Knitters - would you come to a yarn shop like this?

[zisforzebra]

I've been thinking of opening a yarn shop for about a year now. We don't have one in our town (although there are a couple of market stalls selling 100% acrylic yarn in the local indoor market). The next town over has a small shop selling some nice yarn but out of the four staff that work there one is downright rude and aggressive, one is always too busy talking about what's gone wrong in her family to be any help (and desperate to get you out of the shop so she can get back to it!) and although the other two are nice, they aren't very helpful to new knitters.

My idea would be to have a good selection of yarns as well as books, patterns, needles, buttons, crochet hooks etc but also a comfy seating area where people can come in with their knitting and have a cup of coffee and chat, knitting clubs and also lessons for beginners. I plan to have a sign saying 'there are no stupid questions, please feel free to ask'

So, would you shop somewhere like that?

Z-please tell me you are going to move to Cambridge and open it here-PLEEEEEEASE!! Am really tempted to go to the bitch and stitch in Borders but haven't sorted out a sitter yet!

i identified a gap in the market:

a really comprehensive lys. i was making a kaffe fassett jersey at the time with 32 different colours and shopping online wasn't good enough as i couldn't get a good enough idea of the colour or thickness. so i wanted to open a shop that stocked MASSES.

i did a few sums and realized that i'd have to have quite a big turnover if i wanted to even pay off the council rates which are exorbitant in my area, let alone salaries, insurance, stock etc. anyway, i gave up the idea as the recession was looming and i felt that the first thing people would stop spending money on was luxury yarn.

my problem was that i wanted a big shop to stock the variety which means higher costs.

i hope you manage to get yours up and running. and if you were anywhere near me, i'd be there like a shot! please keep us updated.

I don't think yarn shops are yarn shops unless they have slightly eccentric staff and I should know cos i worked in one in the nineties (anyone remember Creativity yarns in Holborn)the last time there was a knitting boom. there should also be a treasure trove effect of too much stock crammed in so that you can have that discovery moment. You would definitely have to run an online sideline these days.
PRUNERS, do you mean the girl with the unusual name that begins with Y?. I used to read her blog but it started to bring me out in a rash, all that cutsie pie cup-cake and soft-toy stuff, and she must have family money to own a nice flat in Edinburgh on part-time yarn shop wages. She also talks about being greenish but is always jetting off longhaul....argh. I'm sure she is very nice and I am a bit , I've been dying for a rant about her for ages, oh dear i wasn't this bitchy when I worked in the wool shop honestly, I was very helpful.

it sounds so lovely... please take Jeffa's advice!

to the op
can you come open up your shop near me please?

Allytjd

Such fond memories of Creativity. I bought my first Rowan Knitting Magazine from there, and spent many happy hours and £'s. Why did it close - retirement?

There is a lovely little yarn shop in Poole - Plan-Knit Wool ( I think). It is run by young people and they are really helpful. I've even taken part of a project in and they help. They also run get togethers(although I've never been) and it makes the whole daunting experience of learning to knit without grandma lovely!

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Blithedance, yes Creativity closed down when the owners retired and couldn't find a buyer. The staff were a real mixture of old ladies, arty girls and gay men and we used to get a lot of theatre folk in buying needlework supplies to keep themselves busy in their dressing rooms, we even had David bowie and Iman in once! I spent a lot of my own wages on buying bits and bobs of yarn, I still have a huge bag full.
Pruners, I have been feeling guilty about my rant about Y, I suppose it is because i got into knitting 20 years ago and was roundly teased and put down for doing things like taking my knitting to the pub, I also dabbled in doing my own designs but pre-internet it was hard to make headway and I didn't persist, I am a bit envious of the fact that it is now trendy for youngsters to knit but I love Ravelry and nice wool shops! the more the better. Twist Fibre in Newburgh near Perth is very nice.

