I've always enjoyed doing all sorts of crafts - be it knitting, sewing, cross stitch and most lately scrapbooking and card making. Although there are lots of places where you can buy craft supplies, one retailer seems to stand head and shoulders above the rest and that is Hobbycraft. If you are lucky to live near one of these outlets it's definitely well worth taking a visit.
All of the Hobbycrafts I know can be found in out of town outlets so it is always very easy to park. My nearest one is at Reading and it's great because if I want to stock up I never have far to carry things to the car!
It's great when you first walk into Hobbycraft because it feels like you are entering an Aladdin's Cave - there is just so much stuff to look at that I can easily spend a couple of hours just browsing around all the shelves. There is just about something
for everyone covering a whole range of hobbies including model making, cross stitch, knitting, jewellery making and my favourite card making and scrapbooking. There are also many kits and products that are very suitable for young children which is lovely because they could easily become interested in a craft at a young age.
The area I lways head first is the scrapbooking area and there is so much to look at and choose from. There is everything any scrapbooker could wish for from scrapbooks, stencils, backing paper, die cutters, letters, ribbons and so on. These all vary in price depending on what you are buying but on the whole I do find the prices very reasonable. They also tend to have a lot of special offers where certain items are offered at half price. If you visit on a regular basis it's worth keeping an eye on these and picking things up as and when they are on offer.
There is also a very good selection of cross stitch materials and these cater for real beginners to experts. They also cover all the main makers such as DMC and Janlynn. I don't find the range of knitting materials so good though and this is one area which I do feel could be improved. There are loads of knitting pattern books displayed in rather higgledy piggledy fashion but when you look for the suggested wools you cannot find them which is quite frustrating!
I don't buy art supplies there for myself but I have bought things for my fifteen year old niece who is always very impressed by the enormous range there is and she is able to get what she needs for her art GCSE. It's the same with the modelling kits and jewellery supplies - there's so much that sometimes you don't know where to look first.
This does lead me on to two small criticisms I have of Hobbycraft. Firstly it does seem to feel a bit disorganised at times (and I am mainly thinking of the Reading store). It it hard sometimes to work out where things should be. For example, there are so many shelves full of scrapbooking materials that you can spend a long time looking for particular items especially when they are not alwys grouped together. I was looking for individual letters for creating headings and these could be found scattered across many shelves rather than all grouped together. Also, items are not always clearly priced and you are not sure what something might cost and often there is not anyone around to ask.
Hobbycraft does seem particularly good for specific times of the year be it Easter, Valentines Day or Christmas. I was quite pleased to see though, that today at the beginning of September that Christmas was not dominating too much yet! There were Christmas items about particularly for card making which let's face it, if you are thinking of making your own cards, you do want to start early.
Hobbycraft do seem to send out leaflets with our local paper telling of all the latest offers and it'sworth holding on to these because there are often money off offers as well. Also to find out more and get tips and advice on all sorts of hobbies you can visit the website at
www.hobbycraft.co.uk
Overall, if you like these crafty sorts of hobbies, I would definitely recommend a visit to Hobbycraft. They have so many supplies on offer that you are bound to find something you want and mostly at reasonable prices too! Don't forget your credit card though because you could get carried away!
How helpful would this review be to a person making a buying decision? Rating guidelines
Advantages: Loads to look at, leaflets to learn from, workshops held, most crafts catered for, children and adults crafts catered for Disadvantages: You can spend a long time in the shop perusing as there is so much to see
Advantages: Full of inspiring ideas, everything for artists and makers of all things, open late Disadvantages: Finding what you're after can be tricky, lots of tempting things for kids
simoncjones 16.05.2005 (16.05.2005)
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of HobbyCraft Store (Shop)
Advantages: Loads to look at, leaflets to learn from, workshops held, most crafts catered for, children and adults crafts catered for Disadvantages: You can spend a long time in the shop perusing as there is so much to see
Advantages: Full of inspiring ideas, everything for artists and makers of all things, open late Disadvantages: Finding what you're after can be tricky, lots of tempting things for kids
simoncjones 16.05.2005 (16.05.2005)
·
Read review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of HobbyCraft Store (Shop)
Sep 7th, 2008
very helpful by (100%):
