Nonprofit Craft Supply Store Opens Saturday; Local Crafters Call It 'Long Overdue'

WAUKESHA — The Common Thread, a nonprofit craft supply store, opens its doors Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. in a 2,800-square-foot storefront on Grandview Boulevard, the former home of Grandview Vacuum & Sewing Machine Repair, stocking fabric, yarn, paper goods, embroidery supplies, and art materials that local crafters say have until now required a drive out of town to find.

Robert Chen, 44, a local quilter and the store's primary organizer, said the idea took shape after years of tracking his own supply runs to the Michaels and Joann stores near Brookfield Square. Chen said the round trip typically ran 25 minutes door to door, a figure he arrived at using the trip odometer on his 2014 Honda Odyssey over roughly a dozen documented runs. He estimates the new store will cut that to under five minutes for most Waukesha crafters, a number he has already had printed on a small sign near the register.

"I have personally purchased fusible interfacing in three different municipalities this year," Chen said. "That ends Saturday."

The Pricing Pitch

Chen said the nonprofit's board settled on a pricing structure that runs 8 to 12 percent below national retail chains, funded through a mix of grant money, donated inventory, and what Chen described as "aggressive relationships with three separate fabric wholesalers who agreed to stop asking questions." He said the board debated going lower before landing on the current range, worried that undercutting the big-box stores by too much would look, in his words, "like we were trying to start something."

The 2,800-square-foot space includes a cutting counter salvaged from a shuttered Elm Grove tailor shop, four rows of yarn shelving built by volunteers from a Waukesha West woodshop class, and a single sewing machine repair bench, a nod Chen said was unintentional until a board member pointed out the building's previous tenant.

"I used to bring my machine in here to get fixed. Now I'm going to bring it in here to buy the thread that breaks it again."

— Diane Vandehey, county fair planning committee chair, at Thursday's soft opening

A Quiet Thursday Preview

The store held an unadvertised preview Thursday evening for board members and volunteers, drawing roughly 30 people who Chen said "found out anyway." Attendees were permitted to purchase from a limited selection of embroidery floss and cardstock, with the full inventory, including fabric bolts, yarn, and paint, held back for Saturday's official opening. Chen said the decision to stagger inventory access was "not a marketing strategy" but acknowledged that three preview attendees had already asked when the yarn wall would be unlocked.

Councilman Gary Puchalski, who toured the space Thursday, said the city had no formal role in the project beyond standard permitting but that he was "glad to see Grandview get some foot traffic that isn't just people looking for a vacuum repair." Puchalski left with a bag of quilting cotton he said was "for my wife, mostly."

Chen said the store will be staffed by nine volunteers on a rotating schedule and will accept fabric, yarn, and craft material donations starting the following Monday. He said the board has not yet decided whether to accept donated googly eyes, citing an unresolved storage capacity question.

Saturday's opening will include a ribbon cutting at 10 a.m. using a pair of pinking shears Chen borrowed from his mother, who has asked for them back by Sunday.