Scrapbooking is taking the nation by storm, and Utah companies are poised to capitalize on Americans' burgeoning commitment to preserve their treasured memories.
Close to My Heart, a privately held decorative stamp and scrapbooking company based in Pleasant Grove, hopes to be among the leaders in the movement. This week, the company welcomed more than a thousand of its sales consultants to Salt Lake City for its annual conference, held at the Salt Palace Convention Center.
There, the company will unveil new products, sales strategies and growth plans, said Close to My Heart chief executive officer Spencer H. Clawson. Competition is heavy here in the state, and growing nationwide. However, Clawson said, there has never been a better time to get into scrapbooking.
"This is an industry that wasn't even on the radar screen four or five years ago," he said. "It thrives mainly because it provides an opportunity for people to preserve their memories and enrich their lives. It's not the high-tech business we've been fascinated with for years. We like to say it's high touch and low tech."
As part of the company's "rebranding and repositioning" strategy, Close to My Heart announced plans to build new headquarters in Salt Lake City, called the "Close to My Heart Art Academy," which will offer training courses and curriculum certificate programs in stamping and scrapbooking techniques. The company also unveiled two new programs, one for scrapbooking and another for cards.
"These new programs will really make a difference as we continue to rebrand the company and reposition ourself in the market," Clawson said.
Mike Hartnett, publisher of the Creative Leisure News, a trade publication based in Tremont, Ill., said the market signals bode well for the scrapbooking industry.
"I consider scrapbooking the quilting bee of the 21st century," Hartnett said. "There's a tremendous social component to it. An awful lot of people are getting together at a friend's house, bringing all their photographs and working together.
"Also, the industry was very strong before Sept. 11, but I think Sept. 11 helped give it a push. The whole thing has made a lot of people want to go back to basics, to really treasure their friends and family and express their affection for friends and family. Scrapbooking is a way to do that."
Though women make up the bulk of the customer base, Hartnett said there is a universal appeal in scrapbooking — a movement that grew out of Utah and infiltrated the nation.
"Scrapbooking didn't become a national trend right away," he said. "It really started in Utah and spread out from there. But now, it's definitely nationwide. But it's great. We've got a category that appeals to teenage girls and people like my wife. Little kids can do their own scrapbooks. It can be as simple or as complicated as you want it to be. So everybody can do it, which is not the case with some of the other categories of (craft) products."
The Close to My Heart convention runs through Saturday.
E-MAIL: jnii@desnews.com