Embroidery store expands, opens shop on Front Street

Kaydence French, Herald Reporter
Posted 8/16/22

BEst KIND Embroidery expands

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Embroidery store expands, opens shop on Front Street

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Dorie Medina-Cox and Russell Cox, owners of BEst KIND Embroidery Shop in Evanston, has expanded and added a quilt supply section, along with merchandise, to the store, made possible by a new storefront on Front Street.

BEst KIND Embroidery has been up and in business since the fall of 2020, but just recently moved to its new building in June.

“We started out with one single-needle machine when we were working out of my house,” Medina-Cox said, “but that wasn’t nearly enough for us — we couldn’t keep up. So, in December of that year, we purchased the six-head [sewing machine] and had to move out to Allegiance Circle.”

Medina-Cox said even at that location, the space was still way too small for their business, so they kept searching and settled on their current shop on the corner of Front and 9th streets.

“We’re going to redo the two floors upstairs longer down the road as a sort of quilting retreat center or an Airbnb [during] big events in town like Brew Fest,” she said.

She said they’re really lucky to score such a historic site so close in the middle of town, but that it has been a lot of work so far, and continues to look that way for a while.

“It took my husband and me about a year to remodel this main floor,” she said, “and we’re giving ourselves about a year to complete every other floor.”

Needing something to take up the rest of the building’s main floor, Medina-Cox made the decision to add their new quilt shop because of her own love of the craft.

“We have another cute, little quilt shop here in town, so we wanted to put a little bit of a different spin on ours next to Common Threads,” she said. “… Instead of selling whole quilts, we sell the supplies for you to make your own.”

The family-owned business has been offering embroidery alongside their newly-added quilt section for individuals and businesses since the beginning.

“We do logos on hats, jacket backs — anything you can think of,” Medina-Cox said. “We also do a good amount of personal work. Some people come in and they just want a name on a backpack and we do it for them.”

The small store also carries a wide array of officially-licensed Wyoming Cowboys gear — hats, clothing, bags, blankets, and more. Everything you can see in the shop is also available online at bestkind307.com.

“Something we think would be really fun and something we want to do here is offer some classes to the community — that’s what the downstairs is going to be — a classroom/retreat center,” she said. “I’d also like to bring people in who can teach things that I can’t, like any handwork like crocheting and knitting.”

Medina-Cox said she was motivated to expand by the idea of having more community involvement.

“I want to get more people involved in quilting,” she said, “young people, especially. There are not a lot of young people into it and I’m hoping we can spark their interest and get them all quilting.”

Medina-Cox said they plan to hold a grand opening this fall, once their quilting section bulks up a bit. She said they plan to host a quilt retreat at Bear Lake for the community in the spring.

“We rent a house, and the quilters come and stay and they bring their sewing supplies,” she said of the planned event. “And to non-sewers, it might sound ridiculous, but you just sit around and sew for days, and eat, and hang out. It’s going to be a lot of fun.”