Darrell Thomas Textiles, a popular fabric shop in the Ottawa Valley with a loyal following across the national capital region, is closing its brick and mortar shop this weekend after 26 years in business, as U.S. tariffs drive-up costs and disrupt sales. The shop will permanently shut down its storefront in Almonte, Ont. at 5 p.m. on Oct. 24, but owner Darrell Graham says the business is not going away for good. Instead, its operations will move fully online. Graham opened the business in September 2000 along Sparks Street in Ottawa, later moving to Bank Street and Preston Street before relocating to Almonte in 2020. The shop is in the historic Victoria Woolen Mill. “I remember taking the paper off the wall at 240 Sparks and saying, ‘wow, this is a dream. I opened a fabric store. I loved it,’” said Graham. “And now, all of a sudden, come Saturday, I’ll close the doors and it’s an end of a long, long time.” Over the years, the store has become a destination for sewing enthusiasts looking for hard to find, specialty and designer fabrics, along with patterns, supplies and an extensive collection of around 50,000 buttons. For longtime customer Nancy McMahon, the quality of the merchandise and the shop’s personal service have made it worth the drive from Ottawa. “I’ve sewn from Darrell’s fabrics that go back 25 years and I still wear them,” she said. “The quality of the fabrics, you can’t find anywhere in eastern Ontario. I’ve known him forever and he’s been so important in terms of what sewers can accomplish and I hope he continues to be a presence around the region and host pop-up sales over the coming years.” Graham said many of his clients have become friends over the years, with some returning to the store across generations. “I always call my clients, clients and not customers because they became friends,” he says. “I’ve seen them come to us and have children and buy their fabric for baptismal gowns, and now they’re getting married. So, I’ve seen it through the generations and it’s hard letting that go.” Graham says the decision to close the storefront was driven in part by the impact of U.S. tariffs on the business’s international sales, which includes the United States, Europe and Australia, as well as the cost of maintaining a physical retail location. “We ship our fabrics worldwide and now with the tariffs, that has become a really bad item for us,” he said. “A lot of our sales have stopped and we cannot get products over there at a reasonable price. Even many of our Australia sales have to ship through the U.S. and they are tariffed. It’s fighting a battle that is not going to go away.” Bruce Winder, a retail analyst, says smaller businesses can be particularly vulnerable when international shipping routes and distribution networks are disrupted. “It’s a nightmare for companies who have had to close stores or shut down completely, and they try to pivot to Europe if they can, but these things don’t happen quickly,” Winder said. “There are different relationships, particularly with smaller companies, where they use distributors. They may ship to a distributor in the U.S. who consolidates a lot of small companies’ shipments into one before shipping overseas. And that’s the problem with being small is, you’re not big enough to fill a container yourself. You’re not big enough to circumvent the U.S. in some cases, so that’s why we’re seeing such hardship at the small business level.” The closure marks the end of a significant chapter for Graham, where he has also made community involvement a priority. “Since we opened, we always raised money for charities and helped charities because that’s the least that we can do, so I’m not going to stop that,” he said. “We supported the Almonte General Hospital for three years and raised $103,000 for them, and now recently for the past two years, we’ve helped the Mississippi Mills youth group. Almonte especially leaves a good place in my heart.” Graham says he wants to expand a heartfelt thank you to the many loyal clients, his partner Thomas and staff who have made this dream come true, adding that although the storefront is closing, to expect the same service through the online business. “What I say is it’s not goodbye. I’m still online. I’m still available. I’m still that same person,” he said. “And I’m sorry for closing the store, but I have to do what I have to do.” Darrell Thomas Textiles will continue online at www.darrellthomas.com.
