A sign advertises Attic Heirlooms, a craft and fabric shop in downtown Damariscotta. The shop has set a tentative closing date of Dec. 18. (Hailey Bryant photo)
Attic Heirlooms, the craft and fabric shop in the Damariscotta Center building, will close this winter after seven years in town.
Owner Trish Harriman has set a tentative closing date of Friday, Dec. 18, but Attic Heirlooms will not go entirely out of business. Though she wants to lighten her workload, Harriman plans to move her store online.
“COVID does have a play in it, but I’m past retirement age, so that’s part of it too,” Harriman said. She and her husband, Dave, plan to move to Florida, where they have spent the past few winters.
Attic Heirlooms opened in Damariscotta in October 2013, after two years on Route 1 in Nobleboro. The business expanded last fall, when Harriman rented an additional 1,400-square-foot space in the back of the Damariscotta Center building for extra inventory and a place to teach classes on stitching technique.
Harriman plans to offer classes online after the brick-and-mortar shop closes. “Moving forward, I am also very excited to begin planning for online classes, live Facebook videos, Podcast videos, helps and tips via Facebook groups, and, of course, more designing, which was my first passion,” she wrote in an Oct. 23 Facebook post.
Until the shop closes in December, Attic Heirlooms will offer a 20% discount on regular items.
Harriman’s lifelong love of embroidery, knitting, felting, and more led her to start the business, but over the years, her favorite part of the job has become the customers.
“The best part is our regulars that live here and all of the people that come in during the summer,” Harriman said. “I love the town too, but the people are special.”
“We don’t just sell the products, we also teach them how to use it,” she said.
