By Josh Davis, Associate Editor
(Dec. 20, 2018) After closing shop for about two months at her old location, owner Brenda Trice reopened A Little Bit Sheepish on Dec. 6 in its new location on 1 South Main Street in Berlin.
She said the colorful yarn store, which moved across the street from its two-story shop on 2 South Main Street, has operated since November 2012.
“It’s been wonderful,” Trice said. “People are finding us. We tried to keep people updated on Facebook as to what was happening, and so we’ve had a very good day on Saturday and overall it’s been great.”
The shop is in the recently renovated former PNC Bank building purchased last year by Rayne’s Reef owner Michael Queen. Trice is again occupying two stories, with most of the stock on the first floor and a new upstairs area she described as “a comfy place for knitters and crocheters to gather.”
“The utilities had become quite expensive across the street, and so I had decided to come back to just one floor [in the old location] to try to get those bills under control,” Trice said. “Then, when Mike purchased the building and I saw the ‘for rent’ sign go up, I said, ‘let me talk to Mike!’
“I have more space here than I would have had in just the downstairs across the street,” she continued. “It just seemed like, after six years, it’s a good time to reorganize everything.”
Trice said the business has expanded gradually and the move has allowed her to reorganize stock into a way that makes more sense.
“This way, I was able to get all the certain weights [of yarn] together again and make it easier for people to shop,” she said.
She described the shop as “carrying an eclectic selection of yarns,” from supplies for lace knitters to those who use “a super-chunky yarn.”
“There’s something here you can find, whether it’s a less expensive kind of workhorse yarn, or a beautiful, hand-dyed merino-silk blend, for example” she said.
Along with having more space, it’s also a blank canvas that Queen added some custom touches to, just for Trice.
“He put in all new lighting for me, which you need great lighting for knitting, because you need to be able to see what you’re doing, and he put in the ceiling fans for me to put the heat down in the wintertime, which is helpful in a room with high ceilings,” she said. “And, of course, just having the view of the stained glass is beautiful, so it’s just a fun building to be in.”
An official grand opening ceremony is scheduled for Saturday, Jan. 12. Trice said the event would include a drawing for a gift certificate and other giveaways.
“We’ll probably do a special sale that day too,” she said. “We’re going to do it up big, once we get through the holidays. We still have some things to unpack and models to put out and things we haven’t gotten to yet, but we wanted to get in and get open for the rest of the holiday season.”
Trice also plans to offer knitting classes after the New Year in the upstairs space.
“We’re so delighted to be back in the community and we’ve missed having our contact with all of our friends and customers,” she said. “It’s great to be back and we’re looking forward to the New Year in a new shop.”
For more information, visit www.facebook.com/ALittleBitSheepish.