Belleville woman crafts passion into a business

By  Rachel Psutka

BELLEVILLE, Ont. (31/03/11) - Violet Bulmer, owner of Kraft Village, displays a wall of yarn in her store at North Front Street and Bell Boulevard in Belleville on Thursday, Mar. 31, 2011. Bulmer has run the oldest crafting store in the city since 1982 and has no immediate plans for retirement, despite her husband's wishes to travel. Along with the selling staples such as yarn and fabric, Bulmer also teaches lessons and repairs sewing machines. Photo by Rachel Psutka.

For most, retirement at 65 is a fact of life, but for Belleville senior Violet Bulmer, this could not be further from the truth.

Since 1982, Bulmer has owned and operated Kraft Village, the oldest crafting store in the city. With almost 30 years in the business, Bulmer has a long history working with the knitters, crafters, embroiderers and quilters of Belleville and has no immediate plans for retirement.

“I know I’ll be retiring, but I haven’t really thought about it yet,” Bulmer says. “My husband has retired and he wants to travel, but you can’t do that with a store.”

Bulmer’s passion and knowledge for her craft is evident. Phone calls requesting specific rolls of yarn are answered and sorted out immediately and customers can hardly start browsing before they are asked if they need assistance.

“A lot of the customers are regulars. It helps for me to know what they’re working on and what they need to complete their projects.”

Along with selling staples such as yarn and fabric, Bulmer also teaches knitting and sewing lessons and repairs sewing machines. An avid crafter herself, Bulmer is constantly encouraging others to pick up the crafting lifestyle.

“I like sewing and knitting. I do both. I teach a lot of classes out of the store. Lots of people have never sewn, and so we teach basic sewing.”

For those who have never even touched a sewing machine, rest assured.

“You get free lessons on all the machines we sell, from embroidery machines right down to your basic, child-sized sewing machine,” explains Bulmer.

One of the major draws for customers to Kraft Village is the uniqueness of the products on display in the store.

“We don’t just do standard things, we do anything. We teach quilting and we teach knitting, but we also do one of a kind things,” Bulmer says, proudly displaying a handmade quilted jacket. “Things you won’t find anywhere else.”

A large quilt near the front entrance of the store is another one of Bulmer’s masterpieces.

“Each colour is chosen specifically to tell the story of the quilt,” says Bulmer. “It’s never a random selection of colours.”

Bulmer’s extensive knowledge of all things craft-related is also greatly appreciated by her customers.

“Violet is an excellent shopkeeper,” says customer Mary Elliott. “She’s very fast at finding the exact type of yarn I need. When there’s a big wall of yarn, it’s sometimes hard to remember where the right one is.”

Bulmer is not alone in continuing to work past the normal age of retirement, typically slated to be 65 years of age. According to Canadian labour laws, there is no specified mandatory retirement age for employees.

In fact, in many provinces and territories, the practice of mandatory retirement is considered discriminatory under human rights legislation.

The number of seniors in the workplace has also changed because of the weakened economy in the past few years.

A report by Statistics Canada found that the employment rate for men over 65 has been on the rise for the past decade, reaching 15 per cent in 2006, compared to just 11.8 per cent in 1996.

Rates of working seniors have continued to rise as those who had previously retired found themselves back at work due to poor investments and a failing economy.

But for Bulmer, running her unique store is more than just a way to keep a bit of cash at hand.

“I couldn’t just sit in a retail store and sell things. It has to be something I have a passion for, and for me, that’s sewing a