My Store--Ka ching

Yesterday, after reading my post about the demise of my local yarn shop, The Giggle Patch, two people emailed to suggest that I buy the store. Now, there is an interesting idea. It has occurred to me, I'll confess. It might be a problem, though, since I am no knitting expert. If someone were to walk in and ask me a question beyond the very basics of the craft, I would have to try to sell them an instruction book.

But there are other ventures I could launch into if I had the store. While I could keep a selection of yarn on hand, I could add my own touch. Hmm. Let me think.

The Cheesecake Patch: I have always wanted to have a cheesecake shop. Every time a store front becomes available in my little town, I think "what a great place for a cheesecake shop." I make a mean white chocolate cheesecake, and my raspberry marble cheesecake with a chocolate crust is amazing.

The Brass Patch: I have struggled to find a time to take horn lessons this time of year, and driving the usual one-hour drive is out of the question until Daughter No. 2 is finished with her tennis season. So, with one section of the store devoted to the yarn, the other sections could be divided into sound-proof rooms, similar to the creepy guitar shop around the corner, and in my sound-proof rooms, people could learn to play brass instruments, with lessons taught by local musicians.

The Kitchen Patch: I can buy all kinds of basic kitchen supplies at my local Wal-Mart, but they lack style. My kitchen supply shop would provide unique and stylish tools and cookbooks--definitely cookbooks--to the discerning home chef. And personalized aprons.

The Cook's Patch: Beyond kitchen supplies, my town is in need of cooking lessons, and not just the basic instruction you can get at the local grocery store. I'm talking about cooking with character, something to encourage us all to broaden our horizons when it comes to food. I would be willing to teach the remedial classes myself, but I would be happy to bring in experts from the outside world.

The Book Patch: Can you believe there isn't one bookstore in my town? There is one in the next town, just ten minutes away, and a couple of used bookstores as well, but not one within our city limits. So, yarn and books, then. A full line of great books, like a mini-Borders but without the coffee shop. For that, you'll have to walk to My Favorite Place for Joe about a block away.

The Frame Patch: My town has an abundance of photographers, one on every corner, it seems. But we don't have a picture frame studio, and since I used to work in one, teaching people to make their own frames, I think having a shop that provides custom-made frames for all the photographs we evidently need would be a success.

The Artist Patch: This is my favorite and I think the most viable. My town has plenty of craft supplies--like scrapbooking stuff and those creepy plastic heads and hands for crocheted dolls, the kind your grandmother used to make. But to find top-quality paints or brushes or canvases or watercolor paper, you have to drive 30 miles north. The Artist Patch would sell all of those things, and there might even be a lesson or two. I would sign up for them, even as the owner, because I know about as much about painting as I do about owning my own business.

If you owned your own store, what would you sell?