Thursday, December 28, 2006

Re-Working the Yarn Shop



So yesterday I met up with the 2 ladies that work at my LYS (and the 88 year old woman who owns the place) around 10am - we had her permission to move everything around to create a more comfortable atmosphere - moving the clearance yarn away from the front window, moving the "knittting table" closer to the front window, rearranging bookcases, etc. She has owned the shop (in this location) for around 28 years... and she'll be the first to tell you all the other locations along with the years she was there, and what was in the spot before and after. I love her; she's a quirky cranky spunky lady - and she's the reason I love the store.

The first photo shows the store "before" at the register. We moved the desk to the other side of the store, next to a pony wall - and cleaned up this area. We got "rid" of all the machine cone yarn - it's hiding in bins in the back now (eww) - and redid that corner to be all the notions (along with a few bookcases of yarn to cover the gross window that noone ever looked through.

The second photo is the best "after" that I have - it shows the wall of yarn, along with a glass display case that we "rescued" - and put finished pieces in - it's the closest thing to a display that we could muster up - behind the case are some racks for patterns (there are too many of these!) and behind that are 4 more tables (originally for knitting machines, now they're good for people to knit around - we just need to get chairs to go around it that all match - hehe...

Along the back wall you can kind of see what the store looks like - it's full of bags of yarn... Florence (The Owner) likes the yarn in bags to keep it clean. I think she's right, but it doesn't "look" as nice as I'd like it to.... oh well. It's NOT my shop!

I haven't painted yet, and there's LOTS still to do, but we did succeed in getting rid of a GROSS clearance rack that was hand made and half done, with its back showing out the front window.... and we also moved the notions/needles/etc. to the back of the store, cleaned up the register area, and put hanks on a long (10-12') wall - and arranged them by color -

Today, while I was only there a short while, everyone couldn't stop commenting on how different the store looked, and how I was crazy for doing it for "free" - I couldn't get these people to understand that I did it because I love the shop - not necessarily to help the owner- but having more people at the store and getting more business to it is my ultimate goal. I'm not 100% positive what my motives are (or if there really are any motives at all) - perhaps I'm "practicing" for when I get my own store a number of years for now... or maybe I just wanted to make a tiny difference in the knitting world.

Next on the agenda: the girls are organizing yarn, and I'm knitting (and taking Advil for the muscle aches!) - in a week or two I will paint a couple walls - we bought the paint - I just need to gather the time and strength!

Kyle

3 comments:

Charles said...

Thats nice of you!!! Did you got free yarn from her?

Anyway did you got my gift?

Chris said...

Kyle,

I can see you taking up the cause. Especially when I click on the pics and blow them up!

Very sweet of you to go to all that trouble.

Chris

Anonymous said...

Kyle,
You application for Sainthood has finally been approved!
That was a true mercy mission on your part. And, I'm sure it's greatly appreciated. Sometimes it's a matter of the heart and not the wallet.