I recently had the opportunity to go shopping at SCRAPBOOK ISLAND in Los Gatos, CA which is about 1 hour south of San Francisco. In October 2014, the store relocated here from their smaller storefront about 15 minutes away in San Jose.
The relocation must be a good sign, right? According to their blog, the new store has more classroom space. It was very generous, with the entire back of the store full of large tables with plenty of work room. Sorry, I didn’t get any photos of it because there were 2 scrappers working back there and I didn’t have permission to take their photo.
Here are some pictures I took with my new iPhone 6+. I hope they’re a bit better quality than the ones I’ve been posting for the last 3 years with my little ol’ iPhone 4! Although there’s only so much you can do with natural light indoors when you’re trying to be Surreptitious Scrapper and not use a flash ;)
Overall, I thought it was a great store. As I wandered around for about 20 minutes, near the end a salesperson stopped by to ask if I needed help finding anything. She smiled and looked me right in the eye, and didn’t kind of take off before I even answered (like some salespeople do). She seemed to genuinely care that I was finding what I needed, so that was nice.
It did get a little confusing at check-out because there were 2 checkers at 1 counter, and 1 took a person from the opposite line so I wasn’t really sure when it was my turn. The prices were pretty much retail as far as I could tell. The store was mostly organized by theme which, being a “sort by brand name” scrapper, isn’t my favorite. However, if I owned a store, I’d probably organize the same way as that’s how most scrappers probably shop.
There was a nice array of newer merchandise and I loved the way they showcased 2 upcoming holidays – Valentine’s Day and St. Patrick’s Day – in such pretty displays right by the front door. I’ll bet that’s wonderful for their “regulars” so they don’t have to go scoping out the entire store for new/current stuff. The overall look of the store was kind of shabby chic and you can tell they definitely took the time to decorate and give it a cohesive look.
As I left the store with friends and waited out front to meet up with some other friends, the owner (or who I assume was the owner) came out to chat with us. She was extremely friendly and shared a lot of details about their upcoming events and guests. Layle Koncar from Simple Stories is going to be there on February 21/22, 2015. I was so excited because I love me some Layle and she’s going to do a class on my favorite new line from the last CHA called “I Am”!
But when I checked my dayplanner, I realized I have can’t-break-em plans that weekend. SMH. Oh well, maybe she’ll come back another time (hint, hint, Layle!).
So, back to the store owner . . . she seemed really interested in our suggestions for who we’d like to see at her store – by overwhelming majority, it was Ali Edwards and I think she was going to reach out to her.
I really enjoyed Scrapbook Island LSS. I hope you get a chance to visit them sometime. I just heard that the Hobby Lobby in nearby Morgan Hill is closed {which I usually try to stop at when I’m in the area but I was driving through on Sunday when they’re closed}. While I hope they’re just relocating, if they did indeed close, I hope that means more business for Scrapbook Island. We need to keep our few great LSS’s in business!! Mama needs an in-person scrapbook supply fix once in a while other than Michaels, ya’ feel me?
Oh, did I forget to show you my spoils??!!?? What the hay?? Here you go:
I couldn’t believe I got out of there for around $30. It was a miracle; they had so many great things but I tried to be a good girl :)
Have a great week!
ETA 02-21-15: A sweet friend of this blog alerted the owner of Scrapbook Island to my blog post. Her name (the owner/lady we spoke to) is Laurie Jimenez and she was very happy about the review. Great job, Laurie!
While on Scrapbook Island’s Facebook page, I saw this photo of their classroom from a class they held last night:
Pretty cool, huh?
ETA 03-28-15: Make sure and check out Jessie’s AWESOME class review down in Comments! It’s full of great info about the Simple Stories “I Am” and “Say Cheese II” classes she took with LAYLE KONCAR. Thanks Jessie – you rock!
8 Comments
Thanks for the review. I’m taking the simple stories classes on Sat and this blog post was well timed, it was great to get a peek at what the store looks like. I’m traveling from the Inland Empire of So Cal to attend this event and I’m super excited to visit a new scrappy store.
Jessie
PS….love your blog
Hi Jessie! Oh, I’m so jealous that you get to attend the Simple Stories event! Are you doing all 3 classes? It’s going to be so great. That’s a long drive but it’ll be worth it. After I made this blog post, I saw on Layle’s blog that she’s going to teach at 2 other stores in California. I might be able to make the one in May, whoo hoo!
Have a blast. I’d love a class review when you get back if you have time. Thank you so much for the kind words on my blog and for taking the time to comment. Appreciate it so!
Hi Erika,
I’m doing the crop on Friday evening, and the 2 classes on Sat. We have to head for home on Sunday so I’ll miss out on that class. Boo
I’ll be happy to give you my review on the classes. It’ll be sometime after Monday, OK.
Sure, whenever you can. Thanks Jessie!
Hi Erika,
The two classes I took were I AM and Say Cheese II, both classes were well worth the cost. We started the weekend with the Friday night crop, and the 4 of us had fun and got lots of pages done. We stayed at the store until 11:30 and did some shopping at the same time, so it was all good.
The I AM class was a 6×8 SNAP album. It had pocket pages, dividers, and 6×8 full page sheets of paper. Lots of product came with the kit, with lots of stuff left over so one could finish embellishing the albums once you added your pictures. The instructions were very clear and it was easy for me to keep up and I’m a slow scrapper.
The Say Cheese II class was in the afternoon and it was 12×12 format with pocket pages and full page layouts. This class also had lots of embellishments. If you take this class bring something to hold your small goodies (I used a 12×12 lid of a box) You will be working with lots of little embellies, (chipboard frames, project life style cards, tags, enamel dots,photo overlays,stickers, bits and pieces) I’m telling you this kit had lots of very cute stuff and you need to keep it seperate and in some kind of order so you can find what you need when putting your pages together. I will admit I fell behind on this class, mostly because my hands were hurting (severe tendonitis in my hands) but I was able to put the proper product in the correct pocket page. With the instructions (which are photo heavy) I will be able to finish with project with ease.
The ladies at Scrapbook Island were all so very welcoming and made our visit feel very special.
Layle Koncar is a very relaxed teacher, she kept us on task without going to fast, and answered questions if you got behind.
I loved both projects and I am glad we took this weekend getaway. Of course I love all the Simple Stories lines and I’m now mostly a pocket page scrapper (It’s easier with my hand problems).
I do recommened these classes, you’ll have fun and the projects are lovely. Hope that answers your questions, if not just ask and I’ll be happy to give you more info if I can.
Hope I didn’t ramble. LOL
Jessie
Jessie, I’m sorry I’m so late to reply! I saw your wonderful review when you posted it and forgot to comment. I’m going to include a note in the blog post to make sure people read down here in Comments.
Both classes sound amazing. I’m glad pocket page scrapping has allowed you to scrapbook with less pain. I really appreciate your review and you weren’t rambling at all, just sharing great info that I know will be helpful to others. Thank you!
Sorry I’m posting so late, but that was a great review, Jessie! Hopefully I’ll find some classes I can take in my neck of the woods (Columbus, OH) sometime soon.
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