CommuKnity and YarnDogs

K and I checked out CommuKnity and YarnDogs over the weekend. Here are my notes:

CommuKnity - I loved the spaciousness of this store. Right now they carry Rowan, Noro, Artyarns, Manos, Louet Gems, Elsebeth Lavold, Schaeffer, and other brands that aren't coming to me right now. The prices were very reasonable, dare I say actual MSRP with no mark-up? I liked many of the yarns, but I already had a lot of them in my stash. :-) The staff was friendly and helpful. The pattern and book selection was not very big. My overall impression of the store is that given the amount of money they had to start with, I think they put it in all the right places. They have a place that they can expand into well. A couple years from now, this could very well be my favorite LYS. If not now.

YarnDogs - YarnDogs was very different. They were also split up into three rooms/sections, but these sections were much smaller and more densely packed with yarn. The front room is filled with novelty type yarns. Crystal Palace and other brands. The next room has some sock yarn, cotton yarns, a shelf of merino, wool yarns, and another section that included soy yarn among other things. They carried a lot of Cascade, Plymouth and Lana Grossa. In the back was more wool and wool blends, patterns, books, and a sitting area. The mark-up was higher than at CommuKnity ($1++/ball) which is probably due to being in Los Gatos. The staff was very friendly. Unfortunately, I just wasn't interested in their yarn. Most of their sock yarn was cotton, which I suppose is appropriate for the area, but I'm just a merino kind of gal. The wall of merino was nice, but larger gauge and not what I'm looking for right now. They appear to be targeting the market somewhere between Joann's/Michael's and the existing higher end yarn stores, which I think fills a good niche, but is not for me.