Today...is a great day!

Today...I awoke to 1,538 stores in the NSA Retail Directory! Chris uploaded a spreadsheet I've been building of some of the international scrapbooking stores. It's time to let the world know of the global plans and capabilities of the NSA.

The NSA Locator is now live, too! Anyone can find a U.S. LSS near them, wherever they are, whenever! Bluegrass Publishing has helped considerably by calling many of the retailers on the list and verifying or adding their information. Now the task lies in promoting this fabulous service.

Just last week Mike Harnett had this to say in his CLN Online newsletter (Mike is known for his tounge-in-cheek approach, so I attempted to add humor to my responses):

Where to find lists of retailers
CLN is asked periodically where vendors can find a list of industry retailers. There is no master list, (the NSA has one, and makes it available to everyone!) and if one existed, it would be out of date as soon as it was published (not if it was kept online!), given the number of stores opening and closing. However, here are some suggestions:

1. Trade show exhibitors often have the opportunity to purchase a show's attendee list after the show closes. Contact the show sponsors (yeah? got spare arm and leg?).

2. Many vendors include on their websites the names and addresses of stores that sell their products. It could be very time consuming to find and collate the names from various sites (you're telling me!), but if you want a list badly enough.... (yes, we do! all of us! consumers, retailers, and vendors...we all need it!)

3. Consider exchanging customer lists with other vendors (Bluegrass came to the table with us, but others told us no, indicating not everyone wants to share).

4. Trade magazines do not rent their circulation lists, but may on occasion do a mailing for an advertiser (if you still have that spare arm). And, of course, there's always advertising and creating a list from the reader response cards (or that spare leg).

5. Some trade associations offer its members a membership
directory, often divided by category, such as "retailers." (ahem)

Whatever the size/extent of your customer list, a good way to keep it "clean" is to do an annual, simple, first-class mailing. That way you can cull the names of stores whose letters were returned by the Post Office (annual? we do a monthly email correspondence. Cleaner and cheaper).

Rebecca Ludens of scrapbooking.about.com needs to be informed, too. She claims her site is the place to start when looking for a scrapbook store...but she only provides a few links to store locators created by magazines and manufacturers. Several problems lie in that approach, but I won't state the obvious, and my tounge is too far into my cheek to respond.

I'll just emphasize...the NSA provides an active, comprehensive, functional Retail Directory and Locator:

• active...the NSA actively maintains the data, researching stores, contacting them on a regular basis, deleting duplicates, store closures, etc. Viewers can submit information about missing stores or edits, deletes, etc.
• comprehensive...the list is not tied to product or publication. Stores are listed for free! The criteria for a store to be listed are that it is a brick & mortar store front, offers scrapbooking classes for the beginner, and has inventory at least 50% scrapbooking-specific.
• functional...with the locator, web links and other capabilities, the information provided is useful and promotes the independent scrapbooking retailer by making it easier for consumers to find retailers

One way the NSA fulfills its mission to expand the passion of scrapbooking is by providing global support for a grassroots hobby. Creating and maintaining the NSA Retail Directory says we mean business. We mean to direct consumers to retailers, to tell the public that there are local stores that offer scrapbooking classes, and to offer ways to market the independent retailer that they alone cannot do.

To get technical...the NSA web site is built on a powerful Cold Fusion platform. Because of the investment the NSA has made to provide this tool and to build the data base, we can now interface with other web tools, like Google Earth, to serve the scrapbooking community with the best store directory and locator technology can offer. We've captured email addresses and phone and fax numbers, too, and will soon launch a manufacturer directory. And let me tell you...that ain't all we're doing to help this industry. You just wait.

Many thanks to Bluegrass Publishing for seeing the need and benefit of the NSA Retail Directory. They, like the other members of the NSA, get it!

ETP!