Urban Yarns is a full service knitting and crochet retail company with two locations and an online store, carrying a large selection and range of yarns, needles, notions, patterns, and books. “Always Something New” is the Urban Yarns motto, which continually motivates us to provide our customers with fresh and innovative products and designs. The store was born out of a love and passion for yarns and the desire to inspire others of all ages and abilities to explore the endless possibilities of this craft. We believe our two stores are visually exciting places to shop and we offer a plethora of colour, fibre, and weight choices, including exotic and traditional yarns in all price ranges. Our user friendly and visually appealing online store provides an extensive selection of products that is constantly being updated to make shopping at home an enjoyable experience.
We are proud of our knowledgeable staff who love to share their expertise and are also constantly energized by the creativity of our customers. Whether you are new to knitting and crocheting, or an experienced crafter, you will be delighted by their helpful service and attention to detail.
We also offer a variety of classes at both of our locations, from beginner and beyond beginner, to more advanced design and colour work options.
Question: How are you supporting other local businesses?
Answer: Wool and other animal fibres used to make yarn are primarily produced outside of Canada, although the distributors we buy them from are B.C. or Canadian businesses whenever possible. About 35% of our products are from B.C.-based and Canadian companies. And another approximately 25% are from small and local businesses located elsewhere, so we’re still supporting small businesses for those purchases. For instance, we buy Knit Collage yarns – they are a U.S. company whose yarns are made by a group of 15 women in India who do all the spinning, carding fiber, crocheting, embroidering, etc. Truly each yarn is specially handcrafted with love and care, and the product supports the livelihood of the women who craft them as well as a U.S.-based, women-run small business.
We buy almost all of our professional services from BC-based suppliers. All our accounting, bookkeeping, IT services, employee benefits and some of our banking are from B.C.-based businesses! We are also dedicated customers of our neighbouring small businesses in Point Grey Village, such as Bean Around the World, Hewer Home Hardware, DoStrength, and many more.
Question: What social and environmental practices are you proud of?
Answer: Our business is by nature a part of the handmade/repairable clothing movement, encouraging a more sustainable lifestyle for our customers. When purchasing our inventory, we are conscious of their green and social attributes. We source yarn that is responsibly dyed, and we buy organic yarn when possible. We’re also proud to employ 6 full-time (equivalent) employees in two locations – Point Grey and North Vancouver. We offer our staff flexible work hours – students and employees with health barriers to employment really need that option.
