Hi Mike,
  >a) Make sure you buy as local as possible! It wil
  >save you money and you will also be supporting the local hemp maker in 
our
  >area.
I've been paying a local guy a better consignment than I could just pay
outright for necklaces and bracelets for that very reason.  Of course, I
haven't learned how to braid & crochet yet .  I'm making some
pretty good beads, though, if I do say so myself....
 b) Be prepared to place your orders well in advance of the time you
  >expect to have this merchandise on your store shelves! alot of companies
  >cannot keep up with the sudden demand for such articles
Yeah, I've sure noticed THAT already....I'm kind of a freak for building
databases of suppliers' lines and picking stuff from them and faxing in
orders and not fooling around with sales reps, and it looks to me like I
need to actually talk to these guys and ask them simple stuff like "do
you actually have any of those"?  Most of our present suppliers ship
overnight or two-day, and I'm still waiting three weeks later for my
first order from AHM because they're out of thin cord (that *I* want).
c) try and educate your customers about hemp especially the younger crowd do
  >let them just buy hemp cuz its made from Cannabis but try and get the 
messag
  >across that its also environmentally friendly and very durable material.
The Iowa Farm Bureau has endorsed Industrial Hemp as a crop for the
second year in a row.  I was thinking about tying that in somewhere (my
store is in Iowa).  We also have an Iowa NORML brochure on our sales
counter which is pretty good.  I've also accumulated a few 
computer files which we offer from a bbs that we run at night...
  >Whatch out for "Fake" Hemp. lots of chinese fabrics are considered hemp 
ut
  >are not in fact made from the Cannabis plant!
YIKES! How on Earth do you tell the difference?
  >Also if you need more information you can call (905) 988-9778!
Thanks, just might, don't want to bore all the folks here with shop
talk....I'll finish up the year, fight the city council, flounder for a
couple of weeks, and let you know....
Steve
 * SLMR 2.1a * Everyone is weird. Some of us are proud of it.
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