The new owners of the Cortez Quilt Co. introduced themselves to the quilting community with a grand re-opening on Saturday.
As it approaches its seventh anniversary, the quilt store at 40 W. Main St. is phasing out its yarn shop and instituting several other changes. Its previous owner, Karen Childress, moved out of the state at the end of April, leaving longtime employee Aimee King as the new owner.
King and her family held a grand reopening on Saturday and unveiled several new fabrics, patterns and class schedules.
King and her husband, Todd, officially took over the business May 1. Their children, Nolan and Cassidy, are also helping to run the store, making it a “family business,” according to King.
Most of the other employees have stayed with the shop, as have many of the customers. King said business has been good throughout May so far, but Saturday was especially busy for the grand opening.
Old and new customers crowded into the shop to see the new inventory, sign up for door prizes and eat slices of cake decorated with the shop’s logo and the Bernina sewing machines it uses.
The family used the event to unveil several lines of fabric, new patterns and a new schedule of summer sewing classes. King said she’s particularly excited about the “Sew Days” workshops, which will begin June 14. The cheapest classes on the schedule, they’ll be geared toward beginning sewers from 12 and up, she said.
As the shop introduces new things, it’ll also be getting rid of some old products. Everything in the yarn shop, which was introduced in 2016, is on clearance sale and will be phased out this summer. King said Childress was already starting to put yarn products on sale before she left, and she doesn’t intend to buy more after the inventory runs out.
“It’s not my area of expertise,” she said.
She also wants to clear the way for a new yarn shop that will be opening on First Street at the end of the month.
That shop, the Southwest Farm to Yarn Collective, will be started up by a group of sheep and alpaca raisers, spinners, weavers, dyers and artisans have pooled their talents to create a retail location at 360 W. First St., behind Notah Dineh.
The Farm to Yarn Collective will host a grand opening on May 31 from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., including door prizes, drawings, food and yarns.
In addition to regular Montezuma County customers, King said the Cortez Quilt Co. gets a lot of business from tourists over the summer.
“The thing that quilters do is, if you go on vacation, you just have to hit every quilting store you can,” she said.
To cater to tourists, she has set up a room full of Southwestern regional fabrics that are difficult to find elsewhere.
Cortez Quilt Co.’s season of quilting classes will begin on May 25 with “Beginning Ruler Work” on May 25.
Hours will be 9 a.m.-6 p.m. Monday through Saturday. For more information, call 970-565-7541 or visit cortezquiltcompany.com
