Craft Loft is an experiential retail concept offering arts and crafts experiences through live hosted workshops, walk-in DIY projects, private events and premium supplies.
Founder Jen Gouldstone (ex-corporate executive, MIT and Harvard trained) started the journey by designing and hosting virtual team building events for corporate clients during the pandemic. In 2022, encouraged by many comments we received from attendees expressing interest in visiting a physical location with family and friends, we decided to create a brick-and-mortar store to bring the idea to life.
Craft Loft is a modern arts and crafts franchise designed for entrepreneurs who want to combine creativity, community, and experiential retail into one scalable business model. The shift away from transactional retail is real. And Craft Loft is built for exactly that moment. Hands-on workshops, social experiences, and a retail component that keeps customers coming back.
Unlike single-concept studios, Craft Loft operates as a multi-craft studio franchise, offering a wide variety of workshops and DIY experiences that appeal to customers of all skill levels. From tufting and resin art to candle making, painting, sewing, floral design, mosaics, and seasonal crafts, Craft Loft creates an environment where customers return again and again to try something new.
This approach means franchise owners can build a highly engaging business with recurring customer traffic and multiple sources of revenue.
Craft Loft is a multi-craft studio franchise that brings people together through hands-on creativity. It offers a wide variety of rotating, trend-based projects — from moss art to glass painting — giving franchisees multiple revenue streams through walk-ins, workshops and events.
Craft Loft, a hands-on crafting franchise, recently opened its second location in Burlington, Mass., bringing its creative studio concept to a suburban market after launching in urban Cambridge.
Founder Jen Gouldstone (ex-corporate executive, MIT and Harvard trained) started the journey by designing and hosting virtual team building events for corporate clients during the pandemic. In 2022, encouraged by many comments we received from attendees expressing interest in visiting a physical location with family and friends, we decided to create a brick-and-mortar store to bring the idea to life.
For Jen Gouldstone, the journey to building Craft Loft, a multi-craft creative studio, started halfway around the world, ran through MIT and Harvard Business School, included stops at tech companies like Google and TripAdvisor, and eventually landed in a hands-on creative business helping people reconnect with making things.
Founder Jen Gouldstone (ex-corporate executive, MIT and Harvard trained) started the journey by designing and hosting virtual team building events for corporate clients during the pandemic. In 2022, encouraged by many comments we received from attendees expressing interest in visiting a physical location with family and friends, we decided to create a brick-and-mortar store to bring the idea to life.
An arts and crafts franchise gives you a proven business model built around one thing: helping people make something with their hands.
At its best, it’s a place where adults come to learn a new skill, spend time with people they care about, and leave with something they’re proud of. It’s also a business with multiple revenue streams — workshops, walk-in experiences, retail, and private events — that keeps customers coming back because there’s always something new to try.
That’s exactly what Craft Loft is. Not a single-craft studio. Not a paint-and-sip. A multi-craft destination where the variety is the point — and where repeat visits are built into the model.
Craft Loft franchise opportunities are built around experience-driven retail. Customers are not simply purchasing supplies. They are participating in memorable activities that encourage creativity, relaxation, and social connection.
Because Craft Loft continuously updates workshop offerings and creative experiences, franchise owners can maintain customer excitement and encourage repeat visits throughout the year.
As a creative business franchise, Craft Loft also benefits from the growing popularity of experiential entertainment and DIY culture. Consumers increasingly value businesses that offer interactive, shareable experiences rather than transactional retail alone.
Craft Loft franchise opportunities are ideal for entrepreneurs who enjoy creating welcoming experiences and building community connections. Owners do not need to be professional artists or experienced crafters to succeed.
Many successful franchise operators come from backgrounds in business management, hospitality, retail, education, marketing, customer service, or event planning.
The most successful owners are typically passionate about:
Craft Loft provides operational systems, training, workshop guidance, marketing support, and ongoing business resources to help franchisees confidently launch and grow their location.
People are becoming more selective about where they spend their discretionary income. While traditional retail often competes on products and price, experience-based businesses offer something harder to replicate: meaningful time spent with friends, family, and community.
Consumers are increasingly looking for activities that help them step away from screens, learn something new, and create lasting memories. Crafting naturally aligns with those priorities by combining creativity, social interaction, and hands-on participation in a way that appeals to a wide range of age groups.
For franchise owners, that shift creates a compelling opportunity. Rather than relying on one-time purchases, Craft Loft is designed around repeat engagement. With more than 100 craft experiences available throughout the year, customers have a reason to return regularly, whether they are trying a new project, attending a workshop, celebrating a special occasion, or gathering with friends.
As demand for interactive experiences continues to grow, Craft Loft’s multi-craft studio model positions franchisees to serve customers who are seeking more than products. They are looking for experiences worth sharing, and returning to.
Craft Loft is looking for owners who want to do more than open another business.
You love bringing others together. You get energized creating memorable experiences and building connections within your community. You’re the kind of owner who gets excited when a workshop fills up, a birthday party ends with smiling faces, or customers return because they had such a great time the first time around.
When you own a Craft Loft, you’re creating a place where people can step away from their routines, try something new, celebrate milestones, and spend meaningful time together. You become part of the moments they remember.
Whether you’re leaving the corporate world, looking for your next business venture, or searching for a concept that aligns with your passion for creativity and community, Craft Loft provides the structure, support, and proven model to help you build something rewarding.
If you want to own a business that brings people together, encourages creativity, and becomes a valued part of your community, we’d love to talk with you.
Contact us to learn more about becoming a Craft Loft franchise owner.
This is not a franchise offering. A franchise offering can be made by us only in a state if we are first registered, excluded, exempted or otherwise qualified to offer franchises in that state, and only if we provide you with an appropriate franchise disclosure document. Follow-up or individualized responses to you that involve either effecting or attempting to affect the sale of a franchise will be made only if we are first in compliance with state registration requirements or are covered by an applicable state exclusion or exemption.
