"I'm still hoping I can open before October 1st."

Stopped by the space today. Not much has changed since the weekend. Hmm, wonder if they've run into a snag. Or maybe I'm just impatient. I'm still hoping I can open before October 1st.

Here's a new photo for the webstore. This is Lorna's Laces Lion & Lamb (50% wool, 50% silk) in 'Watercolor' (one of my favorite colorways).
This is pretty-darned accurate colorwise. Luscious.

A very good friend of mine from Northern Michigan (Teri) is a watercolor artist (and a doll artist). I just today received a packet of her brand-new endeavor: professionally printed note cards containing reproductions of her original watercolor paintings. I'm gonna sell them in my shop as impulse items near the cash register. Not knitting themed (they are paintings of flower gardens), they nonetheless are beeeeautiful. Gotta support up-and-coming artists (especially if they're friends). Sometime soon I'll try to scan in one of the cards to post here.

Bookkeeping Blues plus some bitchin stitchin...

I thought I had my inventory system under control. I've been using a piece of software called ShopKeeper, which does Point of Sale and Inventory Management. For the past several months I've been dutifully typing in every inventory item I've bought. Last week I realized that I had been doing part of it all wrong. Since then I've been slaving away at the computer fixing the problems. Luckily I don't have to re-type everything. I just need to add the missing pieces: creating purchase orders and converting them into vendor invoices. This process actually updates the quantities and prices correctly so that things show up on hand, on order, or back ordered correctly. Phew!

Tomorrow morning I'm meeting with a bookkeeper who is also a knitter. We're going to go over my books to make sure everything is in order before the doors of the store open.

On a brighter note, I've successfully connected with a sizeable group of active knitters up here in the North Bay. They have a yahoo discussion group and are organized into subgroups: one that meets in Napa and one in Santa Rosa. The Marin subgroup currently does not have a meeting place... well, they will once my store opens! As a prelude/preview, I've invited everyone over to my home this coming Thursday at 7 pm for a special Stitch'N Bitch session. I'm looking forward to meeting people who will hopefully become my future clientele; we'll be surrounded by boxes and piles of yarn... what fun!

It may happen sooner, it may happen later.

The good news is that construction continues. The bad news is the city still doesn't have its act together; I've learned that construction continues without an official city permit. Until that permit is issued, the city will not be able to perform an inspection of the wiring, etc. Without this inspection, drywall cannot be hung. The city expects to be reviewing the plans by the end of next week. As the contractor put it, "it may happen sooner, it may happen later."

What this all means is that the guys can only go so far in their work before the city requires an inspection. If the city is not ready to inspect when the guys are ready, we end up waiting longer. I hope that doesn't happen.

I'm looking into utilizing a variety of halogen IKEA lighting gizmos in order to brighten up the space since track lighting is out of the picture for the time being. I will also be putting rugs down on the floors (possibly jute) in order to soften the harsh and cold concrete.

I will shortly be adding some baby-ish yarns to my inventory. I don't plan on carrying 100% acrylic pastel "baby yarns" per se, but I will be getting some great fingering, sport, & heavy sport weight yarns in both cheery and sophisticated colors that are machine washable - merino wools and cotton/acrylic microfiber blends.

Oooh, I just got an email from UPS that Muench Yarns shipped two boxes (50 pounds) of yarn! Should be here tomorrow. I have a boatload of GGH yarns (and Muench's Touch Me) on backorder. I wonder what's in the boxes? I'm hoping for Soft Kid and Tajmahal. I currently only have 4 colors of each yarn. Mmmm, Tajmahal. If you haven't seen/felt this yarn you're gonna love it. Merino wool with a touch of silk and a hint of cashmere. Fingering weight, so perfect for very special socks and baby things. I'm gonna bite the bullet and make myself a vest out of it.

"A pretty yarn store is merely pretty..."

Construction continues... as of a few days ago, they were starting work on the electrical system, and a bunch of metal straps hung from the ceiling (my guess is to either hold up the HVAC conduits or the framework for the suspended ceiling).

In the past few weeks I've been 'checking out' other new yarn stores in the area. One thing that strikes me about almost all new shops is the amount of money people are spending on interiors! Custom built-in cabinetry, wood floors, high-end furniture, the works.

