The Escape Fine Crafts and Gifts

Len and Judy Lester, co-owners
Georgetown, Texas
How do this year’s sales compare to recent years’? Are you seeing a consistent decline or a slow improvement?

Our sales are down 16% from 2008. The first half of 2009, we were running a 20% decline, while August to October has only averaged 10% down. This tells us that things are leveling off and improving.

Jason Green was in his fifth year of studying towards an economics doctoral degree at the University of Colorado at Boulder when he hit a wall. “I realized I needed to be making things with my hands,” he explains. Although he’d never worked with wood, he was naturally attracted to it, and found a local furniture maker who offered classes in 2003. That led to an intensive 12-week course at the Center for Furniture Craftsmanship in Rockport, Maine. At that point, he says, “I knew I could do this for the rest of my life.”

A Listing of Wholesale Trade Shows