Fabric Depot, Portland, Oregon’s famously enormous fabric store, is closing. Founded in 1992 in a space formerly occupied by a Fred Meyer supermarket in Southeast Portland, Fabric Depot was one of the largest locally and independently owned fabric stores in the United States.
For more than two decades Fabric Depot was a beloved institution for the sewing community in Portland and throughout the Pacific Northwest. With more than an acre and half of floor space and over 30,000 bolts, the store truly seemed to have everything.
Kona Solids. Image courtesy of Sewtopia.
“It was just so luxurious to walk in,” says designer and craft writer Susan Beal. “Just one of those experiences where you feel so lucky that you live in a city that has a fabric store like this and you can just go get anything, from the most basic denims and quilting cottons, to any supply you can imagine, and then beautiful special collections, too. For such a huge store, it had so much charm and character. There’s something magical about walking in and seeing everything at once.”
A Community Place
Fabric Depot was also a hub for learning new skills and meeting with sewing friends. The Portland Modern Quilt Guild, which has 350 members, rented a large classroom at Fabric Depot once a month for their “Saturday Sew Days.”
“What was great was any guild member could come, bring their own machine, chat with friends, sew for most of the day, go buy stuff, and then come back and finish their project with something new,” says Beal, who serves as Programs Coordinator for Meetings for the guild.
The store also supported designers, holding events and hosting classes taught by local and national teachers. When Amy Newbold was organizing a shop hop for attendees of her Sewtopia sewing conference in 2016, Fabric Depot was a must-visit destination. Not only did the store welcome her 60 conference-goers with open arms; they also catered their lunch.
Mathew Boudreaux of Mister Domestic with his daughter, Helena, at a sewing event at Fabric Depot.
For Mathew Boudreaux of Mister Domestic, Fabric Depot was like a home away from home, even before he started his sewing business. “It was very much a family. It felt different from any other fabric store. They got to know me and my daughter. As Mister Domestic evolved and I wanted to plant some roots locally, they took an interest in me and I took an interest in them. Even though it was gigantic, it felt very special. It’s definitely been my playground.”
When Quilt Market, the industry trade show, was in Portland last spring, Fabric Depot, in conjunction with the Portland Modern Quilt Guild, hosted a series of special events featuring well-known designers.
Signs of Trouble
And yet, over the last few years, it became increasingly clear that the business was suffering. Yelp reviews from recent months tell a tale of dramatically reduced inventory.
On September 13 on reviewer wrote, “I just went to Fabric Depot for the last time. It was so empty of fabric selections. I asked a sales associate if they were going out of business! The fabric selection is horrible. It’s sad because just two years ago Fabric Depot was a vibrant, busy store.” Dozens of other reviews express similar sentiments.
Fabric Depot staff pose for a picture when the announcement about inventory reduction was posted.
A few months ago, Fabric Depot posted an announcement on their social media accounts in response to inquiries about whether they were going out of business. “Over the past few years we have fallen on some hard times as many in the industry have,” the announcement read, in part. “It is hard for locally owned brick and mortar stores to compete with big box and online pricing. As a result, we have had to cut back the quantity of the inventory we carry in an effort to preserve the quality. We know you miss ‘The Old Fabric Depot’ (and we do too), but keeping so much in stock is just not sustainable for us anymore.”.
Quilt designer Sam Hunter regularly visits Fabric Depot and had noticed its decline. “It used to be the kind of store that you could spend a half a day going up and down the aisles. Then floor started contracting,” Hunter says. “They actually walled off a significant chunk of it and it got so sparse. They rented out their outdoor parking area. They reduced the store hours a while back and laid off a whole bunch of people.”
The Founder
Anthonius “Tony” Bosboom founded fabric Depot in 1992. A native of the Netherlands, Bosboom was born in 1923, the thirteenth of fourteen children. After World War II he spent ten years in the Dutch army, rising to captain. While stationed in Jakarta he met May Marie Newman, a secretary in the US Foreign Service, and a native of Tillamook, Oregon.
The original Fabric Depot sign going up in 1992.
In 1956 the couple moved to Portland to start a new life and in 1968 founded Fabricland, a business that would grow to 92 fabric stores across the West. They sold Fabricland in 1990 and, two years later, opened one giant fabric store: Fabric Depot. Bosboom died in 2014 at the age of 90. His daughter, Trudy Bosboom Shurts, and granddaughter, Elaine Love, were involved in running the business after his death.
New Management
Last year John Eisenberg came on as Operating Principal and General Manager. Previously Eisenberg had spent eleven years at Macy’s, most recently as Vice President of Stores.
The Nelly Bean Coffee shop inside Fabric Depot opened this year.
