By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor
On this first Small Business Saturday, one small business in West Seattle won’t be welcoming customers today.
But not because its proprietor doesn’t want to!
Monica Skov is beyond eager to get her West Seattle Fabric Company open for business at 2210 California SW, where would-be customers are sticking their heads in to ask the big question: When will it be open? Answer: First half of December – Monica’s expecting to announce her grand-opening date sometime next week.
In the meantime, she is stocking the store; many have asked us for a progress report since our original story appeared last month, so we stopped in for an update a few days before the wintry weather started dominating the news. The photo above shows the north wall that’s filled with notions; other shelves in the store were starting to fill with fabrics, from flannel to oilcloth and many types inbetween, including patterns specifically for creating kids’ items (one based on the popular board book “Very Hungry Caterpillar” caught our eye). She plans to carry a “small selection of simple patterns” too. And the step-up section with most of the fabric has a central shelf on which you’ll be able to leave your choices till you’re ready to check out and have them cut into the length you need.
“It’s like the walk-in closet of my dreams,” she smiled, showing us around.
Monica also showed off other spaces in the store – spaces you might not have seen even if you visited the space in its previous incarnations. She is hoping to host classes — and eventually group gatherings — in those back spaces, which even include kitchenette and bathroom access (left over from an earlier life as residential space), describing it as “a place for people to be creative.” Not just experts: “I want to inspire people of all ages that maybe don’t even know how to sew!”
But till opening day, the bolts of fabric are just part of the nuts and bolts of opening a business – inventory, database. Then sometime next month, it’ll be time to welcome those “creative” customers, who have been without a fabric store in West Seattle for two and a half years.
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