After thinking long and hard about my finances, I've decided to be very stingy on the interior of my store. I'm going with what the landlord is providing at no cost: basic electrical, sheetrock, suspended ceiling, standard fluorescent lights, and concrete floor. I will be staining & sealing the floor myself, as well as painting the walls. I will do my best to make it as warm and inviting as possible by spending the least amount of money possible. Hopefully by carefully choosing a color scheme for the walls and floor, combined with jute rugs and shelving/tables/chairs/fixtures from IKEA, I can come up with a good space. As time goes by, I can upgrade the lighting and a few other things.

What am I gaining from my stinginess? More yarn! A 'pretty' yarn store is merely pretty, while a great yarn store should be loaded with yarns, patterns, and NEEDLES! I promise everyone: I will not be stingy with knitting needles and notions! I currently have in my living room: Clover bamboo straights and circulars, Bryspun straights and circulars, Susan Bates Quicksilver straights and circulars, Brittany 5" double points (for all you sock knitters out there), and the Susan Bates colored plastic needles. Before I open I will be adding Bryspun 5" double points and 7" bamboo double points. As soon as I can afford it, I will add Addi Turbos and eventually Crystal Palace and Lantern Moon needles.

Meanwhile, soon I hope to upload pictures of two new sweaters: one is a new design of my own creation worked up in Cascade's silky soft Pima Tencel, and the other is a neck-down seamless pullover in GGH's Goa (a terrific bulky machine-washable cotton/microfiber acrylic blend).

More construction progress...

My good friend and yarn buddy Meredith and I stopped by the store today to check on the progress. They've started constructing the wall which will eventually separate my space from the one next door. A bunch of metal beams extend from ceiling to floor. How exciting!! It's finally taking shape.

The REAL purpose of Meredith's visit was to dive into all the yarn in my living room. Meredith is a terrific graphic designer, and is working closely with me to craft a brand image for the store, which includes designing the logo, business cards, store signage, and website. We spent all afternoon pawing through all the boxes of yarn, ooh and ahhing over everything I've purchased so far: GGH, Muench, Vittadini, Jo Sharp, Artful Yarns, Blue Sky Alpacas, Lorna's Laces, and Hand Jive Knits. We had great fun... but it was quite exhausting.

Due to the tardiness of the construction project, I've decided to move full-speed ahead on putting together an online store, as I mentioned previously. I've installed an open source shopping cart that's written in PHP and MYSQL. What does this mean to the non-techies out there? The cost is nil and I am fluent at PHP and MYSQL programming, so it will be fairly easy for me to tweak the software in order to create an excellent shopping experience. I hope to have it up and running by Labor Day. Among other things, I am busy at work taking photographs of every color of every yarn currently in stock, such as this luscious skein of Jo Sharp Silk Road Aran.

OMG - Something is happening at the space!

Every Thursday evening I go down to the San Rafael Farmers Market, which takes up several blocks of downtown. I walk up and down, checking out the booths of fruits & veggies, prepared foods, and imported goods. Then I walk by the store to see if construction has started.

Today I found the wrought iron railing delimiting the patio area of my store rearranged and a pile of metal beams on the floor inside the space. Yay something is happening! Perhaps the permits have been issued! Now I will have to stop by every night to check out the progress.

Meanwhile, I am very busy working with the POS/Inventory management software, learning how to use Quickbooks, and also taking pictures of all the yarn (as illustrated at left). I've decided to put up an online store to try and sell some of the inventory in my living room, and I need pictures of everything I'm going to sell. A very time consuming task.

Fiberarts Market at the Oakland Convention Center

This weekend the Crochet Guild Of America and The Knitting Guild Of America (CGOA & TKGA) jointly held the Fiberarts Market. Much like Stitches, one can take a boatload of classes and shop at the market. Not nearly as big as Stitches (nor as heavily advertised), it was still very fun to go. I hung out much of the time with Darlene Hayes of Hand Jive Knits at her booth (see my post about her yarn here). I brought a new project with me (which I will talk about in a future post): my first attempt at a neck-down seamless sweater. I ended up being a bit of a showstopper at the show as I sat at the back of Darlene's booth knitting away. Random people would come in to watch a guy knit. One very nice lady said “I know a lot of guys knit, but I’ve never actually seen one!” Several people were fascinated by my knitting technique, which is a modified version of continental knitting. In a word, I knit fast. One lady exclaimed: ‘Oh my gosh, come here! Look at how fast this guy can knit! I hate you!’ All the attention was a bit embarassing but fun. The plus side was that I had ample opportunity to plug my store opening. Heh.