One change that was implemented by the new management was updating the computer systems. Fabric Depot was known for its old-fashioned cash registers. Although they were quaint, some say that the archaic registers were a sign of outdated financial systems overall. “They had no idea how much was selling of what,” says one former employee who wished to remain unnamed. “Inventory was done by weight. Literally, each bolt was weighed.” This year the store got a digital point-of-sale system that tracked yardage for the first time. They also opened a coffee shop inside the store selling locally roasted coffee.
Clearly, it wasn’t enough. The Fabric Depot ecommerce site has already been shut down and the business will close for good on Sunday, October 21, at 5pm.
As a local it’s so sad and yet not surprising.
Thank you for all your industry reporting. You are my go to for current information. This is sad news indeed.
I am a newcomer to the Pacific Northwest, and I never got to visit Fabric Depot. But I wonder if Joann, formerly Joann Fabrics, is going the same way. My local Corvallis, OR, store has very significantly contracted its fabric inventory in the last two years, and now the store is disheveled and dirty as well. The young cashier did not know what to call a pattern.
Best wishes to the employees of the Portland store. Thanks for the coverage.
How sad! I had always thought visiting Fabric Depot would be a weekend destination I would get to sometime in the future. Guess it wasn’t meant to be.
That sounds so sad. I know my nearest fabric shop has closed down so it is happening in the Uk too. You are forced to buy online now and just guess at colour matching/blending. Bring back the good old days!
From what I’ve heard and read from current and former employees of various departments, there was some serious mismanagement of money over the last few years, not just the fact that Fabric Depot was brick and mortar. In fact, they had their own online store — if it was all about online shopping killing the brick and mortar business, they could have shifted to an online model. Something stinks here, and it seems to be at the expense I if their employees and their customers. I loved shopping there and specifically DIDN’T shop online because I always knew I could get whatever I needed at Fabric Depot.
There’s more to this story that isn’t being told.
I agree with you, Stephanie H. How could that store have not been a cash cow for the owners. Every time I bought there (and my husband will attest to the fact that that store was like a drug for me) there were TONS of people buying. What the heck happened?
I agree. Something stinks. Not getting the whole story!
I absolutely agree with you! This did not have to happen at all and was totally unnecessary…
I just closed my brick and mortar quilt shop after working very hard to offer many revenue streams in addition to fabrics. Fabric shops cannot make it on fabric alone, and my business model was based on most income coming from workshops. This worked well for years; however, wholesale prices climbed, profit margins narrowed so that keeping up was exhausting. Not enough profit to pay for trips to market, I don’t know how small shops make it.
I wonder if he story behind the story is about how difficult it is to run and continue the legacy of a family owned business?
This seems sad–especially in light of how successful Missouri Quilt Company seems to be.
I don’t think you can or should compare the two businesses. One was started in a tiny town with plenty of empty buildings to grow into cheaply and brought in young, tech savvy help from the get-go. While the other started with a huge store in a thriving metropolis, where rent and taxes likely skyrocketed over time. Then all the other variables, who can know?
I’m so sorry to hear this. Earlier this year, I had done the Western Washington Shop Hop with my husband. We went to every store. One of the shops was having a going out of business sale. The owner said she couldn’t compete with the online sales world any more. Yesterday I was shocked to read the newsletter from Deb Messina of Quilters Corner in Beaverton, Oregon. She is closing her doors at the shop. She said she is not going out of business and will still be around creating patterns and organizing the three yearly shop hops. Now I read this about Fabric Depot.
It just goes to show that we need to support our local quilt shops. We need to encourage others to do the same.
My dream is to have a brick and mortar shop. Right now I’m doing precut sales online (not cuts from the bolt) and hosting classes for young adults out of my home. This is aside from the longarm quilting service and commercial embroidery.
I wanted a store front to house all of this and be able to have face-to-face with my customers. After these three brick and mortar closures, I’m a little concerned about where my business will go. We just started the business in August. I want to be successful and help others with their projects.
So sad to see another fabric store close. This is the second one I read about today; the other was in the extreme opposite corner of the US, in Florida. I hate to see the small, independent shops close; they all have the creativity and spark the chains do not. Best wishes for the future to all employees. Happy quilting to all!!!
Used to purchase a LOT of fabric online from Fabric Depot. Were lovely to deal with. Then, my credit card information was stolen. Not just stolen, but actually used to make huge purchases in Europe. Felt they didn’t have enough security with their online system so never went back – even though they sent incentives. Very sorry to see them go.
It is so sad that a store you can touch the fabric is going out because they say they can’t compete
But they could have because most of the brick and mortar stores I have been to the prices are cheaper and you can see actual colors instead of digital pictures which can be off a touch.
