The Yarn Underground and Deadbeat Records have paralleled each other for the past two years.
philip vukelich | rawr
Brandon Rowley, co-owner of Deadbeat Records, reorganizes music in the store on 3rd Street in downtown Moscow. Rowley said he has high expectations for the success of the upcoming Record Store Day on Saturday, an internationally observed day celebrating the art of music, officially founded in 2007.
“It’s pretty cool because we both opened at the same time–within a month of each other in 2010,” Brandon Rowley, co-owner of the record store, said.
Rowley originally wanted the lower rental space for the record store, but the women of The Yarn Underground got the space before them. Shortly after, the upper rental space opened.
The Yarn Underground just relocated. It is now a block away from the Friendship Square bus stop.
For Deadbeat, this expansion means they will double in retail space, which gives them the opportunity to sell new inventory.
“We’re really interested in bringing in T-shirts and posters and different accessories that compliment a record store but aren’t actually music in it of itself,” Rowley said. “Ever since day one we keep seeking out more distributers, different genres of music, trying to get the hottest new things.”
Rowley said they also plan to dedicate some space for movies and tapes, which are currently overflowing.
“The women who are running The Yarn Underground put a lot of work into make the downstairs look nice,” Rowley said.
He said they do not plan to do any remodeling.
For the next two weeks, Deadbeat will use the basement for building CD and record bins.
Shelly Stone said she opened The Yarn Underground because Moscow needed a yarn store after The Needle Nook and Quilt Something closed.
Stone and her co-owner Marissa Gibbler know many farmers in the area with sheep and alpaca, but they don’t have anywhere to sell the wool.
“We have products you won’t find anywhere else across the country. There are very unique things in here so we were excited about that aspect of it–being able to provide a service for the customers but also for people around here,” Stone said.
With the new amount of space, Stone said they plan to stock more “bulkies” for the Fall, as well as some small mills that are American-made.
“I just don’t like conventional processing. You’ll find things made in Peru, but actually the fiber will come from China,” Stone said. “It will say it was made in Peru but really it was only spun in Peru and then shipped all over the place. We’re really trying to help cut down on that.”
Stone also owns the Palouse Yarn Company and dyes her own yarn, which is sold in her store.
The Yarn Underground has about 30 consigners, half of them own sheep or alpaca. They also work with a yak farmer, people who hand spin yarn, and even a woman who makes greeting cards. Roughly three times a month, The Yarn Underground will hold knitting, crocheting and spinning classes for all levels. Stone and Gibbler currently do most of the teaching, but with a bigger space they plan to bring in some “quality” teachers, according to Stone.
They like to keep things affordable by buying “seconds” from companies like Brown Sheep.
“We buy their seconds that are off color or streaky or something. It’s high quality yarn, but the color is a little funky,” Stone said.
Molly Spencer can be reached at [email protected]