SIGH (entirely on topic)

I know, I got the sale card today. That's really a shame. I liked her shop. Do you know why she's closing? Seems that she hasn't been open that long....

Elizabeth

I feel your pain. My closest LNS is in the process of closing now and I'm left with only Michaels. As you know, that's not at all the same

I'm just gathering a list of on line shops and except for DMC floss that I can get at Wal Mart and Joannes, and whatever kits Michaels carries, I have no other choices.

Lucille

>

Our LNS used to be very good, but has changed hands and is now a more general craft shop. Fascinating to look around, but the stitchy stuff gets pricier by the minute and the ranges more incomplete. It`s, sadly, far better and cheaper to shop on-line now. I rarely go in there any more except when I run out of one particular colour and I really need it urgently.

Pat

Which one is that??? I had a blast at the Contoocook shop; unfortunately it was the day before champagne and munchies, but I still got her sale price!

Gillian

Cheryl Isaak wrote:

Is that the one in Stuart?? Gill

Gill Murray ,in rec.crafts.textiles.needleworkwrote: and entertained us with

You lot drinking ??? Just back from Wallington Gillian - I dunno - kids will even try and push you off the sidewalk when you are pushing a person in a wheelchair!

Yes it is, Stuart Stitchery. Jackie, the proprietor, will still do some framing from her home, but the shop will be closed soon. She's selling off her merchandise now but so far the prices still aren't low enough to make me want to stock up on too much. I would like to get there and see what she's got left in specialty floss.

Lucille

in Pensacola

About a year. I'm going up tomorrow and if nothing else, give her a hug. And stock up on Crescent Colors.

Cheryl

Bites!

I have a good yarn shop/quilt shop, not as great stitchery shop about

20-30 mins away, but all the good ones are close to an hour or more.

So I feel your pain!

Caryn p.s. I've only gone stashing once in the past year!

That doesn't sound bad to me. The closest good one I know of is about 2-1/2 hours away. So sad

Lucille

We had one of our LNS close last December. Really a sad day. I am in Salt Lake City, Utah and we are very lucky to have several other shops near by. One I visit usually twice a week does mail orders and has a website you can visit. They do not carry every thread but, they do carry lots of choices. Try

if you want to see what they have. You can sign up for the weekly update and newsletter. They were just named as one of the most beautiful stitching stores by Inspiration Magazine. I know there have been quite a few LNS closing in the past two years. Some have just not been able to make ends meet with the internet taking business away. Some have lost business as stitchers move to knitting and other projects. Those who have moved to something else will be sadly surprised when they come back to embroidery and find that their LNS is not there. Without our support the LNS cannot survive. It is a sad day when we see another LNS close.

Alice

My LNS also does framing, and frankly, I think that's where she makes most of her money. Her framing work is beautiful.

She also has a wonderful selection of stitchery items in the shop too, and I'm just grateful she's still there, even if she is across the river and 25 minutes away from me.

When I win the lottery, I'm going to open a shop on this side of the river....

The name of her shop is Knots n Needles, and is in Bossier City, Louisiana.

I wouldn't be surprised. When I was working in my friends LNS - it became very clear that being a great framer paid for the luxury of having an LNS. Similarly, I loved learning and doing framing there - the owner is a perfectionist, and a lot of people that may take pieces elsewhere for a bargain - the pieces going to a show, or for a special gift - are definitely coming into this shop for framing.

That's nice. My pal has a good selection of XS charts, and lots of nice little kits, and some NP. She's got all the wool, perle and floss - but has stayed with carrying less than totally full lines in some of the specialty stuff - but does have a lot of RG - for silks, the decorative stuff. We tried some other lines, but it's hard. One of the other LNS - about 30 min from me now - has an amazing amount of threads - and NP canvases - but not so much in the XS charts. She makes it on the amazing quantity of threads - full lines of Caron, Needle Necessities, Weeks, Gentle Arts, and tons of other stuff - and all the expensive canvases.

It's a good thing to do if ou've won the lottery - else it's a hard way to make a living.

Cute name.

ellice

In reading this whole thread, one thing strikes me as ironic: We hear tales of shop after shop after shop closing and going away. Yet--

I have three fairly conveniently located to me that have been there for YEARS. The third changes hands every 20 years or so (yes, it's that old) when someone wants to retire. A fourth that had been a long-time B&M went internet, but the scuttlebutt is just that she wanted to semi-retire. Can't blame anybody for that.

Why is it that the three I can go to stay in business year after year (one does major framing, one does minor, and the other does none) and everybody else's are closing?

Business savvy?

Business practices?

Customer service?

Market base?

Man, I wish I was an ink stain on their books and a fly on the wall of their salesfloor so I could see what was going on there.

(And I'm convinced this town could use another actual full-service shop, since one specializes in primitive/samplers/folk and have chocked themselves full to bursting with knitting; one carries all the usual suspects, and the last is a needlepoint shop who's seen the light regarding the fact that cross stitchers have money too.)

As far as I know, Stuart Stitchery is closing mostly because Jackie, the owner, is tired and wants to retire from the every day. She tried to get her daughter interested in running it but that didn't work out. I know if she could find someone to take it over, she would be delighted to sell, but so far no takers.

Lucille

Some of each. I've seen businesses do quite well in the hands of one owner and the new owner makes some bad decisions that result in the business closing.

Customer service and selection is how you're going to compete with Walmart and Michaels -- you can't beat their price, but they don't teach people how to do the crafts ... you can. Michaels has a handful of colors of each size of Kreinik; an LNS has the full range.

Do one thing and do it well. Our now-defunct LNS waited too long (several years) to step into the breach left when the needlepoint shop closed; I'm sure most of the customers had, by then, found other sources of canvases and yarn. At the going out of business sale, it appeared that there were still tons of canvases -- one that I had my eye on was there for over a year. (I couldn't justify the ridiculous triple-digit price for a small canvas [vis-a-vis the couple dollars for a piece of Aida], and then the cost for the fibers to stitch not just the design [which took up maybe 1/4 of the space] but also to stitch the 3/4 which was background.) And then she took it into her head that she could compete with our top-notch LYS; except there was never enough of one yarn to make more than a scarf or pair of socks. Again, most of the stock was still there at the clearance sale.