I hope they can start up again in a smaller venue and give the sewers in their area a good place to shop and be taught new techniques
I love my small stores
good luck
Fabric Depot helped me to launch my online soft goods business several years ago. With kids in tow, I regularly shopped there and found great inspiration. They had talented buyers with a good eye and gave designers such as myself wholesale prices as well as great sales regularly. Over time, I witnessed disgruntled employees, management problems, and the loss of fabric buyers, replaced by less trained staff. I used to spend several hundred dollars per trip and over the last couple years found less and less I wanted to purchase. I left many comments requesting better inventory like the old days. They seemed to shift toward quilting fabrics and away from home decor and fashion. Very sad. It was a great destination for many years and I’m sorry to see it go but the writing has been on the wall for a couple years. I think when the management changed, so did the soul of the store. Best wishes to all the employees, who gave treats to my kids, gave advice and all kinds of help over the years. Let’s hope the Mill End store stays around. When they close, it will be a new era.
Hey Suzanne…my heart is also broken.
So sorry to see the store go. I was fortunate to shop while visiting my daughter who lived in Portland a few years ago. Amazing how much fabric was there and the variety was fantastic. I shopped a lot that day! We lost a wonderful quilt shop in Indianapolis recently and I just hate it but it’s understandable – just sad.
I only got to shop there once last fall and I suspected that they were in trouble because their garment fabric inventory was much smaller than I had heard it was. They did have tons of quilt fabric. The fabric industry is a tough one but I’m surprised that with such a vibrant sewing area such as Portland couldn’t support a store like Fabric Depot. Very sad but I’m glad I got there. I heard that the sewing machine store was going to remain open there until they could find a new location.
It is a wonder that people can buy fabric online, since it seems as if you have to touch and feel your fabric to see if it is really what you want. In my city of over 100,000 we have only Walmart and JoAnn’s left. In 1965, in a town of 15,000 we had four places to buy fabric.
Fabric Depot was “my store”; I shopped there for 25 years. Their head notions buyer became a personal friend, and helped me with very sage advice during a rough patch in my late blooming professional quilting career. They’ve always supported and delighted me and I still can’t believe they are gone. It hurts.
I paid for a special order and never received it nor a refund, not very happy about that!
I drove from Kelso, a 50 min trip, to find my favorite fabric store closed, for good. They closed over a month ago and I am just learning this terrible news. WHERE DO I SHOP NOW???
Hey Erika…I guess we’re all supposed to trade online now. Do they not have a clue that fabric buyers want to see and feel quality? If anyone finds a good fashion fabric resource, I’d love to know about it. Mill End Store is good but “geographically undesirable” since it’s across the river from home. Fabric Depot was 10 minutes from my house. Maybe I’ll have to find another addiction!
The Fabric Depot was a destination for me to go to Portland from the Tri-Cities in Washington. First I would take my boys, one to the comic book store and the other to the baseball card store and we would buy lots of stuff to keep them occupied. I would then get to spend an hour in Fabric Depot. I am sorry to see them close and miss going to Portland.
I am looking for fabric to buy by the bolt at a ridiculous cost. Do you have any? I make bags and sell them. Thank you.
The loss of a great fabric resource. Was only up in Oregon once a
year for an event in Hood River. Would get together with friends
who had moved to the Portland area, and always, after lunch
went to Fabric Depot. Got amazing help, amazing fabric, and
loved every visit! Was so sad when I read that they had closed.
The info I heard from my friends was that the area Fabric Depot
was in was undergoing ‘gentrification’. Grateful for online
shopping–but so miss brick and mortar stores!. FYI–a great
resource I found is online fabshophop.com! I have called and
talked to real people at their stores in other states or to some
who have an online presence. Have ordered fabric that was
just what I wanted! One fabric ‘shop’ person even went online
to find fabric for me and called me back to tell me about it!
That’s Elka at Fabric Paradise! Happy Hunting to all
homes
I have been getting emails for sales from Fabric Depot all of this year. Since the store has closed, I wonder if these are as scam. There is no indication of misspelled words or misused English grammar that usually are found in scam emails. I haven’t opened any of them, but wondered if others are getting them as well? Did the store go online only?
My guess is that the domain name was purchased by Fashion Fabrics Club. They have the same inventory. High-ranking domain names are a valuable commodity and for some it’s worth selling it if you’re closing your B&M shop.
My dad lived on SE 127th & Stark–2 short blocks away. I visited there every year in the 90’s and 2000’s. Such a joyful experience. So hard to choose from all the fabulous fabrics, notions, and patterns. Customer service was excellent. No other fabric store like it anywhere. San Francisco has a store with exquisite fabrics that purchased by the famous and not-so famous from throughout the world–but if you’re a quilter like I was–Fabric Depot was the place to shop! Everything is changing in this country so this closing is not all that surprising. But I’m sad to see this change. 🙁
Tonight was a sad night for me. When I needed special fabric I went online to my old shopping fabric store. I moved from the Portland area in 2006 after 50 years of residence. Being a sewer, I found my famous candy store, Fabric Depot, had been closed. Immediately, 20 years of shopping ran through my mind with warm, fun, memories. The most unique fabric store I will ever encounter and always has been missed by me.