Name of business: Needful Things
Type of business: Yarn and gift shop
Location: 2243 Geer Rd., Turlock; www.shopneedfulthings.com
Hours: 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesday and Wednesday; 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Thursday; 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday
Contact information: 209-669-9009; needfulthingsturlock@gmail.com
Specialty: Knitting and crochet classes
History of business:
Since moving from downtown Turlock to the heart of Geer Road in 2020, Needful Things has continued to provide the community with a go-to gift destination and a variety of classes for knitting enthusiasts.
Sisters Christina and Cassandra Carroll purchased the shop from its original owner, Charlene Fry, in late 2019. Fry had previously operated Needful Things on Thor Street since 2016, but the Carroll sisters moved their new business endeavor onto Geer Road just a few months after purchasing the shop — and in the middle of a global pandemic.
Needful Things still serves as a source of vintage finds, one-of-a-kind items, salt water taffy and more, but now has some well-known neighbors like Olde Tyme Pastries, Angelini’s and Dale’s Guitar.
“We survived the shutdown, and then we moved here because there’s a lot more parking for our classes,” Christina Carroll said.
The real star of the show at Needful Things is the yarn room, which boasts some of the most sought-after materials when it comes to knitting and crocheting. The shop also offers knitting and crochet classes, which have become quite popular recently as people take up new hobbies during the pandemic.
Customers travel from as far as Merced, Modesto and Riverbank to shop the store’s wide variety of yarn, made from llama and alpaca wool as well as mohair. Needful Things has also shipped yarn to places like Israel, Norway and Australia.
“We concentrate on the yarn aspect of the store more than anything else,” Carroll said. “There are no other yarn shops like us here; you have to go to the Bay Area…We have so many specialty yarn that you can’t necessarily find at stores like Walmart or Michael’s.”
In addition to materials for the activity, knitting and crochet classes at Needful Things help locals learn the basics for as little as $15, and they can create some meaningful gifts or items to keep around the house. For example, one class teaches participants how to make a washcloth, Carroll said, and there are new classes every month.
“We’ve had everyone from a 15-year-old to a great grandmother be interested in our classes, so it’s really for any age,” she said. “For a lot of people, it’s so satisfying to have a finished product where you can say, ‘yes, I made that myself.’”
For more information on classes at Needful Things or to schedule a one-on-one lesson, call or email the store at the contact information listed above.
