Location: McMinnville, Oregon

Shop:       Boersma's....

Owner:    Michelle

McMinnville lies approx. 35 miles southeast of Portland, and just happens to be the home of the famous UFO photographs that appeared in the Oregonian and subsequently LIFE magazine in 1950. There are 27,000 people in McMinnville, and I'm sure every one of them know about Boersma's. They've been in business and in the same location since 1935. They also dominate two corners of downtown.

The knitting shop only opened 6 years ago. They had no plans of ever having a knitting shop, but they admitted they needed to when they got calls on a daily basis asking if they carried knitting supplies. So instead of making room in their quilting and fabric store, they opened up an entirely new shop, just for knitters, right across the street.

This store has a lot of room, and it's full of a lot of fun stuff. There's Michelle & Kathy sitting on the comfy couch (while they check out my buttons) in the side room, which even had more stuff.

Lots of yarns, lots of samples, and a few things you don't find in every knit shop

I followed Michelle and her manager Kathy over to the quilt shop and was amazed at the selection. This place was enourmous. And this is only one of the aisles.

I also found out that this building was built in the late 20's and had the first elevator in Oregon. It was originally built for Montgomery Wards, which didn't last very long. Boersma's kept the Montgomery Ward doors on the building, and they're still in use as the main entrance.

If you can't make it in, you can check out their website:

http://www.boersmas.com/