Brothers Joshua and Ian Denfords look at some of the 300,000 yards of fabric they now have on sale a Out of My MinDesigns.
When Mill End Fabrics closed its Carson City store late last year it was both the end and the beginning of something big for Joshua and Ian Densford.
“Between the two of us, we worked there for 21 years,” said Joshua, 27, on Tuesday.
Now, the brothers have parlayed that experience, and familiarity with the former shop’s patrons, to open their own fabric store, Out of My MinDesigns.
The 4,000 square-foot store opened this week in half of the Hot Springs Road space that long housed Classy Seconds Thrift Shop.
It features 300,000 yards of colorful fabric for sewing, upholstery, and crafts, as well as other sewing needs such as buttons. The store even has a room set aside for all kinds of foam to make upholstered seat cushions.
“We’re the only place in town that carries foam,” said Joshua.
The long-term goal, he said, is to take over the entire 9,000 square foot space, expand the inventory, and add sewing classes and space that can be reserved by others to teach related crafts.
But, for now, the other half of the building houses the brothers’ other business, Urban Thrift, a renamed and relocated thrift shop the pair have been operating in nearby space for several years.
Its former name was Poppin’ Tags.
“No one ever got the reference,” said Joshua, referring to lyrics in the song Macklemore & Ray Lewis song, “Thrift Shop,” from which the store took its name.
The thrift shop, which reopens next week, houses a huge collection of items found through estate sales, auctions, and yard sales, including clothing, kitchenware, furniture, antiques and books.
For Joshua, it all started more than a dozen years ago, when he accompanied his sister to her classes at DanceSpirit Studio on Stewart Street, then near Mill End Fabrics.
On one visit he got bored so he went next door to ask for a job. He started out sweeping and doing other chores and ended up learning to sew to better serve the store’s customers. Ian eventually joined him and worked there part-time.
Joshua learned how to upholster, too, and did some work on the side.
“My first ever job was for High Sierra Brewery,” he said, the brewery once located on Carson Street, where The Union now operates. “It was a one-night job. We went in at 6 p.m. and didn’t leave until 3 a.m. It was the night before its opening.”
He still does some upholstery work, but he’s focusing now on learning all aspects of the fabric business he didn’t do in his first job.
“I was experienced on the selling side. The buying side is new and it’s been fun to learn,” Joshua said.
He and Ian just came back from a convention in Las Vegas, where they met with fabric wholesalers, and plan to attend another one in Portland next month.
“We’re in the beginning stages of the business and we plan to grow it every day, and to constantly invest in it to make it great,” he said.
Out of My Mindesigns, 411 Hot Springs Road, Suite 2, is open now and plans a grand opening on May 5.
The fabric store hours are 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., Tuesday through Friday; 10 a.m to 5 p.m. on Saturday; and 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Sunday.
Urban Thrift, located in Suite 1, will be open 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Tuesday through Saturday, and 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Sunday.
