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SAGE — software for indie retail SAGE
For Fabric, Yarn, Quilt & Hobby Shops — Post-Joann Era

Joann's gone. Your customers didn't stop sewing. SAGE Craft keeps their project flow alive.

Every approved class, pattern bundle, and inventory drop can become a SAGE page. Quilters 20 miles away can find your shop via Google with useful class and item details instead of thin guide claims. Free to start; $25/mo when you upgrade.

No credit card to start. Your dashboard and storefront stay free; keep listing items anytime.

The headline feature

SAGE Craft Community — classes, supplies, and the group chat, all routed through your shop.

When Joann closed, hobbyists lost more than a supply source. They lost the classes, the project groups, the substitution knowledge, the community hub. Indie shops are the natural landing spot — but most don't have the software to host all of it. SAGE Craft does.

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Class & Workshop Scheduler
Attendance, waitlists, and instructor assignment for approved classes. Payment uses your existing checkout or a SAGE-enabled Stripe flow only after the shop turns it on.
Project Inspiration Feed
Pattern and project posts tagged with the supplies you actually stock. "Saw it, loved it, shopped it" — every pattern post routes to a local-availability check.
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Community Group Management
Quilt guilds, knitting circles, scrapbooking meetups — sign-ups, RSVPs, shared project threads. The group chat lives under your shop's roof, not a rented Facebook Group.
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Supply Substitution Tool
Discontinued fabric line? Yarn out of stock? SAGE suggests in-stock alternatives from your own inventory, based on fiber, weight, colorway, and pattern requirements.
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Pattern-to-Supplies Bundler
Customer browsing a pattern sees every supply in a one-click bundle — checked against your in-store inventory. Drives the store visit instead of pushing them to Amazon.
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Instructor Marketplace
Local hobbyists can propose classes at your shop, you approve the details, and SAGE keeps signup and commission notes organized. Money movement still waits on the enabled shop workflow.

How it works

Set up in an afternoon. First class live by the weekend.

Step 1

Pick your vertical

Fabric / quilt / yarn / beading / mixed craft. SAGE suggests a starting taxonomy for your review.

Step 2

Import classes + supplies

Connect POS (Square / Lightspeed), drop in your class calendar — or hand-enter a few and pattern-fill the rest.

Step 3

Review storefront + group hub

Class pages, pattern pages, and community groups become reviewable owner surfaces before you share or index them broadly.

Step 4

Shoppers find you

"Quilt class near me" searches surface your page. First class fills, substitution tool kicks in.

The Joann gap, in plain English.

Joann Fabric filed for bankruptcy and closed its last stores in 2025. An entire hobby category got orphaned overnight: quilters, sewers, knitters, beaders, scrapbookers, model builders — all left choosing between two big-box chains (Michaels, Hobby Lobby) that never really served them, or ordering online from Amazon and hoping it matches.

The natural landing spot is your local indie fabric / yarn / craft shop. But Joann wasn't just selling supplies — it was hosting the classes, the guild meetups, the project-inspiration wall, the "what can I substitute" knowledge. Most indie shops have the inventory to fill the supply gap, but they don't have the software to host the community. SAGE Craft is built to fill both at once.

What you used to pay — vs. SAGE Craft.

Indie craft shops piece together Etsy, Shopify, Meetup, Eventbrite, Mailchimp, a scheduler, a POS — and still don't have a community hub. SAGE Craft is one bill.

Capability Legacy stack SAGE Craft ($25/mo)
Storefront + supply catalog Shopify ($29–79/mo) or Etsy (6.5% + listings + transaction fees) Included — SAGE Storefront, no per-order cut
Class & workshop scheduling Eventbrite (3.7%+$1.79 per ticket) or Acuity ($16–49/mo) Included — attendance, waitlists, owner-approved payment path when enabled
Community / guild meetups Meetup ($16/mo) or rented Facebook Group Included — group hub lives under your SAGE/shop-owned surface
Email to regulars + class reminders Mailchimp ($30–80/mo once list grows) Included — send with your domain, one-click unsubscribe
Pattern-to-supply bundling Doesn't exist in off-the-shelf tools Included — checks against approved local inventory
Supply substitution (discontinued lines) Your shop-floor knowledge, lost when staff change Included — suggests in-stock alternatives for review
Local-inventory SEO Manual, or nothing Included — approved per-class + per-pattern pages for local discovery
Social draft packets + approved-channel scheduling Buffer / Later ($15/mo) + manual drafts Included — drafted from your classes + inventory; final posting stays owner-approved
Total $110–250+/mo + per-ticket fees $25/mo — one bill, one login

Most indie craft shops replace Shopify + Eventbrite + Meetup + Mailchimp + Buffer ($110–250/mo + ticketing fees) with SAGE Craft at $25.

The craft-world context your dashboard actually needs.

SAGE surfaces quilt shows, yarn festivals, pattern releases, designer collabs, and seasonal project trends right on your dashboard. Weekly digest, not a news app. You decide what's worth a post or a class.

Quilt shows near you Yarn & fiber festivals Pattern-designer releases National Sewing Month (Sept) Holiday-project prep windows Shop Hop coordination
Free storefront first

Create your free SAGE storefront.

No card required. Website optional. We create your SAGE storefront and dashboard, then email your magic link.

  • Free SAGE dashboard and storefront for your craft shop.
  • Free item listings for fabric, yarn, kits, tools, classes, workshops, and pattern bundles.
  • Free shareable storefront link for customers, even if you do not have a website.
  • Free signup bonus: your first 5 SAGE fixes are free. 1 free per week after that.
  • $25/mo after a 14-day trial: unlock class scheduling, supply inventory, pattern bundles, substitution help, customer imports, draft campaigns, Google Business fixes, and owner-approved sends.
No card to create the storefront. Billing only starts if you choose the $25/mo upgrade after its 14-day trial.
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Built for the post-Joann era

Classes, community, and supply substitution as first-class features — not bolt-ons.

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Your data is yours

Export classes, students, customers, orders in one click. We never sell it.

No long contracts

Month-to-month. Cancel from your dashboard — no retention mazes.

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$25/mo flat

Free to start, no credit card. Class scheduler, community, and storefront tools are ready when you upgrade.