SPOKANE, Wash. — Spokane’s Paradise Fibers is finally reopened six months after a fire damaged the building and all of the products inside.
“We marked it in our calendars and sent texts back and forth and planned to be here,” said customers Becky Burnette and Margie Lewellen.
Dozens of loyal customers flocked to the store for the reopening Tuesday. Owner Bill Romine hopes customers will keep coming back to keep it in business.
“We’re heading into the busy season and if things go as they should, we should survive through that. We’re doing our best,” he said.
Paradise Fibers has been selling yarn and knitting supplies since 2005.
“The people that work here are so nice, very helpful, very knowledgeable and there’s a huge selection of yarn,” Burnette said.
Burnette and Lewellen were only a few of the customers who were devastated when they found out their favorite local knitting store was forced to close. They checked with the store several times to find out when it would reopen.
“It’s so nice. It’s really good to look at all the yarns again,” Lewellen said.
Construction workers are still fixing the wall that was damaged in the fire, but customers were very happy to see the store reopen.
Romine said it took months of hard work to restock all of the inventory which is very costly for a small business.
“People have always liked our store,” Romine said. “We’ve got a lot of loyal customers so that’s a plus. This is a hobby and if people have a good hobby that they like, they’re going to stick with it.”
Romine said the business brought on a few new employees for the reopening, but many old employees stuck around even after the fire. Loyalty from customers and employees is what makes him cautiously optimistic about Paradise Fibers continuing to rise from the ashes.
He added there’s still much more work to do. The store’s second floor is still closed to customers while the building is being repaired.
“We’re going to have to cross our fingers and do what we think is best and we’ll just see how it turns out,” Romine said.
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