**Updated post with new pictures, text originally dated July 31/13
Always researching and learning, I plan to also use some tips I learned here.
A while back (more than a year ago!), I found a store, just outside , but close to the garment district quite accidentally, and wrote this...
I've been one-upped!
Just when you think you've found the best find of the finds, someone comes along and whispers... "Hey, did you know about..."
On the advice of my friend, I sought this one out yesterday.
Frankly, at times I learn about something so special and "speakeasy-ish", that I hesitate to share what I've found... and to be quite honest, I don't share every bit of it... I can't help it! But I do firmly believe that a rising tide lifts all boats, and that telling others about great businesses helps us all to make wonderful things, while supporting the businesses who supply us with great materials, so we can keep making wonderful things!
So, having said that...
Apparently, the oldest yarn store in Manhattan is School Products Yarn Shop.
Long business hours, too!
They have been in business for 70 years, and when the current manager, Rafael Karapetyan, warmly welcomed me into this cozy new space (they have recently moved) he told me all about the place. Why is a yarn shop called "School Products"? The reason, he explained, is that the company once sold all types of school supplies, and supplies for teachers teaching crafts and knitting as well as regular academic courses. Pens, pencils, etc.
Over time, the yarn became the biggest seller, and eventually, the only product category they sell. Despite that, the name stuck, because, he told me, "People who knit... they know the name".
Berta, the manager's wife, teaches knitting students, and her knitting book is among the many publications the store offers. In the store, beautiful yarn and tools abound, and examples of knitted items made using the wool they feature adorn the walls and displays.
A quiet, inviting, warm place in a building where the other businesses are behind large steel doors, it really is an unusual setting for such an enterprise.
I asked the manager, why do people shop here, as opposed to other yarn stores?
"Price and quality" was his simple response. End of thought.
Need some inspiration? Check out this great post by Mrs. Moen!
 |
| Inspired by this photo... |
And this book...
A while back (more than a year ago!), I found a store, just outside , but close to the garment district quite accidentally, and wrote this...
I've been one-upped!
Just when you think you've found the best find of the finds, someone comes along and whispers... "Hey, did you know about..."
On the advice of my friend, I sought this one out yesterday.
Frankly, at times I learn about something so special and "speakeasy-ish", that I hesitate to share what I've found... and to be quite honest, I don't share every bit of it... I can't help it! But I do firmly believe that a rising tide lifts all boats, and that telling others about great businesses helps us all to make wonderful things, while supporting the businesses who supply us with great materials, so we can keep making wonderful things!
So, having said that...
Apparently, the oldest yarn store in Manhattan is School Products Yarn Shop.
137 East 37th Street
6th floor
6th floor
New York, NY 10001 (between 5th and Madison)
212-679-3516
Mon-Fri 10AM - 7PM
Sat & Sun 11AM - 4PM
Long business hours, too!
They have been in business for 70 years, and when the current manager, Rafael Karapetyan, warmly welcomed me into this cozy new space (they have recently moved) he told me all about the place. Why is a yarn shop called "School Products"? The reason, he explained, is that the company once sold all types of school supplies, and supplies for teachers teaching crafts and knitting as well as regular academic courses. Pens, pencils, etc.
Over time, the yarn became the biggest seller, and eventually, the only product category they sell. Despite that, the name stuck, because, he told me, "People who knit... they know the name".
Berta, the manager's wife, teaches knitting students, and her knitting book is among the many publications the store offers. In the store, beautiful yarn and tools abound, and examples of knitted items made using the wool they feature adorn the walls and displays.
A quiet, inviting, warm place in a building where the other businesses are behind large steel doors, it really is an unusual setting for such an enterprise.
I asked the manager, why do people shop here, as opposed to other yarn stores?
"Price and quality" was his simple response. End of thought.
Need some inspiration? Check out this great post by Mrs. Moen!
I'm going to have to bring an extra suitcase next time I visit NYC! Thanks for passing this on to the rest of us. Ruth
ReplyDeletePossibly a steamer trunk. They really have some beautiful things. You have to touch the yarns to experience the magic...
DeleteTechnically, I could be there in three hours. Logically, I'll just wait until my next trip to NYC. I love your blog.
ReplyDeleteThank you! It is a dreamy store to visit.
Delete