Published: June 14, 2009 01:23 am      

Fabric and Foam Sales marks 40 years of service

FAIRMONT — Fabric and Foam Sales Inc. is celebrating 40 years of “good, personalized service.”

Andy Poling is the owner of Fabric and Foam Sales, a business that his parents — Sarah and Andy — opened in White Hall in June of 1969. They established the shop in a building that formerly served as a drive-in restaurant and was also an International Harvester store at one time.

The younger Andy Poling was a band teacher in Michigan when the business was started. He returned to the area in 1970 to attend graduate school at West Virginia University.

Poling said he began working at the store in 1972 when his father was unable to work due to illness. His dad died two years later.

Poling initially planned to stay for about a year to help his mother, but he never left. Sarah turned the business over to her son and continued to work there until 1988. She passed away in 2000.

The mom-and-pop operation happened to open a year before the Middletown Mall was built, and the arrival of the mall helped Fabric and Foam Sales generate more business, Poling said.

“We built a very faithful clientele, and a lot of our business comes from surrounding communities,” he said. “We’re actually one of the few independent fabric shops in West Virginia.”

Customers can find Fabric and Foam Sales at 2937 White Hall Blvd., about a fourth of a mile past Wal-Mart. The shop, which has always been at that location, has been expanded four times over the years, Poling said.

Not only has the business tripled in size, but it’s also grown in general revenues and in the number of workers, he said. The business has seven employees, and most have worked there for many years.

Manager Barbara Scritchfield has been with Fabric and Foam for 22 years. The team also includes Kim Porter, Joan Koffman, Pat Mason, Hope Liggett, Diana Hendershot and Tom Donell.

Scritchfield said the store started out basically selling fabric and later expanded into upholstery. Today, it carries “everything for the quilters and crafters.”

The business includes an upholstery shop and sells upholstery fabrics. It also carries foam rubber for mattresses or other projects, quilting materials, lace, trims, vinyls and much more, she said.

“Actually, we have just a little bit of everything,” Scritchfield said. “Anyone who’s wanting to do a sewing project, they can pretty much find what they need here.”

Fabric and Foam Sales tries to always stay aware of what’s new in the market and shops for some of its supplies in North Carolina, Ohio and other places, she said.

“Trends change a little bit, so we try to go with the trends,” Scritchfield said. “We always have something different.”

She said customer service has played a big part in the business’ success and longevity.

“You still get your small-town customer service,” Scritchfield said. “It’s not like going into a chain store. You do have employees here that do know the basics on quilting and upholstery.”

“None of this success would have been possible without wonderful employees,” Poling said.

He said he hopes to see the business stay around for another 40 years.

“We’re thankful to have lasted this long,” Poling said.

Fabric and Foam Sales Inc. is open 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Saturday. For more information, call 366-4049.

E-mail Jessica Legge at jlegge@timeswv.com.