The best part of the day was when I found out that word about my store is already spreading. Darlene has many friends in the Bay area, many of which stopped at her booth to say ‘Hi’. Darlene kindly introduced me to everyone who stopped: ‘And this is Warren Agee... he’s opening a yarn shop in San Rafael!’ I met several people from the local knitting guild who, after being introduced to me, exclaimed 'Oh yes, we've heard about you!' How cool is that? I bet they heard from my posts on Knitters Review.

Being at this show, just as an attendee, brought back fond memories of my days working art fairs. In a former life I was an artist making polymer clay boxes and jewelry, traveling around the Midwest and East Coast. The people you meet at these kinds of shows - shows where creative artistic types congregate and sell their wares - are of a special breed. Down to earth, real, and very, very special.

Thanks to Darlene of Hand Jive Knits for helping promote my future store. I just wish I could have told people exactly when I’m opening!

City Hall: Argh

There is a delay in getting the work done on my space in downtown San Rafael. Apparently the head of the Building Inspection department retired a week before the plans for my space were submitted by the contractor. This is creating added delays to the permit process. Prior to this, ‘my’ contractor was able to start work before the final permits had been issued because the inspector had a long relationship with the contractor and trusted their work. Not so with the new guy; he is not allowing any work to be done ahead of official permits. So all I can do is wait. Impatiently wait. And stare at 650 pounds of yarn.

650 Pounds of Yarn

Over the past two weeks, I’ve been birthing a store... producing children in the form of yarn. Shipments have been arriving from JCA, Lorna’s Laces, Blue Sky Alpacas, and Muench. Next week I expect Bryson Distributing (needles & patterns) and Goddess Yarns.

Yarn doesn’t weigh that much so 650 pounds takes up quite a bit of space, as you can see from the photo above. Fortunately I have a sizeable unused area in my living room that has conveniently turned into my stockroom.

My first shipment came from Lorna’s Laces, makers of some of the best hand-dyed yarn available. This shipment was a little traumatic because 150 pounds of yarn came in only two boxes - one of which was 107 pounds! The box was so large that the UPS guy didn’t want to drag it up the outdoor concrete steps (I live in a second-floor condo) for fear of ruining the stairs (or perhaps his dolly). So we left the box at the foot of the stairs and I carried armloads of yarn (in plastic bags) up the stairs (under a hot 90 degree sun no less).

I worried that further shipments would come this way; fortunately, everyone else (so far) is packing the yarn much more sensibly - the average weight is 35 pounds.

After I get a shipment, I go through all the boxes and reconcile the packing slip - marking off everything I received. Above you see Adrienne Vittadini's Trina being unpacked and checked in. If there are discrepancies (and there have been a few), I call up the company to request the missing yarn. After checking everything in, I take the packing slip to the computer and enter all the yarn into my POS/Inventory system, which I have set up on my Mac. I’m using a commercially-produced POS package called Shopkeeper.

I Got Yarn!

Yay. My very first shipment of yarn arrived today! Mr. UPS handed me a small but heavy box of Nature's Palette fingering weight 100% merino wool in 30 colors. This beautiful yarn is hand-dyed using all natural dyes by Darlene Hayes at Hand Jive Knits, a very small company in Sacramento, CA. I like the idea of buying from local companies, especially ones that are environmentally conscious. This yarn is extremely similar (but not identical I'm told) to the yarn Koigu uses. Hand Jive dyes primarily solid colors (with those wonderful variations and striations common to hand-dyed fiber) using all-natural dyes, but is also experimenting with some very pretty and subtle multis, too. The colors are incredible - some are very vibrant while others are incredibly subtle - just like the colors found in nature. This yarn is for my sock knitters. It's also great for shawls, scarves, gloves, & mittens, too. I aim to have the best collection of sock yarn around. I also received a bunch of great patterns for this yarn: socks, shawls, scarves, a purse, and some great fingerless gloves.

