FOX 13<\/a>.<\/p>\nHer sewing classes fill up fast now. Shelves hold more material than before. Shoppers can touch fabrics in ways internet stores can’t match.<\/p>\n
“You’ve got to touch everything. When people come here, even the kids that come to our afterschool program, I tell them just go around and feel everything in the store. Just make sure your hands are clean,” Fairbanks said.<\/p>\n
Carmen Wilson runs Gigi’s Fabric Shop and answers to Gigi. Her shop sits across from where JOANN once stood. Buyers drive in from St. Petersburg, Wesley Chapel, Sarasota, and spots throughout Central Florida.<\/p>\n
“Oh my goodness, they’re coming from all over! And we usually ask them, ‘Hey, where are you from?’ And we see them coming from St. Pete, Wesley Chapel, Sarasota, just about all of Central Florida,” Wilson said.<\/p>\n
Wilson shifted what she sells. For 14 years, quilting supplies dominated her shop. Now clothing fabrics line the walls too. Gasparilla festival-goers wanted pirate costume materials, so she adapted.<\/p>\n
“I saw a lot of Gasparilla people. They were coming in here and they were wanting to do pirate costumes, and they were like, ‘Where’s the red chiffon, and where’s the black chiffon?’ And like, I don’t have that,” Wilson said. “So, I started kind of scrambling a little bit and I started changing the way I do my fabric purchases.”<\/p>\n
Wilson brought on another worker. Hours grew longer. Sewing classes returned. Customers can order through the website and pick up items at the shop.<\/p>\n
Fairbanks pointed out that brick-and-mortar options have dwindled. Jay’s Fabric, the biggest shop around, shut down two years back.<\/p>\n
“We have to be mighty in a little, small spot,” Wilson said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Two fabric shops in the Tampa Bay area have attracted more shoppers since JOANN Fabrics and Crafts shuttered…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":194601,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[202,204,203,199,201,200,135],"class_list":["post-194600","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-st-petersburg","tag-st-pete","tag-st-pete-headlines","tag-st-pete-news","tag-st-petersburg","tag-st-petersburg-headlines","tag-st-petersburg-news","tag-tampa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/194600","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=194600"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/194600\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/194601"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=194600"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=194600"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=194600"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}