Local Crafts Store to Shut Down, Brewery Remains Strong

I don't know about you, but I physically gasped when I saw the Facebook post
saying after all these years, The Schlect Families were going to close Crafts Direct.

I couldn't believe that after all these years, our own local crafts superstore since 1990 was going to close. I can't even count how many different craft projects at my house started as impulse buys at Crafts Direct.

But times change and shopping patterns have changed, too. And the Crafts Direct folks made the tough decision to close-up-shop. They announced Sunday evening they were closing for three days in order to get ready for their big goodbye.

The store re-opens Thursday with a liquidation sale and will eventually close in a few weeks.

So I was happy to see a Facebook post this evening from the Schlects saying their brewery -- Back Shed Brewing -- was going to stay open.

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Back Shed's Facebook post aims to clear-up any questions or concerns about the brewery's future. It says although the Schlect family is liquidating Crafts Direct, Back Shed will remain open and will still need community support.

"First and foremost, we want to assure you all that Back Shed Brewing is still very much open for business and operating as usual! Your support and loyalty means the world to us, and we're committed to continuing to serve you with quality craft beer, unique events, and a welcoming space for our community to gather and connect."

The post urges Back Shed patrons to support the Crafts Direct liquidation sale and to visit a "Frequently Asked Questions" page for details on the sale.

The post also asks for the community to continue to support Back Shed in the future.

The brewery is holding special hours and offering a food truck -- Jimmy Z's -- starting at noon Thursday to kick-off the liquidation.

I, for one, intend to do some shopping at my hometown crafts store in the next few days -- after all, it may be one of my last chances. And grab a beer next door at Back Shed.

LOOK: Best Beers From Every State

To find the best beer in each state and Washington D.C., Stacker analyzed January 2020 data from BeerAdvocate, a website that gathers user scores for beer in real-time. BeerAdvocate makes its determinations by compiling consumer ratings for all 50 states and Washington D.C. and applying a weighted rank to each. The weighted rank pulls the beer toward the list's average based on the number of ratings it has and aims to allow lesser-known beers to increase in rank. Only beers with at least 10 rankings to be considered; we took it a step further to only include beers with at least 100 user rankings in our gallery. Keep reading to find out what the best beer is in each of the 50 states and Washington D.C.

Gallery Credit: Angela Underwood