Jan. 29, 2021

Barbara’s Needlepoint has a new, larger home at Park Ridge Galleria.

Owner Barbara Riley started painting and finishing canvases out of her home in the mid-1990s before opening the store at 8th & Railroad Center in 2002.

“It was a fabulous location for so many years until we could not ignore that we had run out of room,” she said.

The new space at Park Ridge Galleria, 26th Street and Western Avenue, most recently was a used book shop and allows Barbara’s Needlepoint to double the space.

The store draws customers from across the nation who travel for its retreats and classes.

“People come from as far as Florida and Seattle, all over the country,” Riley said. “Last Friday, we had three different people from Omaha.”

Shoppers are drawn by the uniqueness of the product offering, which includes original canvases from area designers such as Ann Hanson, Cindy Heiberger, Beth Stromberg and David Schaff.

“The other thing that draws people is we do in-house finishing,” Riley said.

“If you were to needlepoint a stocking but need it finished off, you bring it to us, and we do that. And I think our customer service is really good, helping people choose canvases and threads. That service is something we take pride in.”

There are 18 employees, including 11 finishers, who work at the store and from home, and the pandemic has kept the entire business busy, Riley said.

In 2020, the shop took in more than 2,800 pieces of work to be finished into ornaments, pillows, stockings and other home decor.

“People were told they needed to stay home. They got out their old needlepoint and started to stitch again, and we had a rush of people calling saying they needed threads, so we started posting canvases on our Facebook page,” she said.

“With the opening of our store and the website, I think COVID has gotten people to stitch like crazy.”

Her new space will provide more room for classes, though some retreats will still be held off-site. She has turned the lower level into a finishing area and left the main floor for retail.

“We took it down to the walls,” she said. “It looks great.”

Putting the new store together was a family effort. Her son Travis D. Eason came from Texas to help with the design, “with a huge assist” from his brother, Ryan, in Sioux Falls.

“TD started the process by asking each employee that will spend time in the store what they needed to make their work efficient,” Riley said. “That led to custom cubby sizes, customers’ table heights, a photo space for online photos and finishing and an expanded shipping space.”

He also designed a metal fabricated tree in the middle of a large, round stitching table.

At the same time, the store set up a new website and point-of-sale system.

“The staff worked tirelessly to get all the threads, beads and more stickered and up on the wall,” Riley said.

“And the website will be a great complement to our existing social media presence and solidify our unique space in the online world.”

Store hours are 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. weekdays and 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday.