Groundspeak Portal

Being a painter/artist i would like to see a category for Paint Stores - Independent and Franchises "Sherwin Williams"Not only would it be a matter of convienience,as far as finding a local paint store.Alot of Older Independent Paint Stores have a certain Mystique about them.

Suggestions???

Thoughts???

Yes???

NO??

 

I think it'll pass, but just FYI, you're going to see a lot of no's to this. Mostly because it's another one of THOSE cats. :)

I would make the suggestion that a variable or something should be done to show whether the store is meant more for painting a home/building type of thing or for artistic purposes, like canvas painting.

I would caution against adding in Wal*Marts, but I'll leave it up to you for Home Depot/Lowe's. Same for places like Michael's and Hobby Lobby.

If you are roller painter/paperhanger, (Bear/S.W. etc)  I'll have to agree with 'rmikelyons' as you won't have a snowballs chance of getting it passed.
If on the other hand you are willing to try to submit 'Artists Supply Stores' such as Curry's Art Supplies I think a well defined Category will be viewed favorably by Peer Review.
(haven't checked if it would fall under 'Hobby Stores' tho.)

EDIT: Found no Hobby Stores I better get busy

I would like to see an arts supply store cat.  There are some perfect examples that I know of.  I would also like to see a hobby store category.  If you need an officer for hobby stores, let me know.  Most of the independent paint stores (interior/exterior) seem to be gone in the places I travel.  They've been swallowed by the big boxes.

Ok.Then how about an independent paint/art supply store cat.???

Personally I don't see the value in a niche store like this. While chain restaurants are not exactly exciting to visit they do serve a need frequently.

When it comes to any new categories, I need to see a "value-add" for people to want to visit. Where is that with this? Sell me on the enjoyment/usefulness on this one.

BQ

"Art stores" I could get behind... but general paint stores, not as much.

BQ

O.K. So how about an Art supply store category???Anyone else interested???

[Chiming in since this concept always comes up]

I always look at new categories from the "road trip" perspective.  If its something that I would find interesting or useful while on a road trip (from a veteran memorial to Starbucks), then it's likely a good category.  Big box stores and chains that can easily be found in a phone book need not apply. I usually don't need a PetSmart, Applebees or HomeDepot while on the road (if I do, I know how to find it) and there isn't usually something special about it - whether unique inventory, incredible staff, history of the building/business.  I will usually lean toward approving a category if it focuses on the "independent" store, since those are the unique places that don't always show up first on search engines or have the big ads in the phone books.

That being said, I would probably approve "Independent Art Supply Stores" if it focused on the mom & pop aspect. Regional chain or small franchises might be OK, but I would NOT want to include Michaels, Jo-Ann's, Aaron Brothers, WalMart, etc.

I personally don't mind the commercial cats, regardless of the type of business. But that's just me.

I can definitely get behind this category. However, if it is going to include chains like Michael's or Hobby Lobby, I do NOT want to see WalMart added in. Nothing against WalMart, I just don't like the idea of adding them into categories which they really shouldn't be a part of.

JIMBOBWE:

O.K. So how about an Art supply store category???Anyone else interested???

Sure, I think this has merit in the commercial group. 
I would NOT include craft supply stores (might be a good category, though) and we have quilting stores.  Nor would I include house or commercial paint stores or hardware stores.  Actually, I'm not aware of any national chains in this category.  There might be some regional ones, and I think that might be okay.  I'd also not include book stores or other type of stores that might have art supply departments.  Most university book stores do, for instance.  If it stays focused on independent, exclusively art supply stores, then I think it is a viable idea.  They can be very interesting places.

One upon I time, I worked for an inventory company and we did Utrecht's in Boston near Symphony Hall.  It was fun:  http://www.utrechtart.com/stores/dsp_viewstore.cfm?storeID=86

Okay, i'll agree with straight up independent art supply stores.I'll change the group definition to reflect this change.I too wouldn't want any craft or hobby store.

I found the group and joined! I like how this has evolved and I look forward to what you come up with.

I got the ball rollin on this cat!!!

Hadn't picked up this thread until now...I think the independant (less than 5 stores) is a great idea for art supplies.  I think that by doing this Silverquill might be able to mark a few in Korea as I am sure that eh doesn't have a Michael's in his backlog.

SQ might be a good test...if you can mark it in Cheongcheon, Korea it is likely a good category.

 

KE

wildwoodke:

Hadn't picked up this thread until now...I think the independant (less than 5 stores) is a great idea for art supplies.  I think that by doing this Silverquill might be able to mark a few in Korea as I am sure that eh doesn't have a Michael's in his backlog.

SQ might be a good test...if you can mark it in Cheongcheon, Korea it is likely a good category.

 

KE

My check on this for waymarkers out there is that our categories, as much as possible should be inclusive, waymarking chain stores that are local or regional in context doesn't meet the global criteria.  With the limited number of categories that I'm an officer in, I've seen some interesting waymarks that have come from Silverquill from Pennsylvania to California to Hawaii and now Korea, as well as from waymarkers outside North America, the opportunity to see and review waymarks from outside the bounds of this continent makes a couple of the categories that I review definitely worth the time.

The other element to consider is whether or not you would want to visit a location or that there is an interesting element to it that might make you want to see what another waymarker saw to share the experience.

Others are worthy of challenges...I know that I've spent an hour or two trying to identify how many centenarians have lived, died and been buried in Calgary.  So the research element of this one has been interesting to learn a little about the people that have lived here.

Having lived in Chile, and hoping to live there again, I wonder how many categories one could waymark there?  Without a TGI Fridays in Calgary I might have to head back for a visit to grab the TGI Fridays in Santiago.

KE

wildwoodke:

SQ might be a good test...if you can mark it in Cheongcheon, Korea it is likely a good category.

KE

ROTFL!  That's a hoot!  First, we're a ten-minute drive from the main village.  If I work real hard, I might find a dozen categories that can be waymarked there!  We really are out in the country. . . .

Anyway, I understand what you're saying.  I've always tried to be cognizant of the global, international nature of waymakring.  (BruceS's output of waymarks by country illustrates this fact so well).  But, actually living on another continent brings new light to that perspective.  Makes the whole grid thing almost irrelevant, for one thing.  But, I see other ways in which Waymarking could better implement its international character.

Anyway, while I strongly support making categories as global as possible, I think there is a definite place for country-specific, or even regional categories.  I recognize that there is real inconsistency with the way things have developed, but that is inevitable since there is intentionally no central planning in favor of user created categories. 

A couple of illustrations might make the point:

Post Offices:  Country-specific seems to make sense, partly because of the sheer numbers, but also because they are different enough.

Benchmarks:  Different enough from one country to another to warrant separate categories.

National Parks:  Not sure why there should be one cat for the U.S. and one category for all other countries combined???

Concert Halls:  Truly international, with no clear reason to make them country-specific

Route 66, etc:  Only exists in one country, but significant enough in itself to warrant a category.  There are other similar categories.

Commercial Categories:  The are some, like McDonalds's, 7-11, etc that are truly international.  Others are country-specific.  There are a few that are regional, but we've collectively tried to limit those.  Let's see, we could have categories for Mr. Pizza, Lotte Mart, Holly's Coffee  -  all Korean commercial chains.  Other countries probably have similar possible categories.

So, each category needs to be taken on its own merits.  But, in general, I do think we should strive to establish categories that can have waymarks from Korea, Australia, South Africa, Norway, Brazil, etc.
If there are no McDonalds in Antartica, though - tough luck!