The Cozy Corner fabric store has announced that they’re closing, but they’re doing it in a creative and generous way that shows their appreciation for the community that welcomed them in and gave them happy years in business.

Owners Pam and Randy York, who have decided to retire, are holding a closing sale until Sunday, August 26 with various sewing and quilting tools discounted up to 70 percent. Sewers and quilters can find fabric, notions, patterns, ribbon, thread, stabilizers, sowing machine accessories and other odd items for needlecraft. There also a unique piece built by local craftsman Gary Carpenter, a cutting table made from reclaimed wood and built without a screw.

What makes this sale special is that the Yorks are donating all sale proceeds before GST to seven local charities.

“There's a lot of product left here and we decided that we would sell it rather than take it,” says Pam. “It's a fun thing that people can get a great deal, but at the same time, they're really donating to charity. We don't care to have to make a profit on any of this."

“It's a chance to give back,” adds Randy.

Customers can select from seven different charities and organizations in Crowsnest Pass that they can donate the cost of the items they purchased, the Women’s Resource Centre, the Crowsnest Pass Museum, Crowsnest Pass Allied Arts Association, Crowsnest Pass SPCA, the Crowsnest Pass Foodbank Society, the Crowsnest Pass Hospital Foundation and the Ricky Ryp Foundation.

You may remember Cozy Corner back in 2012 when it originally opened as a clothing shop. In 2016, after 12 years in business, Pam and Randy decided to retire from the retail side of the business.

“It was just getting too hard on us,” says Pam.

That’s when the consignment store Crowsnest Pass It On opened in July 2016 and has been operating in the main space on 17 Ave. In Coleman ever since. The Yorks continued using the back room as an office space and workroom. You could often find Pam working away on quilts and teaching others to sew and quilt in the small back room of the building.
On and off over the past several years, the Yorks had listed the building for sale on and off and say they were actually surprised to finally receive an offer on it this past June.

The potential buyer is an existing local business. The transaction is expected to close by the end of the month and luckily, they have agreed to allow Crowsnest Pass It On to continue operating until at least the end of its lease in June 2019.

The York moved to Crowsnest Pass approximately 13 years ago and opening a fabric shop has been a long dream of Pam’s.

“It's always been a passion for me,” says Pam, who has been crafting on a sewing machine since she was 10 years old and calls it a major stress-reliever.

"Before that, my mother wouldn't let me use the machine. She was always afraid I would run over my fingers,” laughs Pam. “My grandmother started me with a needle and thread stringing buttons on a strong and making doll clothes, like all kids.”

When she was 12 years old, she had so much fun creating an entire wardrobe of attire for a Chatty Cathy doll her family had purchased for a cousin of hers in England that she was hooked on creating using needle and thread.

"I had so much fun doing that and by the time I got to having to take Home [Economics], I figured I knew more than the teacher did,” laughs Pam, who later used to sew her own clothing, even suits for when she worked for the City of Calgary.

Moving to the Pass from Calgary, Cozy Corner helped Pam and Randy integrate into the community and meet many of their friends and acquaintances that they have become close with.

“It was the very best way to move to a new community. Because I opened this store, we met so many people. The fact that you're in a business, people come through the door and you get to know them,” says Pam. “I used to tell my staff, 'You'd never get in trouble talking to the customers.’”

“When you come to the quilt store, it's a very social event," Randy adds.
Now, in their early 70s, the Yorks are ready to take their “snowbirding” more seriously and hope to have more time to travel, garden and look after their house. Pam, also a certified teacher for Quilt with Marci Baker, hopes to continue teaching, but at a slower pace.

The couple has bucket lists of adventures they hope to cross off, including a cruise through the Panama Canal, visit Pam’s family in England, and visit five states in the U.S., which will complete Randy’s objective of visiting every state, province and territory in North America.

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