Artisans Turn to Crafters’ Malls to Sell Wares : Retail: Half a dozen of the stores, which are prime outlets for handmade goods, have cropped up in Ventura County during the past year.

Jan Owsley of Ventura is glad to have a place to market her handmade ceramic moons and cow-shaped gravy boats without having to open up her own store. Likewise, Camarillo’s Dawn Wetzell is pleased to sell her wood-crafted goods without the intensive, long hours required for crafts fairs.

Both Owsley and Wetzell rent booths at My Own Space, a crafters’ mall on Thompson Avenue in Ventura. The 5-month-old shop is one of about half a dozen crafters’ malls that have sprung up in Ventura County over the past year.

A crafters’ mall is a privately owned store, in which independent makers of jewelry, glass figurines, cloth dolls and other handmade items rent space to display their wares. The store owner staffs the establishment, serves the customers and takes care of most business matters. As compensation, in addition to the monthly rent, the mall owners generally receive a sales commission of 5% to 10%.

“With crafters’ malls, crafters can make their creations, leave them at the store, and still hold a job and take care of the children,” said Wetzell. “And its a good way to test your market.”

The increased popularity of crafters’ malls in Ventura County mirrors a nationwide trend, said Julie Fox, executive director of the Assn. of Crafts and Creative Industries in Ohio. Fox said the 600-plus crafters’ malls in the United States amount to a $360-million industry. Experts, she said, estimate the malls will generate more than $1 billion in sales in four years.

The most recent addition to the local mall family is the 2-week-old Crafters Showplace, located near auto row on Ventura Boulevard in Oxnard.

“Crafters like the malls because they are able to sell their products seven days a week and not have to sit with them all day like they do at fairs,” said Rita Dayton, co-owner of the Showplace. “A lot of them are small-scale crafters who have a few things to sell, but don’t have a whole stock.”

Donna Small, owner of the Crafters Showcase in Ventura, said local artisans became more interested in malls as unemployment increased.

“There aren’t as many jobs, so I think women are spending more time knitting, sewing and crafting,” she said. At the same time, she said, child care costs have risen, so more female crafters are caring for their children, leaving them little time to market their own merchandise. About 86% of crafters in California are women, according to Marsha Reed, editor of Craftmaster News, a directory of craft malls and shows throughout the state.

Though the malls are booming nationally, in Los Angeles and Orange counties they are struggling, Reed said. She said past bankruptcy and closures of some of the larger malls in those counties have some crafters shying away.