Tomoyo Shibuya's coat is more than six years old, but she has no plans to ditch it. Instead of buying a new coat, she went to a handicraft shop, bought new navy-blue buttons, the same color as the coat, to replace the old silver buttons.
"I didn't want to throw away my coat . . . and I wanted to add my own flavor," said Shibuya, a company employee in Tokyo, adding that she also embroidered her initial on a T-shirt and sweater, as she had seen in a magazine.
Due to the ongoing recession, handicraft shops, once a place for the elderly or housewives, are increasingly attracting young customers like Shibuya who opt for maintaining their clothes by changing buttons or attaching studs instead of buying new ones.
Yoshio Funato, general manager of Yuzawaya Shoji Co., a major handicraft retailer based in Tokyo, said people's sense of value have been changing, particularly since the Lehman shock.
"Before, it was trendy to buy good quality clothes or have lunch in upscale Azabu or drive a Mercedes-Benz. But now handmade things are cool," said Funato, adding that people are more conscious about their spending.
Thanks to the trend, he said business is particularly good this year. The company's monthly sales have grown 20 percent to 30 percent compared with last year.
Targeting young consumers, Yuzawaya opened shops in major shopping districts last year, including Tokyo's Ginza, Shinjuku and Shibuya, and launched a campaign displaying Uniqlo clothes decorated with rhinestones or iron-on emblems.
Sold like stickers, popular iron-on rhinestones include such designs as hearts, butterflies, ribbons and anchors. Sales last year were three times higher than in 2008, Funato said.
For the campaign, Yuzawaya invited designers and sewing teachers to create the display, and named this idea "puchi deko" (petit decoration).
Initially, Funato said, he didn't expect this to be a boom.
"(Puchi deko) expanded the range of our customers. Our core customers are housewives between 30 and 60, but now we also have people in their 20s," he said. "Fashion-conscious boys are also visiting our Shibuya store."
Until last year, Yuzawaya was only running spacious stores in suburbs from 3,300 sq. meters to 10,000 sq. meters. But the new approach to open smaller stores in central Tokyo — 760 sq. meters in Ginza — has proven to be successful so far.
"Young people who don't usually do handicrafts stop by our shop on the way home from work," the store manager said.
Funato said their shops are becoming popular partly because items are reasonably priced. Small items, such as emblems, go for around ¥500 to ¥800.
"Some products are made in China, where we have our own factories. We can lower prices because production costs are low," he said.
He also said Yuzawaya can endure competition with other handicraft shops because the company has a large number of products.
"We have about 700,000 items. There is a warehouse of about 19,800 sq. meters in Kawasaki, so we can stock a lot of products there."
Okadaya Co. Ltd., established in 1927 and one of Japan's oldest handicraft companies, has also been expanding in recent years. Since 2003, Okadaya opened six stores in residential areas in Tokyo and Kanagawa Prefecture to broaden its customer base, particularly with young families.
The company also redid the shop interiors, making them look like lifestyle shops selling home products or accessories.
Colorful bead buttons, marine-style emblems or new knitting materials to make straw baskets are noticeable in such stores.
"We're hoping customers who have never been to a handicraft shop can step in," said Okadaya spokeswoman Yuki Tozawa.
Masato Hirukawa, manager of the main shop in Shinjuku, said the company had to apply a new strategy to survive.
"The number of elderly into handicrafts is decreasing. That's inevitable. So we have to adjust our business to the needs of younger people," he said.
Instead of joining the price war with rival Yuzawaya, Okadaya is trying to add value by giving consultations to customers, Hirukawa said. "If we start competing in prices, we would be like Yoshinoya (the beef bowl chain)."
Customers looking for advice, for example, are young mothers who need to make bags or sheets requested by their children's nursery, kindergarten or elementary school but do not know how, according to Tozawa.
All of the employees at its stores can answer such questions, she said.
While the new stores are attracting young mothers, old customers, including stylists looking for fabrics to make costumes for celebrities, keep coming in to the head store in Shinjuku, where there are about 500,000 items, according to Okadaya.
"The store gets busy before 'Kohaku' (the singing competition held on New Year's Eve). Annually, those professionals spend several million yen at our store," Hirukawa said.
"The Shinjuku store is a little different (from other shops). 'Visual-kei' (musicians with heavy makeup and elaborate hairstyles) and 'cosplay' people are some of our customers," the manager said, adding the store has everything for them, from fabrics to colorful wigs to fake lashes.
"There were cosplay people coming to our store (even in the 1990s), but they were trying to hide it. Now they're open about it," he said, adding he hopes more foreigners interested in cosplay will visit the shop.
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