Edge cases, single-medium specialty (only oils, only yarn) vs full-range catalog like Blick?

The two ends of the art + craft retail spectrum need different architectures.

Single-medium specialty, only oils, only watercolor, only yarn, only quilting fabric. SKU count 500-3,000, AOV $40, $120, customer is the dedicated hobbyist or working artist. Examples: Cheap Joe’s Art Stuff (watercolor focus), Jerry’s Artarama (broader but oils-strong), WEBS (yarn), Missouri Star Quilt Co (quilting).

• Magento fit: overkill below $300k GMV. Shopify or WooCommerce is fine until 2,000 SKUs. Migrate to Magento when SKU growth, hazmat catalog %, or school B2B share crosses thresholds.
• Key features: deep PDP content (tutorials, brand stories, “artists who use this paint”), strong subscription-box potential (cohort-curated monthly), tight brand-portal relationships with 2-5 brands.

Full-range catalog, paints + brushes + paper + canvas + drawing + sculpture + crafts + yarn + fabric. SKU count 20,000-100,000, AOV $30, $80, customer is everyone from hobbyist to school to working studio. Examples: Blick Art Materials, Dick Blick, Michaels, Hobby Lobby, Joann Fabric.

• Magento fit: the right answer above $1M GMV. Adobe Commerce above $10M GMV (B2B Companies module + content staging pays back).
• Key features: PIM middleware (Akeneo / Pimcore) mandatory, hazmat-attribute module with state-by-state shipping rules, school + university B2B portal with state tax-exempt cert validation, 10+ brand authorized-dealer portals each with their own MAP enforcement, multi-warehouse with split-ship, OMS integration (NetSuite, Acumatica) for accounting.

If you’re somewhere in between, 5,000-15,000 SKUs, 2-3 brand portals, some school B2B, the build covers it. Above that, custom enterprise. Below that, Shopify is probably fine.