The Yarn Cottage
As you pull up in front, you see this cute little garden abode with flower boxes, rustic red barn wood siding and a quaint sign announcing The Yarn Cottage. It’s part of The Red Brick Farm in Mayville, NY and actually used to be the milk house.
Susan Newman, the proprietor, told me that she knew she loved it the moment she found it and I know why. It is small and cozy and yet open and bright at the same time. I remember the first time I visited. I entered the front door into a knitter’s haven filled with baskets of brightly colored balls, shelves of textured skeins, and displays of beautiful hand-knit sweaters, hats, shawls, mittens and booties everywhere I looked. There are also a variety of shabby chic rockers and comfy chairs to sink into and a resident pup to play with when she’s in the mood.
There was no one behind the small counter that day, but the sounds of laughter rang through the open door in the opposite wall and there, outside on the patio in the crisp early Spring sunshine, were three women sitting at one of those old-fashioned ice-cream shop tables in wire-backed chairs working on their individual projects and chatting away.
They all smiled when they saw me, and Susan invited me to pour myself a cup of cider and join them out in the sun.
Now I love yarn and all types of woven fabrics, and I’ve purchased both at lots of places, but I’ve never wanted to buy a skein and set of needles and sit right down and start in the very shop before!
The Yarn Cottage is a place where the customer is Queen and Susan bends over backwards to make everyone feel welcome and at the center of her attention. This is customer service not only with a smile, but with TLC in a warm, friendly, inclusive way that is hard to find in today’s world of chain stores and internet shopping.
Since I am always on the lookout for good stories of people who have created some way to work that feeds their soul as well as their checkbook, I started asking some questions on a subsequent visit. In response she said, “if anyone had told me 5 years ago that I would be sitting here in my own yarn shop I wouldn’t have believed them.” Well, that’s my kind of story so I made an appointment to interview her for one of my tales of transition.
Her personal story is one of those that tears your heart, but this gutsy lady has p0ut the first half of life behind her and is making her own way through the second half and this business is her soul’s sustenance.
As a single Mom with kids to educate she had gone to work for the first time in retail about 9 years ago and discovered that she had a real knack for color and dealing with people. She didn’t know a thing about knitting, but she learned a lot working for someone else in a small shop.
A few years later life threw her another curve ball that ended her job and the eventual bailout came in the form of a loan from a friend to order some yarn. When she found the empty milk house she knew it was the perfect home for her new venture.
The first four years the business thrived and she learned as she went along. Mayville is located in a seasonal area on Lake Chautauqua in an area of Western NY that is primarily agricultural for 8 months of the year. Located about 20 miles from Erie, PA and 45 miles from Buffalo, it’s a challenge to earn a living once the summer folks go home but Susan has made it work. During the off-season, local knitters get together at the homey shop to work together and Monday Knit Night is an opportunity to come learn the basics or improve skills in a fun environment.
Susan says the best part of her business is the people she meets and the fun of playing with the colorful yarns. She admits to not knowing much about running a small retail business at first but insists that it can be learned on the job.
The best perk is that she takes Thursdays off to babysit her granddaughter but, like most of us, health insurance is her biggest problem as a sixty-two yr old. She had hoped to start paying back the loan this year, but a troubled economy has reduced her sales and she’s brainstorming some ways to increase business over the fall and winter by doing craft shows and developing more of an internet- based business.
But these are challenges that this mid-lifer is up to. She believes that the best part of life is that there is always something new out there to create. So although The Yarn Cottage is not a complete success after 4 years, she is earning a living from it, has learned a lot about running a small biz and even more importantly, has done it all herself and for Susan that is priceless.
