Among the more unique places locals and visitors enjoy shopping in Blackduck is the Anderson Fabrics Outlet Store and Quilt Shop.
The business, which has been in operation for roughly 27 years, opened shortly after the Anderson Fabrics factory was established so that leftover fabric could be used and sold to the public.
"Rather than throwing out the leftover fabric, it was decided that this store could be opened to sell to the community," store manager Ruby Berthiaume said.
Berthiaume, who has been with the the store for 21 years said that she enjoys her job and has enjoyed watching the business grow.
"When I first started working here, there were display rooms all over the store that we would keep treatments that I would be in charge of in," Berthiaume said.
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The store is filtered with shelving full of fabrics as well beds to display quilts. The doors are always open for people to bring in their creations to be displayed on the beds or on the walls of the store if they wish.
"We get so many people from the area as well as out of town that come to this store over and over again," Berthiaume said. "People seem to really enjoy it. They say they really get overwhelmed with all the fabrics."
According to Berthiaume, Anderson Fabrics is unique because of the types of fabrics the store carries.
"We get fabrics from all over the nation," she said. "The plant works with decorators who then send fabrics from different companies to produce their product. The leftover fabric, of course, comes here."
Because the plant works directly with decorators, Berthiaume said it was nice because it kept the store up to date on the latest trends in fabrics.
"For such a small town, we catch on to what is "in" very quickly," she said.
Quilting is relatively new to Anderson's. The quilt shop been part of the store for only seven years.
"We had a few ladies in the area that suggested we get some quilting fabrics," Berthiaume said. "We did and it kind of took off."
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Berthiaume said that the store puts out specials that change weekly.
"We try to keep differnt kinds of sales every week," she said. "And, we always have a section that is 50 percent off."
She added that a flyer is then put together from the weekly sales.
"Our flyer is seasonal and we send it out four times a year," she said. "We have a good sized mailing list, too, about 3,500."
Aside from shopping in the store, customers can also place orders for custom-made treatments with fabric they have purchased in the store or fabric they have received elsewhere.
"We take the orders here and then send them over to the plant," Berthiaume said.
Over the years, the store has grown tremendously. It started out as one little room before owner, Ron Anderson bought what used to be the old grocery store, which was next door. He then added a middle room to the two buildings to create the current layout customers enjoy today.
Berthiaume hopes that the store only continues to grow both in products, customer base and popularity.
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"As long as we keep up on the trends and satisfiying our customers, I see nothing but good things for this store," she said.
