By Meg Cunningham
CHMA checks in with Dave Carey of Dave Carey Leatherworks.
Dave Carey Leatherworks is a one-person workshop for custom leather goods.
When COVID-19 hit, Carey’s entire operation was disrupted.
Well initially, just shut down completely. I had a handful of jobs that people had requested before all of that, so I tried to finish those up. But I pretty much shut down all of it. I wasn’t able to go to the market anymore. I wasn’t having people because it’s just a one room workshop I wasn’t having people come in. It’s a part of our residence, so that complicated things even more in terms of social distancing and things like that, because I wasn’t going to have anything that would compromise the wellness of my family. So it was kind of a brutal halt right away.
Carey shifted to online and mail orders, but business is slow.
People communicate to me through text and email and I’ll try as best I can to sort out what their idea is put it together for them and ship it and that’s been fine, but it’s not been busy enough in a context to support myself off of that people retail expenditures dropped off to people kind of
pulled back to necessities. much fewer, far fewer luxury items and aside from some repair work a lot of the things I do land in the luxury item scope.
Carey says that filling orders and receiving supplies by mail is more difficult than it’s worth.
It’s become kind of unreliable if you’re relying just on Canada Post, for example. It can be delayed in any of their main centers, just because of the volume they’re trying to deal with. So giving someone a quote or like an estimate on a lead time. It’s kind of a crapshoot, because what might happen, right?
Despite setbacks, Carey has tentative plans to move his business online.
It became difficult to make items sufficient enough to keep inventory on the website. Now it is possible and I still use it as a lead generator for custom work. Custom work has been a lot of what I’ve been up to since I opened up here in Sackville. So we just couldn’t seem to keep that Balance. I still intend to. We’re going to be moving in September to a different location here in Sackville on Squire Street. And hopefully when that settles, I’ll be able to push online sales more. I’ve been working with a fellow in Moncton and helped me develop the website and come up with plans to do so. But right now, I just can’t seem to get enough traction to make any of that happen. It almost has to be pushed for the time being.
Leather goods are particularly difficult to sell during COVID-19.
I would suffice to say that letter as a material doesn’t lend itself to sterilization, at least not in any way we might think of synthetic materials, being able to be washed at high temperatures or sprayed with alcohol. All of those things are detrimental to leather, generally. And so in those cases, no. And that’s part of the reason I haven’t returned yet to the farmers market is because there’s so much engagement. It’s a very tactile product that I make people want to touch, want to smell. But I can’t think of a way just yet to negotiate how to safely present these things for people to look at and maintain those sterilization levels required for the public.
Carey says that his community has been kind to him in his time of need.
People have to be considerate of what people’s health situations are. That makes it difficult. You don’t want to bring something home, I want to bring something home to my baby girl, you know? I don’t want to do that. It’s hard to maintain a positive outlook just despite the amount of support that you get and I have been able to get. I’ve had a lot of people try their best to be supportive of me and I am incredibly grateful for that. People have been kind in their words. People have made a special effort to shop with me. And it’s been a great support emotionally, you know, fiscally, all of it. As business owners it’s really tough right now. And I wouldn’t, I guess my point is, it’s not for lack of people wanting to help. That’s not it, people do want to help people do want to participate. But we’re all kind of stuck in a situation that is difficult.
Dave Carey Leatherworks is closed for now, but will reopen at a new location on Squire Street in September.
Updates on the business can be found on his Facebook and Instagram, both named Dave Carey Leatherworks.
