before buying – to partially used skeins of yarn, books of stickers and card stock, or pieces of fabric that could be the perfect size for someone else’s quilt.
Bottom of the Bin also encourages groups to visit the store and plan their next projects, like the friends who drop by once or twice a month from the Gateway Mobile Home Park. This month, they’re working on beaded dream catchers for their families, but soon, they’ll start working on crafts for the community’s annual bazaar before the holidays.
Many items are sold in a $2 bag that customers can fill, so those Gateway crafters were sifting through boxes of beads sorted by colors looking for the perfect beads.
The Seminole store recently doubled in size when Christau opened an annex four doors away with extra space to support ongoing events. “One of the things we knew from the beginning is that we wanted to create a space where artists can meet and share skills,” she said.
Two “Social Sundays” are scheduled every month where crafters can come in with their own materials. Classes, which are often seasonal, are planned for the other two Sundays to expose crafters to new techniques, like the tea bag art featured in February.
The challenge with pre-owned crafts, of course, is that you may not be able to buy everything you want in one trip, but prices are about half what crafters would pay at a “big-box” store, said Reinke, plus you know you’re helping to prevent craft materials from ending up in a landfill.
Bottom of the Bin is located at 9444 Seminole Blvd in Seminole. For information on current stock and events, follow their Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/BottomoftheBin/