Your Local Yarn Store

Such an important place in your life; and your local yarn store needs you!

You may have heard of “Small Business Saturday,” or the “Shop Small” movement, wherein we consumers are encouraged to visit and buy from local businesses. The short summary is that shopping in small local businesses not only fosters a local economy, but offers a sense of community. While this is often advertised as an antithesis to big chains, your local yarn store can benefit too!

Here is why you should support your local yarn store by purchasing goods and services through them.

Usually, your yarn store is owned by a small business entrepreneur, someone we grow to know, rely upon for advice, and upon whom we depend. That could be the only reason to buy products, but wait, there’s more!

A typical yarn store is a warm, welcoming environment for knitters to browse through yarn, needles, and accessories. It offers the knitter the chance to see colors in person, browse new publications, and best of all: TOUCH all of the beautiful, sumptuous yarns! Your store also has completed knitted items on display! This offers first-hand inspiration: you can look at completed items, try them on, or even enjoy them for their whimsical value! Most of the time, the items have been knit by someone in the store for you to experience. Another great benefit to shopping small at the local yarn store is other knitters –more inspiration! More ways to connect with some great humans!

So how does this all happen?

Well, the local yarn store does not magically run itself! (Which conjures some wonderfully imaginative ideas!) Nope, your local yarn store is managed by that dearly beloved entrepreneur we thought of earlier.

If you didn’t have a store owner that is willing to stock the shelves with available yarn, how could you check out a yarn in person? How could you touch it and experience its wonderfulness? Think about it. To make this happen, the owner has to pay cash up-front to have stock on hand for you. Next, she wants to sell the stock so she can:

• Buy more yarn, needles and tools for you to enjoy and explore.
• Keep paying the rent for the cute little nook where you knit in your class.
• Pay the electric bill so you can see the yarn, keep warm in the cold winter months, and cool when it is hot. (Because we die-hard knitters know that the knitting never ceases!)
• Pay employees to help you. After all, the owner can’t be there all the time!

Now, of course, your store cannot purchase every yarn in the universe. But there is probably a similar yarn in the store for your project.

So with the shop small mentality in mind, I personally encourage you support your local yarn store! Your patronage keeps the business running, keeps your friends coming back to class, and keeps your talented teachers and knowledgeable staff employed. I could start a soapbox about never ever using your local yarn store to peruse items, then going home only to order the items online because it is “cheaper.” That, my friends, is detrimental to your local store, and sadly equivalent to stealing valuable business and resources from the local store you call home. You know what I mean. (Steps down off soapbox…)

So, think of your local yarn store whenever you sit down with your beautiful yarn and needles, visit your local store soon and remember to KnitYourselfHappy!

Please subscribe, comment and share!