I spent the evening checking in the yarn and entering it into my inventory/POS software.

More yarn arrives next week, including Lorna's Laces and Goddess Yarns.

Musing: Knitting in Silence

Since today is my birthday, I'm posting something a little different. Not about the store, it's a little essay about knitting and creativity.

What is it about silence that scares people? Most knitters I know knit while watching TV; some knit while listening to music. Whenever I mention that I usually knit in total silence, people’s eyes go wide. “Why would you do that? Don’t you get bored?”

I actually enjoy silence. The world is noisy. Traffic, loud music blaring from cars, piped-in smooth jazz over the loudspeakers in department stores, television & radio commercials, and my pet peeve, people talking just to fill up silent moments. With all that chatter, my own thoughts rarely surface. It’s like sensory overload; so many outside sounds influence and drown out my own inner voice.

Anyone involved in a creative pursuit knows something about the inner voice. Deep within us all is a tiny being, completely individual, trying to express itself through knitting, painting, writing, performing, doodling, or any other creative outet. This tiny voice has something to say - something unique and valuable. Most people are scared of this little voice inside us all. They don’t want their own thoughts to surface, for fear of being ‘original’. Yes, the fear of originality, of standing out from the crowd, of doing your own thing, of being different, is a very real fear for many. I’m going to go out on a limb and guess that this is what makes “creative people” different from those who are not: creative people are not afraid of their inner voice. In fact, they need to express their inner voice. I am such a person. If I go more than a week without expressing my inner voice, vague depression starts to fill me. I get restless. I become unhappy with my life. It grows worse and worse until I pick up a camera and go out shooting sunsets, or pick up the needles and click away.

Knitting in silence is a very good way to tap into your inner voice. As the needles click rhythmically away, stress dissapates and thoughts begin to surface. Memories coalesce. Usually I keep a notebook next to me while I knit, for often I’ll come up with a great idea for something spontaneously - not necessarily knitting related. Or I’ll remember that I need to do something that I keep forgetting about.

We all need some space in our lives. Each paragraph on this page is separated by white space. So too do we need a little space scattered througout our busy days. In between yoga sessions and soccer practice, after we get home from work, before we cook dinner, whenever: we need to sit down with a little silence and let ourselves be ourselves for a little while. We need our individuality to seep through our regimented days. It truly is healthy. And who knows, we may discover the great american novel within us (or at least a really cool pair of socks to knit up).

What is a Yarn Rep? Glad you asked!

Yarn reps are cool people. They travel the country, usually by car, with their trunks and back seats FILLED with yarn and pattern books. Some reps have smallish territories (CA, AZ, NV) while others have huge territories (West Coast, AK, HI). They act as salespeople for the yarn companies. Most reps have been in the business a very long time - 20 years or more. They know the business and their territory. Most reps handle more than one company. Most importantly, reps hold your hand. They reassure you that you haven't lost your mind - opening a yarn store is a good thing. You hear gossip about other yarn stores. Yarn reps tell you inspirational stores about successful yarn stores. You can ask them questions like "how well does the color peach sell in this area?" (Answer: not so good, apparently). Quite simply, yarn reps are your first line of support. They are on your team. If you need advice or help running your business, ask 'em. Need a special doo-hickey to display a thingie in the store? They'll ask around to find out where to get it. They are a tremendous resource. And they're good people, too. Have I earned enough brownie points yet? Hope so. :)

So how does buying from a yarn rep work? Well, some are willing to show you their lines without a commitment to buy (ie. "I'm just looking"). Others expect to write orders on the spot. You never pay money on the spot mind you, but you make a commitment. Anyways, the rep brings in case after case of yarn and shade cards. In my case, right to my kitchen table. We sit and talk a bit about the store, it's location, the business conditions, the local market, and your vision. The rep then goes through each yarn line one by one, showing you every yarn, handing you a sample ball (which you cannot keep! darn) and shade card, all the while talking about the yarn. This is the 'getting to know you' phase. You get to know the yarns and the rep, and the rep learns about you: your experience level and your style. You make mental notes of what you like and what you don't like. This process can take several hours. After going through all yarns, you need to make a final decision on what you want. In one case, I took the HUGE stack of GGH & Muench shade cards (8" x 11" folders w/yarn snippets pasted inside) and made three piles: yes, no, and maybe.

