Skein Sisters Shop Fitout

A yarn shop in Dulwich Hill, fitted out on a budget small enough that most of the usual answers were off the table. Nearly ten years on, customers still comment on it.

Skein Sisters needed to carry a lot of small, colourful stock in a modest shop, and make it look good, without the budget for custom joinery. It also had to work for everyone who came through the door, so wheelchair and mobility access set the aisle widths from the start. In fairness, we should say: Skein Sisters is owned by Greg’s partner, Deb McDonald.

Rather than buying more shelving units, we found display space in the gaps between the ones already planned, so the shop carries more stock than the budget should have allowed. Inexpensive materials – timber panels, steel mesh and simple timber boxes – are used so they look considered rather than cheap. The counter sits where it keeps sightlines across the floor, for serving customers and for stock security. Lighting and the placement of the best-selling stock were worked out before anything was built, and the dead corners every shop has were turned into places that sell.

The shelving is modular, so it has been added to as the business has grown. It is a small project, but it shows how we approach any commercial space: design for how the business actually trades, not just how it looks.