Fabric institution in Watertown permanently closes
Fabric Showplace/Freddy Farkel’s in Watertown permanently closed in December 2023.
WATERTOWN — There are thousands of fabric shoppers who frequented Fabric Showplace/Freddy Farkel’s to look for a bargain who need a new place to go.
The Walnut Street shop with the slogan, “fabulous fabrics for fanatically frugal people,” shuttered last month after more than 90 years in business.
Third-generation owner Janet Feinberg said that after much consideration — and persistence from an interested buyer — decided to sell the business her grandfather started to Arti Bhandari Mehta, of Artee Fabrics and Home, which has 16 locations in Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey, Ohio, Louisiana, North Carolina, Virginia, Rhode Island, Vermont and Connecticut.
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Feinberg said she will manage Mehta’s store at 612 Washington St. in Newton, with Mehta adding the well-known “Freddy Farkel” name to its sign.
“I’m looking forward to a new partnership with Arti,” Feinberg said. “It’s not the first time she’s done this. She has purchased in partnership with other ongoing businesses that have established clientele, established sales help, very similar to me.”
“I’m looking forward to it,” Feinberg added. “It’s going to give me an opportunity not only to expand my other horizons with other stores and the purchasing power but more of a global marketplace.”
History of Fabric Showplace/Freddy Farkel’s
Feinberg’s great-grandfather, Myer Shapiro, emigrated from Russia and founded Brighton Upholstery in Brighton in 1927. His wife, Zena, was a cushion and drapery stitcher. They also made mattresses.
When their son, Fred Shapiro, graduated from high school, he dreamed of becoming a stockbroker. But when Myer became ill, Fred began working for the family business.
On March 4, 1975, a fire burned down the Brighton store, but Fred rebuilt it, adding a second floor. He then began to carry his own fabric inventory to make the business more profitable. The business steadily grew.
As for Feinberg, she graduated in 1981 from Syracuse University and went into marketing and retailing for a medical supply business. But she quickly realized it wasn’t the business she wanted to be in.
“My dad convinced me to come into business with him and my mom,” she said.
“It became interesting to me, and to entice me, they helped me start a wholesale distributing company, thinking that would be more interesting,” she added.
They all soon realized that there was definitely interest in the retail fabric business, and so they established Fabric Showplace/Freddy Farkel’s.
“Farkel,” was inspired by a skit about the red-headed, freckled Farkel family on “Rowan and Martin’s Laugh-In.”
Fred became known as “Friendly Freddy Farkel” and Janet was known as “Sparkle Farkel.” Her poodle was “Fudgy Farkel.”
A booming business
“In the mid-’80s, business was booming,” said Feinberg. They had a sales staff, a delivery van, stitchers, upholsterers and a shop.
“It just kept getting bigger and bigger,” she said.
In the late ’80s, Fred Shapiro opened a 15,000-square-foot wholesale warehouse at 86 Coolidge Ave. in Watertown. A short time later, in 1991, a decision was made to close the Brighton store. And in 1992, a new shop in Avon was purchased to serve the South Shore.
In 2001, the Avon store closed and Watertown became the headquarters for both the retail and wholesale market.
Fred and his wife, Ruth, each worked well into their 80s. Ruth Shapiro died in 2018, her husband two years later.
In September 2021, Feinberg downsized Freddy Farkel’s from its Coolidge Avenue location to its most recent location at 125 Walnut St. in Watertown.
Lessons learned over the years
As Feinberg packed up the Walnut Street store, looking back at 90 years of memories, she said there’s one thing that really resonated with her. It’s a…
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