Today seemed like a good day to write this post, 'Black Friday' has been and gone (although I feel like it's been about a month long this year) and yet there's still quite a bit of time for everybody to crack on with their Christmas shopping... I'm hoping to clear up the small/big business divide a tiny bit in this post, although I know that's almost impossible, I do feel like I'm one of many people who can vouch for both.
Let me take you back a year to this very day, I posted this bit of writing (above) about shopping small, local and independent... Which I still stand by, may I add. Around this time last year I had also signed a deal with my card publisher which would result in my cards being sold in places like Paperchase, Clinton's, John Lewis and even Sainsbury's! As well as hundreds of little, absolutely wonderful independent shops around the country. I'd also just signed my book deal with Penguin Random House in New York, for my book which will be on sale on Amazon, in Waterstones and possibly somewhere like Urban Outfitters... Incredible, right? Proper dream come true stuff! Now, I'm not listing all of these massive shops to brag... There's a reason, which I'll get to.
On this day last year, I was still selling a lot of my little happy products, packing and posting them all out from my tiny office and I had just announced I'd be closing my Etsy shop around Christmas because I knew I needed to focus my time on all of the exciting things happening, as well as keeping The Happy Newspaper going. On this day, this year, I have now designed a couple of hundred products from scratch, including some of my original happy products (the happy jar!!!) which won't launch until early next year... So currently, shops are only selling my greeting cards and on this day next year it'll (hopefully) be a totally different story and my products will (hopefully) be being sold in a lot of the shops that currently stock my cards (fingers crossed, eh!) - I'll be sure to write a post on this day next year!
Anyway, I'm rambling. My point is, I class myself as an independent creative, a small business and a maker. I always will. I've seen a lot of stuff, especially over the past couple of weeks about shopping small/independent and not buying into the big retailers/high street stores, and it feels very much like an 'us' and 'them' mentality, which I have been guilty of myself in the past. I guess like a lot of people I didn't consider who was designing and creating for the big retail stores, I ignorantly assumed it was all designed... or copied in big, corporate offices by people who didn't really care about what they were designing or selling, as long as it sold (a bit like when he writes the children's book on Elf and there's a page missing but they don't care ha ha)... And this isn't totally false, but mostly absolute crap. I couldn't even begin to comprehend how someone like me, cutting and folding my greeting cards in my bedroom could end up having my cards stocked in Paperchase, for example. But guess what? I did everything in my power to figure it out. Since I was tiny, I'd spend as long as I possibly could looking through all the sparkly cards in Clintons, dreaming that one day my cards would be there too... and now they bloody well are in there! But just because they're being sold in the masses in big stores, with a small % coming to me... That doesn't mean I'm not still sat in the same tiny office until 5am designing new cards or fixing old designs or figuring out which colour envelope works with which card and considering what words I'd want to say to my friends and family or what I'd like them to say to me. I still spend as much, if not more time working on every tiny detail of every tiny card and product in the same way I always have, except now it can be produced better, with higher quantities and therefore basically make my cards and products accessible to far more people than I ever dreamed was possible, genuinely.
The whole point of me starting The Happy Newspaper and all of my other happy stuff that has come with it was that I, quite simply, wanted to make as many people smile as possible, I want you to be able to give a friend or family member (or yourself) a card or product which will pick you or them up on the not so great days (or the absolutely amazing days!)... and if that means big stores giving me the platform to do so then that's all I, as an independent designer/creative/maker (whatever you want to call me) can hope for. I got to a point where I couldn't handle the amount of work in producing everything myself, shipping it all out and everything else that comes with selling all of these things yourself... I'm only just about coping keeping The Happy Newspaper going from my tiny office, with dozens of newspaper going missing in the post etc etc... So thanks to people 'supporting small/independent businesses' it gave me a bigger presence and recognition from the big shops I mentioned earlier.
When I put a similar ramble about this on my instagram story, I had a few constructive conversations which I think sum the whole thing up very well, so I'll share a few points below we talked about:
- "It's about shopping SMART and understanding where the product has come from"
- "Such a good perspective shift on high street stores, like Paperchase etc who actually have helped small businesses by allowing them to be more accessible to way more people"
- "I think the message needs to be more behind 'shopping intentionally', look at the brand you're buying from, try and support smaller creators and makers"
And this from an independent, small shop that has stocked my stuff from the beginning (when I was still cutting and folding cards in my bedroom) which I completely agreed with:
- "High street chains can make it difficult for independent shops when it involves using the work of independent artists/designers. This is amazing for you and others who have worked extremely hard. But if a customer can go into Sainsbury's and pick up their groceries and get one of your cards at the same time, they'll do that. Independent shops have to show they offer something you can't bet on the high street. That means we may have to stop stocking certain ranges that've been picked up by large chains. But saying that I'm not anti high street at all. They are still run by real people with real lives who work hard as independents. It's just as easy for a large retailer to fail as an independent shop, and just as soul destroying to those human beings involved."
I think the bottom line, of this very long post is to know who or where you're buying from, what brands you're buying into as best as you can, support those brands and companies with a story, who are genuine and wonderful. I think somebody like me needs to be finding ways to work together with big and small, maybe by trying my best to provide different designs for Sainsburys, for example, as I would the independent shops... Which is what we do try to do with my publisher! I've just done an exclusive range for Paperchase which won't be sold anywhere else so it's about finding the balance and for the customers to find the balance as well. It seems silly to me if somebody supported me/my work 2 years ago, but wouldn't give my book a second look because it's on sale on Amazon or in Waterstones, or is Waterstones okay because it feels wholesome and friendly and lovely? (as far as I know it is!) The truth is nobody knows the full story behind a lot of shops/people/brands etc. Most judgements come from tarring every online shop or every high street shop with the same brush, and from only being properly in this business for approx 12 months, I can confirm most of those judgements are false... although some are correct.
And on a final note, going back to the image above, a little means a lot when it comes down to independent shops/people/businesses so know that spending a few pounds a week or month in independent/local shops will go a long way when it's all added up.
Keep smiling,
Emily x
