Partner Article

Spinner Wool moves into the Merrion Centre

The yarn specialist store, The Spinner Wool Shop, which has been situated on Eastgate since it opened 31 years ago, is now relocating round the corner and has opened its doors for the first time in the Merrion Centre today.

The company, founded by mother and daughter team, Susan Fortune and Joanne Hall is now owned by Joanne and her husband Richard. Selling a large range of yarns, wool, tapestries, knitting patters, buttons, knitting accessories and books, The Spinner Wool Shop has been a corner stone to the knitting community of Leeds since it opened its doors in 1983. Known for its in house expertise, vast array of colourful wools and different sized knitting balls stacked high for customers to see, Richard and Joanne are confident the Merrion Centre’s new store will be equally as popular.

Richard comments; “The move into the Merrion Centre will delight our current customers as we’ll have more space to showcase everything on offer, but we’ll hopefully also entice new shoppers to give knitting a go. Some see the art of knitting something only grandmothers do, and it is popular with older women, our average customer is in her 60s, however, over the years we’ve seen a steady increase in younger people visiting us for advice, patterns and wool and we’re hopeful this will continue in our new store.”

Over the last three years, The Spinner Wool Shop has witnessed a 40% increase in knitting sales and according to Richard the rise is due to the recession. Richard continues; “With less disposable income available, people are looking for cost effective solutions. Picking up a needle and thread or a pattern for a woolly jumper keeps costs to a minimum but it’s also a fun way to learn a new craft. Even if you’re not a particularly crafty person our staff are proficient in knitting and are here to offer tips and advice to the novice knitter as well as the pro.”

Susan Mendoza, Centre Manager for the Merrion Centre comments; “We’re thrilled to have a dedicated knitting shop in the Centre for the first time. With the rise of celebrity knitters, like Kirsty Allsop, the trend for creating, making and knitting has seen a great revival and is becoming a fashionable pastime. We’re looking forward to the store opening this week.”

The Spinner Wool Shop is keen to get knitting back on the educational agenda and is in discussions with schools about this.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Janie Readman .