My LYS is going out of business this June, and while I mostly buy my yarns at JoAnn's, I have gotten some nice stuff from her. Hubby thinks that she's closing due to the economy and also that her prices are high. So this brings me to a question; what kind of prices do any of you pay for things like Cascade 220, just the plain vanilla variety, not the Superwash? Or the Opal sock yarns?
Her shop is small, and she couldn't always special order things because her supplier required minimum sized orders and that wasn't always practical for her to do. I honestly didn't go there a lot because her prices did seem a tad high, but mostly because her store hours and my shopping availablity hours didn't always mesh. I feel bad about that, but what's a knitter to do?

Around here Cascade 220 just went up to $6.95 (was $6.50).

You ask what's a knitter to do--My LYS is owned and run by a lovely woman, friendly, helpful, very skilled. I hardly ever go there, because the shop is small so the selection is limited, and it's not open at the times that are most convenient for me. There's a huge LYS (not chain) about half an hour away that's open on Sundays and has everything. So I go there. I feel bad too, but not that much--if you can't get what you want, of course you go somewhere else!

Having worked for years in retail (Ski and bike shops) it is very tough for the owners. But a person has to be a smart shopper, the owners know that and yet they need to supply customers with what they want. It is a very hard way to make a living.

As a bike shop owner told me once the business that makes it has to have a sharp pencil and always look for the best prices and the largest margin to turn a profit. It is hard challenging work.

I love supporting all the local businesses I can. But most of the year I live in a very rural location with two stores. I basically have to buy everything online and ship it into us. When I am not here and in our small town in Montana I buy as much as I can locally. Nothing is better than walking into a store (any kind) being greeted by a person, to touch and see what I am actually going to buy. I love it.

I have no answer but if you like small businesses then one has to support them and realize that money is going to some one in your community!

I had a small new/used bookstore for several years. Small retail is fun, rewarding, and takes up ones entire life for extremely little profit. I gave up when a new Border's and a new Barnes and Noble we each going to open close to my shop. Costco could sell best sellers at the price I had to pay for them wholesale and have them in stock sooner than I could get them. Expertise about your stock and materials is essential, but the bottom line wins every time. It's a shame, but there it is.

Cascade 220 is on sale right now on yarncountry.com for $6.50. That is where I look for the better quality yarn, along with knitpicks, b/c I haven't been to any other yarn store but Joann's.

The only yarn I've ever bought online has been EuroFlax linen yarn. I like to touch the yarn I buy. It gets frustrating, though, because often you find just the yarn you want and they're one skein short of what you need! (So I took up spinning--I guess it would have been simpler to get used to buying online.:-) )

It seems that every type of yarn is going up. The local Pamida(like K-Mart) has raised the cost of the Red Heart super savers almost $2.00 a skein in the last year so it's almost $4.00 now and they are the only store that's close enough to get to. I hate to think what the LYS have to raise theirs to so it's no wonder so many are dropping out of the market.

I'm not sure why she's going out of business, whether it's the economy, or she wants to move on. She said on the postcard she mailed to announce this, that "sadly, but with no regrets" she was closing in mid-June. I'm going to try to get to the shop next week and see if I can snag some Cascade 220 and maybe some Dale of Norway Baby (that's what I'm trying to make my Argyle sock with). She will no doubt be short on stock and I may end up with nothing, but that's about as soon as I will be able to get there.
So when I'm there, I'll find out what's up.

My LYS owner told me that last year China increased its demand for wool by a huge margin, and that this increased demand raised world wool prices.

Hmmm. The Chinese were the ones who got the oil prices up so high last year. They were stockpiling for the Olympics. So what are they doing with all this wool?

Not knitting, as I recall, but I don't remember what it actually was. Presumably weaving, I suppose.