Metro Vancouver’s oldest knitting shop closes, eyes mobile future

The owner of Metro Vancouver’s oldest knitting shop is hoping to start a mobile operation as a new development slated for its longtime West Vancouver location forces it to shut down.

The Knit and Stitch Shoppe has occupied 2460 Marine Drive for more than 20 years, but has been a staple of the North Shore since the 1970s when it operated in Lynn Valley.

“I think it’s going to be tough for other people,” said owner Ingrid Mutsaerts, whose mother Edith founded the business.

“I was like their bartender, except they didn’t get drunk, they just knitted sweaters.”

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Mutsaerts said Knit and Stitch’s customers are a community, often taking advantage of a mentorship program that teaches anyone and everyone “everything you need to know about knitting.”

“People became family, right? So when there’s a problem they’d always come to me first,” she explained. “I don’t think I’ve bought one cup of coffee for myself since I’ve been here. They look after me very well.”

Mutsaerts said she now hopes to buy a food truck and run her business from there.

“If I have my bus, it’s mine. No one is ripping me out of that one.”

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Longtime customers went in and out of the Dundarave neighbourhood shop on Tuesday, moving out stockpiles of wood, buttons, needles, and baskets. They also saved cherished items from Knit and Stitch’s history of more than 50 years.

They expressed great sadness that the shop was closing down as well as hope for its mobile future, and credited Ingrid for all she’s done for the community over the years.

Mutsaerts likened the building’s teardown to “deforestation,” taking place “despite the animals” who live there.

‘I think this whole community is going to really suffer,” she said. “Sometimes, when it’s been disrupted it doesn’t always come back.”