Who owns fabricland

This article was published more than 19 years ago. Some information may no longer be current. Its time to say goodbye to the neighbourhood fabric store. Nestled between a Japanese paper shop and a tony restaurant, the stenciled signs and rolls of fabric that crowd the windows of I.

Woolf Textiles Ltd. A time before super moms and big-box stores and brand-name fashions of the week. Shelves overflowing with the "latest fabrics at cheapest prices" don't tempt the hipsters and yuppies who stroll past with lattes and leashes in hand. Many don't have the time, or inclination, to spend two or three evenings stitching a skirt or dress together. Fabric stores have become more specialized, she said, some serving ethnic communities, others serving professionals or hobbyists such as quilters and home decorators.

Some big chain stores, such as Fabricland ,are surviving. But a lot of stores -- such as the legendary Marshalls in Montreal or Stitsky's in Toronto -- have just plain disappeared.

Textiles and upholstery were a booming business when Mr. The neighbourhood was teeming then with European immigrants who would line up around the block to buy his discounted fabrics or the irregular corduroy pants he got from the children's clothing plant a few blocks away.

And then there was the rag trade. At one point Mr. Werzberger was picking up 30, to 40, pounds of textile waste a week and reselling it to be reprocessed or turned into rags, felt or pockets. But sometime in the s things changed. Women entered the work force. Schools cut back on home economics programs. Specialty stores opened to serve women on the smaller or larger end of the scale. As time went by, the old ones little by little faded away and the new ones didn't pick up the trade," Mr.

Werzberger said, his thick accent betraying his Romanian origins 55 years after he immigrated to Canada as a Jewish teen orphaned by the Holocaust. When children of Italian, Portuguese and Jewish immigrants rebelled against homemade clothes, Mr. Werzberger stocked his shelves with silks so that the next wave of immigrants -- from South Asia -- could make their saris.

But after a while the sari business moved to the east end of the city, and Mr. Werzberger turned back to more traditional fabrics. I have found at least 10 and I am very lucky! I love fabrics and enjoy every minute of doing my job, so I consider myself very lucky. My secret, they think I am in a meeting. HE HE!! Remember me Log in. Lost your password? Your personal data will be used to support your experience throughout this website, to manage access to your account, and for other purposes described in our privacy policy.

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