Support Your Local Needlepoint Shop!!!

Or even your not so local Needlepoint shop! Please! As if you don’t sooner or later we won’t be here. What are you going to do then?

I spend a lot of time on Facebook in Needlepoint Nation and I’m so tired of reading “I bought it on Amazon” or “you can find it on Amazon” why don’t we think that way about our shops? Well we need to!

I don’t want to hear that I don’t have a local needlepoint shop as many shops have a great online presence. We spend $1000’s to keep our websites up to date, adding, deleting and tweaking. Yes it is impossible to have every canvas in stock at all times, along with every thread, stretcher bar, Evertite and so on… but speaking for the Needle Nook of La Jolla, we have a huge inventory! We are happy to order if we don’t have it and I ship worldwide EVERY DAY!  We place orders for books, canvases, threads and more EVERY DAY! so that we have product to ship to you.

I love Amazon as much as you do and I order from them frequently, but needlepoint I order from a needlepoint shop, PERIOD! Are you going to find someone at Amazon who will spend an hour with you on the phone going over threads? Are you going to have someone pick out the perfect needle, the correct this or that for you?

Carolyn Hedge Baird’s newest book “Stitchpirations” I have shipped around 30 books and I have more on order. When I turned in my 4th order on Saturday, Carolyn emailed me back saying “you’ve got to be kidding me” and I said no!

So please support your local shop or even your not so local shop. We need you and you need us!

Now I will step down from my soapbox and go and stitch with AlleyCat!

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About Vicky

Needlepoint, morning noon and evening! what could be better than this? I work on the computer in the daylight hours editing stitch guides and drawing stitches that you will see in the next Needlepoint Now for your stitching pleasure! In between this, there is time for taking pictures of my stitching adventures, Facebook and writing stitch guides for canvas that I am stitching for Needle Deeva, Maggie, Ruth Schmuff and others. Mostly needlepoint you ask? well we will talk about my cats Sylvester and AlleyCat, better known as "the brat". Of course I can't forget Felix who was the love of my life for over 14 years. He broke my heart as he departed for the Rainbow Bridge last year. Oh did I mention baseball?

24 thoughts on “Support Your Local Needlepoint Shop!!!

  1. Hear, hear, Vicky! I LOVE my LNS and buy 99% of my needlework supplies from it. Even though there’s a Michael’s in town that sells DMC (I use the DMC floss in cross stitch), I still buy it at the LNS even though it’s a little bit more money. And, Michael’s doesn’t have the silks, overdyes, metallics, etc. I’m lucky to have more than one needlepoint/needlework store in my area, and one in the town where I live. I’ve bought from each one of them, some more regularly than others.

  2. Thank you. Like you, I love Amazon, but there’s nothing like the personal touch your local needlepoint shop gives you when you walk in the door or talk with them on the phone. And, if you’re lucky enough to have a store close by, nothing beats the eye candy of canvases or the actual touch and feel of the wonderful fibers on display.

  3. I agree with you 100%. The ONLY exception to the rule is IF you already know the color, color #, etc and even then, the dye lot may be … off.
    I have ordered beads and threads online and the color just doesn’t seem to be the same if you see it in person. Lisa

  4. Thanks for getting on your soapbox!! My closest needlework shop is almost 2 hours away, but if I can’t get there in person, I order online! It would never even occur to me to order stitchy supplies on Amazon. The world would be a much sadder place without our community of shops.

  5. Totally agree. I’m not an Amazon fan but I think people use amazon because they are prime members and don’t have to pay shipping. Shops need to find a way around this. Please post this on NN Facebook page so it hits the wider audience.

    • The shops cannot compete with free shipping from Amazon. But can you call Amazon and ask a question or get a friendly email answer quickly?

  6. You can purchase needlepoint items on Amazon- i have never done that nor ebay. I have on etsy and pintrest.
    I love shops and owners!

  7. Agree 100% but the closest shop is three plus hours away from me. I do not buy any books etc. on Amazon on this topic. What I miss most is the one on one and group contact. No question we need to support the shops….I just did on my trip to Grand Rapids at Peacock Ally when I visit my family.

  8. Thank you for your post! I own a shop and have experienced customers look on their smartphones in my shop to compare prices and to talk me down, or even to purchase on amazon using their amazon click-one account once they see something they like in the shop. They apologize while they are doing it sometimes but it’s still very upsetting.

    • I usually don’t have that problem… but when they come in looking for something that we happen to be out of at the moment “that’s ok I’ll just order it from Amazon” and then they get the look from me.

  9. Thanks for reminding us. I try to shop local, The West, in Tucson but if I need to shop online I look for another brick and mortar store. I just bought Tulip needles from Needle Nook of La Jolla because The West did not have any. I sure do not want shops to go away.. pet Alley Cat for me 😃

  10. I completely agree; the advice and help you get from your local LNS in invaluable. They spend so much time advising, ordering and overall helping you it is wonderful. I will not consider going anywhere else.

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