You now have to go through the 'yes' pile and rattle off color numbers. The rep writes them down. The rep will recommend how many bags (usually 10 balls per bag) are enough for a first order. Sometimes it's one bag, sometimes three. If the rep is real good, she will help you with color selection if you're unsure (as I was at first). A real good yarn rep will quickly size up your style and tastes and gently steer you in the right direction. Kerry, the Muench/GGH rep, was like that (and Kerry is super duper nice to boot). With another rep, I asked her to just choose the top 10 best selling colors for a given yarn - I couldn't make up my mind. That was awesome. Still other reps had no idea what the best-selling colors were; not as helpful. Prior to meeting with the rep, I determine how much I'm going to spend AND I try to get a good idea exactly which yarns I want. This helps narrow the choices - and there are SOOO many choices! I use a laptop to keep track of what I'm buying. I have a spreadsheet listing each yarn I'm buying, the number of colors, and the number of bags each, and calculates each yarn's cost as well as the running total. As I choose yarns and colors, I update the spreadsheet right then and there. I watch the totals to make sure I'm not going over budget. With almost every rep, I've had to go back and change things... either I ran over budget or realized my initial budget was too small. I've deleted yarns I thought I wanted, and I've added yarns I didn't think about, too.

After choosing colors and quantities, I fill out a credit application and we're done. Payment is usually made when the order ships, via credit card or COD. You also need to specify a ship date: right away or some time in the future.

The entire process takes anywhere from 3-5 hours. I am exhausted at the end... tired and hungry. But hell it sure is fun!

Yarn update: JCA ordered

Today I met with the final yarn rep on my agenda, Steve. He represents the JCA lines of yarn (which include: Jo Sharp, Vittadini, Reynolds, Artful Yarns, and Scheepjeswol). He also reps some smaller lines (including a high-end hand dyed company, needles/notions, and buttons), as well as needlepoint supplies.

Steve was a hoot. He's a true salesman, and unlike every other yarn rep I've met - he does not knit or do any crafts! Says he has no interest. All he does is sell his products, and he does a very good job. No pressure and a very nice guy at that. However, I was disappointed that he only had color cards with him. Every other rep also brings in bags and bags (or suitcases and suitcases) filled with balls of yarn - one ball for each yarn they sell. I like being able to pick up and feel the ball of yarn - you can only judge so much by staring at a two inch snippet of yarn.

At any rate, I already knew exactly what I wanted, so I didn't need to be seduced by plump, fluffy, furry balls of yarn.

I ordered a bunch of Jo Sharp (silk road in various weights), two of Artful Yarn's most popular (Broadway and Portrait), and two Adrienne Vittadini yarns (Trina, a wonderful merino/cashmere blend and Paloma, a baby alpaca & wool boucle). As before, I choose fewer yarns in order to get _all_ the colors of each yarn. I passed on some wonderful 100% cashmere because it's sooo pricey. Hopefully I can order that soon after I open... once some money starts rolling in.

Steve also showed me a really wonderful new kind of circular knitting needle from Colonial: the cord is made out of some kind of black resin tubing, so it's extremely pliable and flexible - it won't kink. The joins are extremely smooth, too, with gold-colored metal caps covering the join. The needles will be available in both bamboo and rosewood, but will not be available for several months. I put in an order for a full range of the bamboo needles. I like 'em.

