Review :: Coffee & a Yarn plus Granny Square, Newtown, Sydney
Having been away from home for 15 months now I was keen to check out my old stomping ground, Newtown. I was interested to see what new shops have sprung up & of course if there are any for lease as this is where I would want to set up my dream shop.My sister had sent me a link a few months ago about a new knitting cafe in Newtown so it was on our list to visit. It's called "Coffee & a Yarn" at 413 King Street.
Perhaps we went with high expectations as, I'm afraid to say, we left underwhelmed. I was expecting to walk into a shop overflowing with wool, needles & patterns books & to be welcomed into the secret society of Newtown Knitters. Don't get me wrong, I think their idea is great - combining coffee & tea with knitting though I hate to say that I don't think it's working.
Their shelves felt empty. As Big Sis pointed out some wool she would like to use for a cardigan, there was only 3 balls. I believe that if one is choosing wool for a project, one needs to get the whole quantity of wool required at once. I also felt that the help & advice just wasn't there. The lady who owns it eventually came in & explained that the stock was low due to suppliers being shut over xmas. Like, Hello!, order in advance!!!
I also asked about the workshop schedule but that wasn't ready yet for the new year...not really impressed about that either!
As it is also a cafe we sat to have a coffee & while the coffee was good (better than the stuff in England!!), there wasn't much at all to choose from in terms of food which was disappointing.
Maybe I am being too hard but then we went to a new store called 'The Granny Square' & the difference couldn't be more obvious.
We were greeted like long lost daughters by a lovely lady called Ruth. She immediately asked us if we were knitters or did crochet & then launched into all sorts of lovely chat about their wool & their shops. Ruth & her husband also run 'Morris & sons' & they even distribute their own branded wool.
There was loads of stock, a great range of ply & colours, I felt that Ruth could answer any of my questions plus there was also a feast of embroidery floss & a selection of haberdashery.
All in all, I will be going back to Granny Square plus popping into the Morris & Sons store on York Street in the City....well, when we come back home that is!
Details are:
A Coffee & a Yarn
413 King Street, Newtown
The Granny Square
47 King Street, Newtown
xx
ps: can you tell I have been channelling Mary Portas for this blog!!
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