A Whatcom County yarn shop that has prided itself on community over profit is now fighting to survive.
BELLINGHAM, Wash. — Northwest Yarns and Mercantile has spent a decade weaving itself into the fabric of Whatcom County with a simple philosophy: community before profit. But right now, profit is a problem.
Business is down at least 20% from a year ago, according to owner Echo Mae, who blames President Trump’s tariffs for driving up costs, and his anti-Canadian rhetoric for keeping cross-border shoppers away.
“We’ve had Canadian customers contact us and say they’d love to come down but they don’t feel comfortable doing so,” Mae said.
In February, the Supreme Court ruled 6-3 that the tariffs exceeded the president’s authority under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act and remanded the question of refunds to a lower court. But that process has been slow, and economists say tariffs that wholesalers have already passed on to retailers will likely never be refunded because they have been folded into product prices. The only refund Mae might see would come from goods she imported directly from affected countries.
“Our shippers have said they are going to be pursuing that for us. Whether that’s actually the case and they have to capacity to do that is an entirely different question,” she said. “To be honest, there doesn’t seem to be a clear path on how to get tariffs back, and there’s certainly no way to get back the harm they’ve already done to us.”
Financial struggles came to a head this month when it was time to write paychecks. Mae had to take out a loan to pay her employees, leaving her days from closing for good.
“No business owner wants to admit their business is failing,” she said.
To keep the doors open, Mae launched an online fundraiser — a public acknowledgment that without help, the shop could not survive.
She hopes the lifeline will carry Northwest Yarns through until the broader economy stabilizes.
“Hopefully after that we will continue to stay open for decades to come,” she said.
Mae’s struggle is far from unique. The Association of Washington Business reports that about half of the state’s companies say they have been hurt by the Trump tariffs.
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