Yarn Pilgrimage: Saratoga, CA

Visited an 'inspirational yarn store' yesterday upon recommendation of a yarn rep: Knitting Arts in Saratoga. I'd never been to Saratoga before, which is a small town just west of San Jose. It took me about 1.5 hours to drive down there from San Rafael. The store is nestled in the little 'downtown' area, filled with antique shops and upscale restaurants. Looks like a tony town. The shop is beautiful: clean, simple fixtures (many of which are from IKEA) and great lighting. The large back area is devoted exclusively to classes and work tables. Most of the yarn on display was novelty - fur, eyelash, etc. Lots of Crystal Palace (which was on sale this week for 10% off), Prism, Blue Heron, Colinette, etc. In the center of the yarn area was a small circle of soft-seating with a coffee table in the middle. There was a very very cool book on the coffee table (yes, it was a coffee table book) that I've never seen before called The Art Of Knitting. No patterns that I could see... it's more of an inspirational book filled with gorgeous close-up photos of stitches and images of experimental knitting - knitting as art. I may have to get this book someday just for the coolness factor. Plus I'm a whore when it comes to books. Sigh. That's what I get for working in a Borders for 4 years. You can bet your ISBN that my store is gonna have a rockin' book section.

Back to Knitting Arts: the people were super-duper nice and knowledgeable. There were many people shopping along with some sort of clinic going on in the back. An impeccably dressed lady in her 60s was standing quietly clutching a bag of knitting. "Oh[ knitting instructor's name]", the employee said, " your 3:30 is here." Knitting teachers are in demand - how cool is that.

A beautifully-dressed woman (perhaps the owner?) saw me browsing aimlessly, touching every ball of yarn within reach, and asked "can we perhaps help you find a new project?" I deferred, mumbling something about having too many projects. I was too sheepish to explain my real reason, to get ideas for my own shop. I never know how other yarn shop owners are going to react. "Aack, yet another yarn store? Leave now!" Heh.

Of course I couldn't leave without buying a ball or two (well, actually three) of yarn: Crystal Palace's Kid Merino, new for spring. I'd just ordered a sampling of it the other day and wanted to play with it. Seems very very cool (and cuddly). I'm gonna try making these socks with one strand each of two different colors held together.

Tomorrow I meet with the JCA rep. I plan on ordering Jo Sharp, Adrienne Vittadini and maybe, just maybe, some Artful Yarns. There goes my budget!

Rowan and Crystal Palace are in

Met with another yarn rep today in order to get sock yarn, Ann Norling patterns, and books. She's also the rep for Crystal Palace, Rowan, Jaeger, Colinette, Mission Falls, and Lana Grossa. It was decided that I need at least a smidgen of Crystal Palace and Rowan. She's very persuasive. I ordered a small selection of frou-frou furry stuff from Crystal Palace. For Rowan I decided to concentrate solely on their chunky fall yarns - Big Wool, Biggy Print, Bill Wool Tuft, etc. They have a new pattern book coming out that features 5 of their chunky yarns. I'm bringing in all five yarns in a variety of popular colors. My reasoning is simple: I can present a cohesive, attractive, and complete display by focusing on one subcategory of Rowan yarns. As time goes on I will increase the Rowan selection; this is all I could afford for now.

This strategy is in keeping with my idea for store design: instead of organizing the yarn by color (gasp), fiber, or gauge, I'm going to organize it by company. I'll have a Rowan department, a GGH department, a Blue Sky Alpacas department, and so on. This way I can merchandise the yarn, the samples, and the patterns all together.

First MFA Sweater Completed

Yesterday I finished the first of hopefully many sweater designs to be offered through the store. This sweater is entirely my design (using two stitch patterns found in books) and made out of Goddess Yarns' Ellen, 55% cotton & 45% wool. It comes in a wonderful array of colors, is very soft, and is a pleasure to work with. I'm told that it's a very hard-wearing yarn as well. This was designed to fit me, so it's a large sweater. It took me one month to make, and required 17 balls of yarn (81 yds/ball) on size 8 needles. It has a 46" chest and a 26" length. I plan on using this sweater as a model to help sell the Ellen yarn (which I will be stocking in 16 colors) and I will be offering the pattern as an exlusive Marin Fiber Arts design. The challenge will be to convert the pattern to smaller sizes - I've never done that before!

I signed the lease!

