The "remote" Elgin location might be off-putting to some, but if you need leather, hardware, tools, or craft items that you want to try for your scrap-booking, card-making, handy-crafter, motorcycle-aficionado, and leather-fantasy self, and this might be the place to go. In Elgin, but check the map it is really right off the highway. Its in an industrial area and the 'front door' is actually in the back of the building, and even with a GPS device, had to double back to the yellowish brick building the Leather Factory shares with a few other places. Please note their hours on Saturday, they close by 2pm! The selection of items is massive and impressive. The owner/manager couldn't be nicer. I am pretty sure he tried to upsell me on a couple of extra tools, but when I gave him a chance to upsell me on pricier leather-conditioning products, he told me to stick with what I know (Lexol - which I love). I am a little bit of a crafter, so his advice made sense to me. I was actually hoping to get away with using the in-shop tools right then and there, but I am glad I picked up my own because I was able to execute my project in my own time, learning how to use them in my own way. Now that I have made my first small project in leather, I am really looking forward to going to back to Tandy and purchasing more tools and raw materials this weekend! There was a lot of corny keychain, coin pouch, and beaded fringe projects -- If you have kids and need rainy-day projects, they have a multitude of these kits -- and beyond the kits, they really do have a giant selection of tools and hardware / findings. Here's an example: scrap booker? love eyelets? Forget the 6- or 12-pack of eyelets at the fancy paper store. I would come here for the better prices on giant bags of different colors of metal eyelets. Tandy Leather has got some pretty cool stuff here, for kids and adults to try creating something with their hands. With Tandy's help I would completely re-cover a couple of chairs in leather, if only the partner would let me! read more