By Scott D. Johnston
For the Grays Harbor News Group
After “coming down for weekends and holidays for about seven years,” Chuck and Gail Anderson moved to Ocean Shores from Renton in October of 2017. Since then, they’ve become pretty well-known locally, both for being vendors at the popular Urban Unglued gothic-themed retail events, now held twice a year at the Ocean Shores Convention Center.
She also makes a variety of pop culture-themed gift and household items that are sold through online craft related Etsy shops and an eBay store. He, meanwhile, is a published author of horror fiction with more than 25 books available on Amazon, and also ran (unsuccessfully) for Ocean Shores City Council this year.
Now the couple has added “brick and mortar retail store owners” to their life story, since acquiring Beach Tyme Quilts at 873 Pt. Brown Ave. NW in October.
They’ve renamed the store, “Beach Tyme Fabric & Craft Supply,” a reflection of their expanded view of the business and the market in the North Beach area.
Gail said she’s a life-long crafter who has always “loved selling what I make, and being creative. The shop is a bonus.” Chuck admitted that “it’s been a steep learning curve,” and a lot of it has involved finding out what present and potential customers need and want, beyond quilting supplies.
What they’ve discovered is demand for a broad array of fabrics and craft-related materials, including their number one request, yarn. They’ve already made three buying trips and now stock a wide variety and are happy to handle special orders. Gail said she’s heard they may have the biggest selection of ocean and beach themed fabrics on the west coast.
They also are promoting the business by offering several different classes and have created a large space that is a classroom, project area, meeting room for rent and customer lounge.
Gail said that, so far, “it’s going fabulously, far better than we expected.” Chuck explained that they are using social media as their primary promotional tool, and the results have been very encouraging. They’ve grown the Facebook page, still called Beach Tyme Quilts, to over 1,000 followers and have built a 2,500-member email list.
Once they put the word out that they were buying the store, he said, “the community’s been great! So many people wanted to help. The support’s been amazing!” Gail noted, “Black Friday was an extremely busy day. We were thrilled!”
All that helped the Andersons decide to thank their friends and neighbors by offering a 20% discount to locals, every Sunday.
The hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Wednesday through Monday. The store is closed on Tuesdays. More information is available online at www.beachtymequilts.com.