Yes, the waiting is finally over. Today the last of the small issues were resolved and I signed the lease. The actual act was very anti-climactic, however. No fanfare, no trumpets pealing in the morning sun, not even a kick in the pants. I signed the two copies of the lease in my kitchen, wrote a check for the 1st month's rent + security deposit, drove the package over to the real estate agent's office, and left it at the front desk - he wasn't even there. No hand shake, no nuthin'. Oh well. I'm not sure what happens next... the landlord needs to sign the lease, and then I get my copy back.

The next big hurdle to overcome is the build-out of the space. It's in a very raw condition: bare concrete floor, exposed ducts in the ceiling, and bare studs on the walls. The contractor needs to install electrical outlets, sheetrock all the walls, put in a drop ceiling, and install light fixtures. I'm told by another tenant in the building that this outfit is very good at getting things done in a timely manner. I certainly hope so... if build-out takes 6 weeks, I can get in by August 1st and hopefully open by September 1st. People start buying yarn for the holidays in August, so time is of the essence! I don't want to miss much of the fall season!

Oh, the fun: buying yarn.

The funnest part (as well as the hardest part) of opening a yarn store is buying the yarn. There are soooo many choices!
Early on I decided to approach yarn buying as a business person first, a yarn addict second. Since startup funds are limited and I'm depending on the store to generate an income for myself, I need to be able to stock shelves quickly as things sell out. In other words, I need companies that can deliver yarn quickly, which rules out some wonderful companies. Rowan for example takes roughly 3-4 months to ship an order (if you're lucky). Some companies take even longer. At least in the beginning, I simply cannot run a business where inventory takes FOUR MONTHS to arrive! That means I basically need to have four months worth of inventory on the shelves at all times. That's a lotta balls o' yarn and requires a lotta cash (which I don't have).

Happily, the yarn world is pretty large and competitve, and many companies have established great track records for delivery. One of them is Cascade Yarns, out of Washington. Not only are they on the West Coast, yarn orders take only a few days (a week at most) to reach you. Their yarns are of very good quality and reasonably priced. One of their yarns is wildly popular... Cascade 220, which is a nice soft wool that has legendary felting properties (and it comes in three trimillion colors). Cascade also distributes other higher-end lines that caught my attention: Dive', a brand that has been around a long time, and Bollicini, a new 'luxury' label created by Cascade. The folks as Cascade are super-nice, and called me up personally to answer my initial questions. Most yarn companies referred me to local reps - more on that later. Due to their great delivery reputation and super-niceness, Cascade became my first supplier.

Another major company I've chosen to work with is Muench Yarns, located right in my backyard in Petaluma, CA (15 miles from my front door). Muench sells their own line of yarns a (which are primarily frilly, fluffy and glitzy novelty yarns) which to be quite honest, isn't my bag. I just don't get excited over the furry novelty yarns. What I *do* get excited about are soft, luxurious and colorful "basic" yarns - merino wool, alpaca, cashmere, cotton/wool blends, silk blends, etc. Muench distributes yarns made by GGH, a German company that produces a huge range of novelties AND basics. The color range offered by this company is wonderful, as well. I love color. Muench/GGH is my second major supplier.

The third company I'm investing a lot of money in is Goddess Yarns out of Little Rock, Arkansas. They are a newish company, very small, that offers a terrific selection of high-quality basic yarns in a great range of colors at extremely reasonable prices. Their slogan is 'Created for knitters by knitters.' I just finished a sweather made out of Ellen, their cotton & wool blend. Fabulous!

Two small 'luxury' fiber companies that are high on my list are Blue Sky Alpacas (specializing in, duh, alpaca and alpaca blends) and Lorna's Laces (IMHO the best hand-dyed company out there).

This brings me to a philosophy that's been crystallizing in my brain since this journey began. Rather than 'cherry pick' yarn - buying samplings of yarn from many, many different companies - I'm going with fewer high-quality companies and carrying a wide selection of yarns in a wide range of colors. You'll be hard-pressed to find a single yarn in my store in only 4 or 5 colors; more likely you'll see something like Pima Tencel from Cascade Yarns, a super-soft and silky cotton blend, stocked in 16 colors - all the colors they offer. The logic behind this is pretty sound: five colors of one yarn can't get noticed in a well-stocked yarn store. They just sit on the shelf all sad and lonely. 16 colors of one yarn, however, scream "ooh! look at me!" and also shows customers that the owner believes in and stands behind this particular yarn.

