Last Day at Yarns etc... Greensboro

This is Reece- the best Yarn store dog in the world! He now knows how to wait on customers and will be at the NEW Gate City Yarns in Greensboro!
I opened Yarns Etc... in Greensboro on January 2nd, 1995. I closed it today- July 26th, 2008.

13.5 years in the same location. The store has gone through some changes but has always been an inviting, warm and friendly place. I can't even begin to count the number of people who have walked through that front door, the number of people who have learned to knit and the number of people who came in strangers and left friends.

I have had many mixed emotions about closing the store. I started the store when I was 32 and Evan was a baby. He had a playpen in back and would nap the afternoons away. He knew everyone up and down Elm St. Back then it wasn't nearly as nice as it is now. We had very few choices for lunch and there were many undesirables to avoid. We have so many good memories of days in the store and on Elm St.

Downtown Greensboro has grown and changed and so did Yarns etc...  I opened a second store in Carrboro in 2001 after we moved to Chapel Hill.  Both stores did well and I had the opportunity to buy Great Yarns in Raleigh. 3 stores is a lot to keep up with and I was on the road between them all week. We all know how the price of gas skyrocketed this Spring and Summer and it became clear that some changes needed to be made.

My good friend, Tina Feir, had been operating Spinners Ridge out of the Greensboro store for 4 years. I had a conversation with her and another friend, Carl Beeson, about taking over the yarn part of the store in Greensboro. They decided to go for it and formed a new business called Gate City Yarns. They are an excellent team and have so many ideas that I can't wait to see the transformation in Greensboro. Look for their store to open Mid- August!

So today I packed up a truck load of yarn and miscellaneous yarn supplies and drove back home to Chapel Hill. I will still visit Greensboro- my parents are still there. I will miss so many things about Yarns etc... in Greensboro. Thank you all for your support throughout the years!