January retail transitions ahead
Antique dealer ends 45-year run; yarn shop to change hands
December 11, 2020 | By Sunny Nagpaul
The New Year is bringing changes to the local retail scene as local stores Early Vermont Antiques and Yarn.
In January, Early Vermont Antiques owner Barbara Parker will be closing up shop after 45 years doing business, 35 of it across from Ben & Jerry’s ice cream factory in Waterbury.
With the help of Harrington Realty, Parker has landed a buyer for her high-profile property on Vermont Route 100 and is presently liquidating her antiques marked down 80%.
Store owner Barbara Parker, left, says everything must go, as she works with daughter Karen to ring up a sale. Photo by Gordon Miller.
The business began in 1975 in Huntington Center, and moved to Waterbury 10 years later.
Since then, Parker has been attracting locals and tourists alike to behold her eclectic line of antiques and collectibles.
Barbara Woodard, of nearby Sir Richards Antiques, created a Front Porch Forum post to tell the community about the store’s upcoming closing.
“She will surely be missed by the many customers she has created over the years,” Woodard wrote. “We all wish her the best.”
As for Parker, the sale of her shop does not mark the end of her passion for dealing antiques. She expects she will still dabble in the trade on a more part-time basis. “Oh I’ll never get out of it. I’ll do it in a different manner though, not seven days a week like the last 45 years. It’s been a really nice ride.”
Yarn shop comes with tight-knit community
Specialty retailer Yarn. in downtown Waterbury is expected to change hands in mid-January.
Yarn store owners Lee Youngman and Jane Briggs hope to hand off to new owners early next year. Courtesy photo.
Co-owners Jane Briggs and Lee Youngman put the business up for sale this fall. “We’ve been experiencing some life changes. I have children, one of which is abroad and another lives across the country and I’m looking to spend more time with them,” Briggs said. “The business end of things is good.”
Youngman, whose father with Alzheimer's Disease has just moved in with her, also has a lot more on her plate recently.
In 2018, the duo relocated from Montpelier to Waterbury where they have since run the 1200-square foot shop in the Waterbury Square shopping center tucked between Kinney Drugs and China Star restaurant. The shop sells yarns, patterns, tools and supplies for fiber projects.
“Lee has been doing the business for 13 years and I’ve been doing it a little over five,” Briggs said.
Briggs says that being a small, local business during the pandemic has been a challenge requiring many changes that need close attention.
“You find that you have to pivot often. The community has been shopping more on a mission then recreationally, as they used to,” Briggs said. “We are a business that is especially based on a community that does things together, whether it’s charity knitting or instructional knitting or other things.”
Yarn. has offered classes for learning specific projects and techniques, and staff have shifted to conducting regular knitting night get-togethers via Zoom video conference due to COVID-19 restrictions on gatherings.
Despite the pandemic, the shop remains open with specific rules for customers to follow such as using hand sanitizer on entry, wearing a mask, and keeping 6 feet apart. The store keeps a log of those who visit in case it’s needed for contact tracing and for those who don’t want to shop in the store, curbside and mail orders are possible.
As they navigate the transition, Youngman and Briggs assured customers in a recent email that they “will be here to answer all of your fiber related questions, coach you through a sticking point in your project and make suggestions to match patterns to your mood and our beautiful yarn!”
They also have encouraged customers to use gift cards which, along with loyalty cards, new owners could choose not to honor.
Briggs affirms that the new owners are familiar with the Waterbury knitting community and expresses gratitude for being a part of it for the last two years.
“I would like to express our great affection for Waterbury,” Briggs said, adding an unintentional pun. “It’s a very tight-knit and community-oriented area and we’ve very much enjoyed being here.”
Economic development director has positive projections for local retail scene
Tabbatha Henry Designs relocated this year from upper Stowe Street to the Stimson Graves building near Main Street. Photo by Lisa Scagliotti.
Waterbury economic development director Alyssa Johnson agrees that the pandemic creates challenges for small businesses like Yarn., but also says that those with a strong and established customer basis have been doing better than expected.
“I think Yarn. is an example of businesses that are resilient and proving that they are a really important part of Waterbury’s economy,” Johnson said. “Even with the challenges some of those customers are continuing to be really big supporters of the business, which gives it a big boost.”
Johnson said that new ownership does not necessarily imply that a business is struggling and could instead suggest that a business has strong support and high potential. Along with Yarn., three other businesses in Waterbury have acquired new owners during the pandemic. They are Bridgeside Books, the Waterbury Laundromat and The Funeral Home. “To me that’s a really positive sign,” Johnson said. “There are a lot of challenges right now, but the fact that businesses serve such an important role in the community even during a pandemic, and that someone else is able to buy them and continue to operate them as successful businesses is a very positive sign for Waterbury.”
In addition to the longstanding local retailers, new businesses in the area like Tabbatha Henry Designs also strengthen the downtown retail scene and economy.
“I think we’re fortunate that we have a number of established retailers along with some places that are new,” Johnson said. “In the downtown area we’re seeing that folks have been resilient as retailers and adapting to find ways to continue to serve the community, and I think we can hope to see that in the future.”