At 89 years old, Betty Pilkington is still going strong. She runs and manages her shop, Betty’s Fabrics, throughout the week. When the Sun caught up with her, she was busy in her office filing paperwork and clearing out old documents from storage. For more than half a century, this was—and still is—her job. But all good things must come to an end.
On Sept. 1, Pilkington revealed to the Sun that she’ll be closing her shop later this year after 57 years in business. It was a good run, she said, but added that the fabric industry isn’t what it used to be.
“People aren’t buying fabric anymore,” she said, adding that most of her customers have either died or have moved on, and that sewing or knitting isn’t as popular as it used to be.
Originally from Sacramento, Pilkington came to Santa Maria in February 1948 after marrying her husband, who was stationed at Vandenberg Air Force Base. They were married on Bride and Groom, a hit radio show at the time.
She remembers that when she moved to Santa Maria she felt like somewhat of an outsider. Pilkington said she felt this way because word got around town that she was married on the radio show and that she felt the eyes of the community upon her. That would soon change and eventually she’d build a business that would become a fixture in the community.
One day she noticed that Santa Maria could use a good fabric store. Her first location was a tiny 17 1/2-by-31-foot store on Church Street, taking the place of a lingerie store.
Pilkington outgrew that location within a year. Eventually, she ended up at the current spot near the corner of Battles and Broadway. It’s her seventh location, and she’s been there for 30 years, effectively becoming a Santa Maria institution.
During that time, she’s sold fabric to many quilters, knitters, and sewers alike. She’s hosted sewing classes and even a social group of women who’d come into to the store just to chat and knit. She’s had many quilters as customers and considers them artists.
“It’s been a fabulous occupation,” Pilkington said. “Lots of fun people.”
However, she’s witnessed waning interest in the textile arts. Designer clothing stores didn’t exist when Pilkington first opened her store. Back then, she said everybody would simply make their own clothes, and they purchased their material from fabric stores like hers.
“That was the thing,” she said, “people would see clothes in magazines and would want to copy them.”
But then she noticed that schools stopped teaching sewing classes, and she partially connects this to the gradual decline of people interested in purchasing fabrics. With the shuttering of textile mills in the U.S., and fabrics being manufactured in foreign countries at a cheaper cost, in addition to the opening of trendy clothing stores such as Old Navy and Forever 21, Pilkington said people began to simply buy their clothes pre-made.
“Nobody makes anything anymore,” Pilkington said, adding that she has so much merchandise that’s not being sold.
Other than getting things in order for closing her store, Pilkington has been dealing with the loss of her Lake Nacimiento cabin in the Chimney Fire.
Pilkington realizes that many people in the community will be upset at the announcement of the store’s closing. But they shouldn’t worry, she said, since she still has her location in San Luis Obispo that’s still going strong. The place has 23 parking spots, which she considers “gold” in a city such as SLO.
The week of Sept. 12, Pilkington will begin the process of closing her store starting with a sale. Everything must go, she said, with varying discounts of up to 75 percent off.
She’s already notified her employees of the upcoming closure. She’s offered positions at the SLO location to some of her full-time employees in Santa Maria. Pilkington also had another store in Santa Barbara, but that location closed years ago. Every now and then, she said she still gets old customers who tell her how much they’ve missed the place.
An exact closing date hasn’t yet been announced, but Pilkington said the process of closing takes a few months. She’s going to miss the shop when it does close.
It’s not completely finished when the inventory is sold. Pilkington also owns the building, which she’ll either lease or sell.
“I’ll miss the people,” Pilkington said. “Everybody’s so delightful. They’d come in and tell me, ‘This isn’t a store, it’s a meeting place.’”
Highlights
• The next generation of entrepreneurs is upon us. Consider sponsoring a student from the Future Business Leaders of America (FBLA) luncheon at the Santa Maria Fairpark Pavillion on Sept. 28. All FBLA students come from Santa Maria and Orcutt area high schools. The luncheon will be held from noon to 1 p.m. at the pavilion located at 937 S. Thornburg. Registration begins at 11:30 a.m. It costs $20 to sponsor a student and $20 for lunch. Space is limited. For more information or to register, contact the Santa Maria Valley Chamber of Commerce at 925-2403.
• Five new volunteers will be sworn in as advocates for CASA of Santa Barbara County on Sept. 8. The diverse group, which includes participants from Santa Maria to Santa Barbara, will help serve the more than 500 children in the county who are abused and/or neglected.
“We are pleased to welcome these new volunteers who will represent some of the most vulnerable in our community: children,” Executive Director Kim Colby Davis said in a press release. “We invite others to attend our upcoming training sessions as we work to achieve our goal of serving every child in the county.”
Last month, 43 abused and neglected children in Santa Maria entered the foster care system. More than 60 children are currently waiting for a volunteer.
The swearing-in ceremony will take place at 4 p.m. at the Juvenile Court, 4263 California Blvd., in Orcutt. Upcoming training dates include Saturdays, Sept. 10 through Oct. 1 from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. in Lompoc, and Wednesdays, Oct. 5 through Nov. 2 from 6 to 9 p.m. in Santa Maria.
• The Workforce Development Board, in partnership with the Chamber of the Santa Barbara Region and the Santa Barbara Job and Resource Fair Committee, are inviting local employers, education providers, and resource agencies to register for this year’s Job and Resource Fair.
The event will take place in conjunction with the Chamber of the Santa Barbara Region’s Business Expo on Sept. 23 from 5 to 8 p.m. at the Fess Parker Double Tree, 633 E. Cabrillo Blvd., Santa Barbara. The event provides an opportunity for businesses to market their product or services to more than 1,500 attendees, and to search for qualified candidates to join their teams. The event is free for the first 45 employers that register. The event is free for job seekers. For information about cost, please contact the Santa Barbara Chamber of Commerce, 965-3023.
Staff Writer David Minsky wrote this week’s Biz Spotlight. Information should be sent to the Sun via fax, email, or mail.
This article appears in Sep 8-15, 2016.