In April of 2014, I owned a considerable amount of Tandy Leather (TLF) shares at $9.63 a share. This holding had served me well since purchasing them in 2012 at a little over $5 a share.
However, something happened at Tandy Leather around April of 2014. I started noticing considerable price hikes on items that I had been purchasing for many years. After ruffling through receipts, it became clear that many items had gone up by as much as 50%.
Example: 2” Cowhide Strip x 72” - $20 (2006) - $21.99 (early 2014) to $31.99 each (4/23/16)
Gross.
That was it for me. Although the wonderful manager at Tandy let me haggle with him and we have kept the price low on many items I still use... I dumped my TLF stock and starting searching elsewhere for suppliers. Ive since found 4 other suppliers that blow Tandy Leather’s prices out of the water.
I would have never found these suppliers if it were not for the push by the Tandy Leather price hikes.
I keep a spreadsheet of all suppliers and who has the best price on each item (1/4 of it is below, TLF in column one).
In 2014, Tandy Leather went from being my #1 supplier each year and where I purchased 75% of my supplies to #4 in 2015. I now only purchase 20% of my supplies at Tandy Leather.
TLF shares now sit at $7.15.
Im happy to have gotten out when I did.
Exsect Inc. is a single maker operated leather company with over 4,300 sales on Etsy. Featuring specialty designs, exclusive leather finishes, reclaimed leather creations and industry standard deviations.
Exsect Inc. is not your grandfather's hobby shop.
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