Colemans Craft Warehouse, Rushden, Northants
Posted on Nov 26, 2007 under Shop Review | No Comment
Colemans have a number of outlets, based mainly in the Northhampton area. The Colemans that I visited is basically a wholesaler, but the warehouse is open to the public once a month, on the last Saturday. It is best to visit the web site before visiting in person.
The warehouse is situated in an industrial estate to the north of Rushden.
The warehouse itself is a large open space, filled with all kinds of crafting products, from Sakura gel pens to Cricut cutting dies. A wide range of papers, card and decoupage papers are available. Many dies for the various cutting machines, both manual and electrical, are always in stock. Lots of rubber stamps, magazines, peel-offs and rub-ons are also available.
On the open days, there are always guest crafters promoting their wares. The last time I visited, Joanna Sheen was there. As she is one of my favourite crafters, I was very pleased, as you can imagine! She was demonstrating some of her new CDs, and I purchased two more to add to my growing collection.
Facilities are available for the non-crafters (hubbies and kids?): there is a toilet, as well as a small room with a TV and a selection of toys, so there can be no complaints while the serious shopping is done. Colemans also provide free squash, tea and coffee. There are usually plenty of staff on hand to help with customer enquiries, and I found the staff very friendly and helpful.
The open days can get very busy and crowded, and one of the downsides to this is that queues can build up at the three tills available. So much so that the queuing time can be as long as 30 minutes at times!
Despite having a large car park, these days are very popular, and parking can be very crowded, so I’d suggest getting there early if possible. I really enjoy these open days, even though it’s a good hour and half drive for us to get there, and I’m looking forward to the next one!