PROVO -- A well-loved fabric store in Provo is closing its doors after 43 years.
The fabric shop, Fabric Mill, is a fixture in downtown Provo.
And after four decades, sisters Sharon Lynn and Judy Skinner say it’s time to give it up.
“I hate to give up, because I've been so optimistic,” Lynn said, one of the store owners.
The mom and pop shop took a small hit when the box stores moved in, and they felt the recession -- but they couldn't hold on through the multi-year construction projects in downtown.
“They forgot us during the construction,” Lynn said. I think they came and went around and around the block so many times. I'm serious there was never a parking spot.”
Once the development stopped, things didn't get back to normal.
The small store hung in there a long time, the sisters say, especially when you consider all the stores that didn't make it over the years.
“We counted 50 business and big businesses too and the smaller ones,” Skinner said, also a co-owner. “Just lots and lots of businesses that haven't made it on Center Street.”
Customers came to the Fabric Mill for hard to find, quality material.
“I was telling our daughter yesterday, and she said what are you going to do I said ‘I'm going to cry,’” said customer Danna Hansen.
The ladies say they're not quite ready to retire and both plan to work part time at the Orem Fabric Mill.