Zebra - another idea - apparently it used to be commonplace to be able to pick a pattern and pay extra for someone else to knit it up for you (according to one of the 30s/40s household manuals I seem to be collecting). That could be another service you offer maybe? And handy income for likeminded yarn addicts?

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Sounds lovely - old bags in our local wool shop too - made you feel like you were intruding!

Pruners, you sound like my DH! Yes I should just get on and do something, its pointless being jealous of young people with more time and focus than me, DS3 starts P1 after the summer so you might see some of my designs on Knitty yet! I'm not sure if i could do a blog, I'd feel a bit "poncetastic" (presbyterian upbringing alert!)unless it was warts and all which could put some people off. Saying that, reading various American alternative craft sites and blogs really enlightened me to how many young Americans are into liberal politics and green issues, it really showed a side of the US that barely registered in mainstream media over here when bush was in charge (and they have fantastic craft shops over there, I don't think crafting ever went completely out of fashion in the US like it almost did here).
ATM I am knitting DS3 an "ewok" (from Star WARs) costume, can't see that being a big hit with trendy types but it is quite fun.
Z is for Zebra, could you start off with a market stall too, to gauge demand?

ooh yes I would!! Would love a place to drop in and knit peacefully. Better than the other alternative which is to go to the cafe and eat cake!!! Although coffee available would obviously be superb.

Kids toy area is a good idea and I am all excited at the possibility that you might mean a largish town beginning with C in the area between Worcester and Bristol! (Tis where my family lives and I visit often so would definitely be coming in!)

I love this idea. I always wanted to open a bookshop with a cafe attached and a flowershop on the ground floor. This could be on the floor above! Pity you are not further north...

My aunt used to have a wool shop and knitted lots of things to order, including school uniform sweaters. Personalised stuff like baby blankets is likely to be popular. I'd love to have time to crochet some. You could recruit from MN!

Kitbit - I do indeed mean the largish town beginning with C. I actually live in the even larger town beginning with G so I'm undecided whether I would open in C or G at the moment.

Odisco - I was just thinking that recruiting from here would be a great idea, so many like minds!

I'll have to get to work doing some local research into demand etc (unless I can organise MN bus trips in to my area!)

ooh!

Make it in C, the reputation that C has would make it more of a good fit, I reckon. G is more of a commercial town, C has more quirky stuff, is a gentler pace and certain areas are just right for this sort of thing (top of the prom (HOW MUCH RENT???!!), behind Cav, etc etc)And as far as I know there's no good similar shops there since the large dept store stopped doing such a good haberdashery section, but even then all you could do was go and buy, the cafe/drop in/social bit sounds wonderful. And I really think it's hitting the mark at the moment, people are getting back into making their own, mending, crafting etc not least due to current economics.

Can you tell I'm excited?

Kitbit - It would make sense to do it in C (more money there for a start - deffinately wouldn't be top of prom though unless I have a massive lottery win ) but I work there at the moment and the travel over and back is a total PITA. I know it's only nine miles but it takes about an hour each way because of the traffic. Could I tempt you into a shop in G with some good coffee and a comfy chair, not to mention a great range of yarn?

Dittany - You could learn at one of the classes which I'd run!

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Zisfor sounds like a great idea. Another good idea from our lovely local yarn shop is that they have a big box of lots of bits part knitted using lots of different yarns and needles so you can try knitting with a yarn before you purchase any to see how it makes up and how you get along with it. They have a highly successful knitting club too that now meets twice a month and they offer all sorts of workshops with a local professional knitter.

Can you offer knitting from scratch classes because so many if my friends have said they'd love to knit but don't know where to start?

I think for my local shop, it's their online shop part though that makes the bigger income. I would recommend software like Shopify if you want try online selling without having enormous start up costs.

hmm.....y'see, problem is that I never go to G. And although I would make a special trip to C to come in as it's quite close, I wouldn't go to G because it would take all day, require expensive parking and G is well, bigger and less easy to whip around so not so good for a relaxed popping in type thing. C is better at relaxed I think.

Not helping, am I!