DE PERE, Wis. – Josh Steger sees new faces come into the store every day at Fiber Arts Icons in De Pere, Wisconsin.
“We see new customers every day,” he says as he spins the wool by hand. “We welcomed several people who were new to crochet and knitting yesterday and they always have a little apprehension at the start of their first project. “What does it mean when I chose medium weight thread and size 8 needle? » “Where can I find this?” »
Icon offers both in-store shopping and internet sales. The recent Small Business Saturday gave the store an opportunity to showcase its products to customers.
“It’s a big deal for us,” he said. “We were very busy from Black Friday to Cyber Monday. We had a very good weekend. »
Josh Steger sees new faces walk into the Icon Fiber Arts store in De Pere, Wisconsin every day. (Spectrum News 1/Nathan Phelps)
A survey commissioned earlier this year by Faire reported that more than 65% of those contacted shopped at a local store several times a month.
Seventy-five percent of respondents said COVID has made them appreciate local stores more than before.
The last weeks of the year are very important for Ruth Fameree. She has Smith’s Mercantile and has stores in Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin, and De Pere, Wisconsin.
Fameree was working at the Sturgeon Bay store on Friday.
“We opened our doors in 2020, right during COVID, and the support for small businesses has been incredible during that time,” she said. “There was a bit of uncertainty as to whether this would continue once we returned to our normal lives. I like to say it’s more of a movement and not a trend. We’ve really had a lot of support from the local communities.
Much of Fameree’s stock is created and manufactured by area businesses. It includes products ranging from clothing and old-fashioned blends to eyewear and accessories.
“When you shop small, you shop unique. You find unique stories,” Fameree said. “Here, we like to say that every gift tells a story. Because we support local growers and small manufacturers, there truly is a story behind almost all of our products.
The last weeks of the year are very important for Ruth Fameree. She owns Smith’s Mercantile and has stores in Sturgeon Bay, Wis., and De Pere, Wis. (Spectrum News 1/Nathan Phelps)
Steger said a physical store like his offers a tactile element.
“The product that we sell, yes, it’s available on our website, but you have to actually see the colors of it, see the texture of it, feel the texture of it and feel the softness of it,” he said of of the in-store experience. “The fiber content of yarn ranges from cotton to wool to linen to anything else you can make things from. They all feel and look very different.