I also have some rather unique ideas for merchandising the store. I'll get to that later.

1026 Court Street

The courtyard in which I hope my store will be... way in the back.

The commercial real estate company that handled the space on Fifth Avenue (which fell through due to zoning restrictions) also is representing the Court Street properties, so it was easy to shift my efforts to the Court Street space. Brian (the agent I'm working with) drafted up a LOI (Letter of Intent), outlining the basic terms I'm offering: rent, length of lease, free rent, and basic improvements to the space. In the world of commercial leasing, everything is negotiable. A typical commercial lease is 3-5 years, and depending on how many years, it's common to get one or more months of free rent at the beginning, to help you get started. I asked for a 3 year term and two month's free rent, which is pretty standard. They also agreed to a standard build-out: finishing off the space so it can be used. The space is raw - bare concrete floor, bare wall studs, no ceiling. A minimal build-out includes sheetrock, drop ceiling, standard light fixtures, HVAC, and electricity.

Lo and behold, they accepted my initial terms, with one exception - they countered with a slightly higher rent than I asked for. I was expecting this. It all sounded good. One detail remained: there's no store room, it's one big rectangle of a space.

I came up with the idea of a moveable wall... a 7-foot high partition built so that it could be moved easily. The space is pretty huge and I don't have the funds to fill it up with inventory. With a moveable wall, I can make the selling space fit the inventory, and as my inventory grows I can reconfigure the space. At first the agent told me they would do it and roll the cost into the lease payments. In the end, however, the landlord said 'no', I'd have to pay separately for it. Sigh.

After going back and forth a bit, they sent me a draft of the lease. It was a book - a half-inch thick! Aack. I hired a lawyer to go through the lease and make sure it was all kosher. The guy I used was recommended by the real estate agency - he's a tenant in the same building and has helped negotiate four other leases in the building. He went through it quickly and came up with a variety of changes and deletions. Most of these changes the landlord agreed to. In the end it was all good.

I am ready to sign this sucker and get the show on the road! Too much talk and not enough action!

The Tale of Two Spaces

By far the most challenging task in opening a yarn store is finding a suitable space: one that is affordable, in a good location, and obviously, available.

From day one I wanted to locate my yarn shop in downtown San Rafael, which is a vibrant, thriving area filled with offices, restaurants and shops. It's only five miles from my home (gee, what a treat that will be, compared to driving 50 miles round trip to San Francisco every day as I've done for 2.5 years). The area has a diverse, funky feel that I like.

Early in my research phase, I began investigating the costs of renting a storefront. My first discovery was a wonderful space right in the heart of downtown, where all the action is. Brand-new building, large space, and oh yes, quite expensive. No thanks. My second discovery was much better: a spot on Fifth Avenue, which is one block from the main drag, Fourth Street. The prevalent line of thought is that you don't need to locate a yarn shop in a prime retail location because you don't need the foot traffic and high-visibility; yarn addicts - I mean knitters -find out where you are regardless of your location. Yarn shops are considered destination-type business. They don't rely on foot traffic. Therefore, this space on Fifth Avenue seemed perfect: one block off the main drag and it was VERY inexpensive. It's part of a bank building that the current tenants do not want to use - it used to be a walk-in ATM room. It was about 550 square feet with very high ceilings and tall windows. The disadvantage: very small and no room to grow. Oh, there was another disadvantage: the city won't allow retail in that location.

Doh!! Then why advertise it as 'office/retail space for lease'?? No one ever checked with the city until I came along. When I called the city to find out about a business license, I was informed that retail businesses are not allowed on that street. Ugh, back to the drawing board.

Fortunately things were working in my favor, because in the meantime, the owners of the first space on Fourth Street lowered their rents dramatically in order to get the vacant spaces filled. The building was built in 2002 as part of a revitalization project for San Rafael, and probably due to high rents, several of the spaces remain vacant to this day. Four space are vacant, one of which located at the back of a large courtyard. The location is great and the rent is low for that type of space. I had a hard time decided to go for it because the cost just barely fit in my budget. I felt that the foot traffic and exposure justified the greater expense, so I went for it. More to come...