Where Have They All Gone?

[Real Deal]

Where have all these places gone? The most recent to leave was K-Mart. Before that it was Sears. Before Sears it was 2 Ames stores. Prior to Ames was So-Fro and Jo-Ann's. WT Grants. Ben Franklin's.

 

All have been department / variety / craft stores.

 

As each has left, they've said there's not enough business to stay in the area. That doesn't make sense. The area supported all of them at once, and more. Is it that the heads of the companies want far larger profits now and that's all that matters?

[candiwv_]

IMO, Wal-mart has been the downfall of quite a few companies. It is hard not to shop at Wal-Mart because they have everything. But the bad thing is, once Wal-Mart has run everyone out, they can charge whatever they want. So, I try not to shop there.

Choices for yarn are slim here though. We have Wal-Mart, Crafts2000, and JoAnn's. We had Michael's, Ben Franklin, K-Mart, Ames, and Hills. They have all disappeared. It is starting to look bad for grocery stores also. Kroger is not open 24 hours anymore and then we have Foodland, Save-A-Lot, and Aldi's. It is awful.

[Tampa Doll]

We still have Wal Mart (yarn section sucks) Ben Franklins (Looks like it is tired). Sears is big in the Malls, KMart is still here, but also tired looking.

Our Walmart is going to be a super when they finish expanding the store. Then up the road is going to be another Super WalMart, if they stop fighting it.

I know what you mean, and you brought back some memories when you mention some stores. Ames, WT Grant and such.

The word is Big Profit. They don't realize that if they gear the store to the area, they could make Big Profit.

Looks like you are going to be like us down here. It comes down to ordering off the internet. Look for free shipping and with some companies there is also no sales tax.

[birdlady1]

Another problem may be the cost of manufacturing yarn. Much is made overseas. By the time you add in shipping costs back to the States, pricing becomes prohibitive for both the seller and the buyer.

 

I've watched Denver Fabric (the best fabric store in the state!) tumble to near nonexistence for this very reason, although in their case, it was because of fabric costs.

[Real Deal]

We even had ~ oh, women loved this place ~ an outlet store that had yarn "seconds". There were some other crafts, but it was mostly yarn. My Mom and I had a lot of fun in this place because they had the strangest stuff.

 

They sold packages of what is now called mill ends.

 

They also had some of the oddest colors we'd ever seen. Oh, how we'd laugh! Some had to be dye lot experiments. Others were probably just colors that didn't sell well in the retail stores.

 

The specialty was tangled skeins. Great big huge amounts of yarn in big tangles. Other than that, there would be nothing wrong with the yarn, and the price would be anywhere from 1/8 to 1/4 of the normal price. Nobody ever knew how the yarn got that way, but there it was.

 

Everyone bought tangled skeins, and untangling was one of those long term projects done while watching TV or visiting with friends. Untangle, roll a ball, untangle, roll more. It would be so satisfying to be finished. A typical tangle would yield 1 or 2 skeins of yarn, so when matching bags of tangles were available, items like sweaters could be made for next to nothing.

 

This place left also.

[bjc1050]

Some of the other stores I miss are G.C. Murphy, Rose's, and McCrory's and WoolWorth and...how about Silco although I don't remember that they(Silco) had yarn?

 

Beverly

[LI Roe]

In my area, Woolworths has closed too, Sears is doing well but no yarn, Kmart is only a few stores across the Island and one out east does (or it did, haven't been there lately, too far to drive) sell yarn. Ben Franklin closed the few stores they had several years ago, Fabric Bonanza disappeared and for a short few months, a craft store called Creativity opened and closed very quickly. One opened near my old job, the other boasted a grand opening, the store was nearly complete and it closed before it opened. Go figure that one out. Joanns is still around. And as far as fabric stores, the one closest to me merged with the second store and opened one farther than where I care to drive to.

 

We still have AC Moore and Michaels though I have found when I check online and yarn is on sale with no tax or shipping, I get a better deal.

 

Wal-mart has four stores within a reasonable distance, three sell cut fabric still, the other has a couple of aisles but little in the way of yarn.

 

LI Roe

[stitchgirl]

I feel the same way. I miss the 5 & dimes and I miss Jamesway. Also WT Grant and the old K-Marts. Also, do you remember the Town and Country stores and Hills. I miss them too. I guess I don't have anything major against Wal-Mart, but I don't see why they have to be the only ones. But I already told the lady in fabric that if they get rid of yarn and such, I'm done with that store.

[Real Deal]

I forgot about Woolworths. They had been here also.

 

Plus we had one here named Tri-City. I don't think that was a chain store, but I don't know. At the time, the was a big competition between them, W.T. Grants and K-Mart.

 

Now that I think of it, we also had the Workingman's Store. I don't know if that was a chain store either. They left too, and people were stunned because they were here since I can remember.

[birdlady1]

When I was a kid living in New York City, I remember going to the lower east side where my mom would buy tons of yarn. There were a LOT of stores. I assume all of them are gone too.....

[msmusic]

And oh, how I miss VIP yarns, which I believe was sold to Aunt Mary's Yarns, and now even with the storefronts long gone, their online resource is gone too ... such a shame. Hard to find mill ends anymore, except occasionally at AC Moore, and they seem to have a lot of white mill ends these days.

 

And mentioning Sears, they had a great sport yarn in their own brand (anyone else remember it?) about 25-30 years ago that I made a sweater with, and it wore like iron!! Didn't even look like it had been through the washer after 5 years of wear. Boy, I miss that yarn, it was terrific.

 

Oh, and there was a great yarn outlet warehouse in an odd place in Northeast Philly by the Tacony-Palmyra bridge that was a goldmine for yarn back in the late 70s, early 80s ... anyone else out there remember it? That's when I got my start as a "stashoholic"