Spinrite closing Listowel store
Local crafters may have to shop online or look elsewhere for yarn as a staple of the Listowel community announced it is closing its doors.
In a social media post on Tuesday, the Municipality of North Perth responded to news the Spinrite Manufacturing Facility and Retail Store is closing.
'For over 73 years, Spinrite has been an integral part of our community's identity. Spinrite is a valued corporation, a major employer, and a destination for many through its annual yarn sale. This news is shocking, and we recognize the significant impact this will have on individuals, families and the broader community,' the post read.
According to the company's website, Spinrite was founded in Listowel in 1952 by David Hay. Their products are sold in many stores, including Walmart, Amazon and Micheals.
Their annual yarn sale also hooked avid knitters and crafters, as well as drawing people to the area.
This year's event was held online only, with a social media post from the company stating the decision was made due to safety issues at a new location for the popular sale.
More than 100 employees affected
According to the municipality's post, approximately 140 employees will soon be out of work.
'We have appreciation that some of the administrative, marketing and sales roles will remain in North Perth. I am saddened to learn that the store will also close, though on a timeline different than the factory closure,' Mayor Todd Kasenberg said in the post.
The municipality, he added, will be 'assertive' in supporting the affected employees.
CTV News has reached out to Spinrite.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
National Post
22 minutes ago
- National Post
Media Advisory for CUPE Air Canada Flight Attendants
Article content CALGARY, Alberta — CUPE 4095 President Tyler McBain, CUPE Alberta President Raj Uppal, and AFL President Gil McGowan will address striking Air Canada flight attendants. Following this, members of the CUPE 4095 Strike Committee will be available for comment on the current Air Canada strike and the labour interference by the federal government. Article content When: Article content Article content Sunday, August 17, 10:00 AM Article content Article content Location: Article content Calgary International Airport, Level 2, Departures Door 17 Article content :clc/cope 491 Article content Article content Article content Article content View source version on Article content Article content Contacts Article content Media contact: Article content Erin Rolfson Article content Article content Article content
CTV News
an hour ago
- CTV News
Ottawa breweries brace for higher costs due to tariffs
Whiprsnapr Brewery in Bells Corners says they are facing higher costs due to U.S. aluminum tarrifs. (Dave Charbonneau/CTV News Ottawa) Canadian breweries are bracing for higher costs as tariffs threaten to push up the price of cans and send the cost of beer surging. Whiprsnapr Brewery in Bells Corners says it has been planning ahead to avoid tariffs as long as possible. 'We've been trying to buy ahead a little bit and be more ready in advance of what was being threatened,' said owner Ian McMartin. McMartin says the tariffs are just another cost increase on an already long list. 'Everything's gone up remarkably since Covid, since the pandemic. The price of labour has gone up, price of materials has gone up, the cans, taxes have gone up,' he said. U.S. President Donald Trump announced 25 per cent tariffs on Canadian steel and aluminum imports in March. Trump later said he would double the rate to 50 per cent. Down the street at Kichesippi Brewery, owner Paul Meek is seeing the price of cans rise but says it's not significant yet. 'The price of cans is going up. That's a cost that we have to incur in the short term,' said Meek. 'A beer could go up maybe five, maybe ten cents. It's not a massive thing, but because we're in a market economy, there are going to be other companies that have bigger buying power, have bigger holding power that they may be able to hold off on their increases for six months to a year. We're not in that position.' Ontario Minister of Finance Peter Bethlenfalvy recently announced a $1 billion emergency loan program to help protect jobs in the auto, aluminum and steel industries. Those sectors are currently not protected by the current free trade agreement with the U.S. 'These will be loans from anywhere between $250,000 to $40 million. Think about it as providing a bridging a liquidity to stay in business. It will keep workers on the job so that it gives them an opportunity to pivot to the new world,' Bethlenfalvy said. Whiprsnapr Brewery Whiprsnapr Brewery in Bells Corners (Dave Charbonneau/CTV News Ottawa) One food economist says how much you pay could depend on the value of the can compared to what's inside it. 'If it's a beer can, it might be a relatively small proportion of the total value of the product. If it is a can of beans, as an example, or a can of tomatoes, the can might be a bigger chunk of the cost of that product. You'll see a bigger change in that, a bigger percentage change in that price,' said Mike von Massow, food economist at the University of Guelph. Whiprsnapr Brewery says their smaller operation might be working in their favour. 'We're not doing as many cans and other people, so it might not be impacting us as much,' McMartin said.
CTV News
an hour ago
- CTV News
Eastern Ont. travellers stranded as jobs minister orders Air Canada flight attendants back to work
Travellers at the Ottawa airport at the Air Canada desk on Aug. 16, 2025. (Josh Marano/CTV News Ottawa) Tanya McKechnie, a business traveler from Kemptville, Ont., is among thousands of Canadians caught in the ongoing Air Canada strike, which led to widespread flight cancellations across the country. McKechnie had planned to return home Friday after a weeklong business trip to Calgary. Instead, her flight was cancelled, leaving her scrambling for alternatives. 'People were mad,' McKechnie says. 'There were people that have been travelling and I talked to one lady who had been coming home from New Zealand, had been traveling for 30 hours, and Ottawa was her final destination, and she couldn't get there either, so, we're all standing in line and then they start handing out these little labor dispute packages.' She says she's lucky having travelled to Calgary so often, as she was able to stay at a friend's house for the time being, which was not the case for other people she was travelling with. She says Air Canada was not compensating her a hotel. McKechnie adds the airline could not provide her an alternative flight home, adding in a text, Air Canada says it checked 120 flights for a seat. Instead, she paid $1,400 for a WestJet ticket to make it home on Tuesday. She adds the strike has resulted in her missing some key family milestones. 'My son's very first football game is today, and we've been preparing for this for weeks, and I don't get to see my little guy take the field for the very first time,' says an emotional McKechnie. 'It's also my dad's 75th birthday party this afternoon that I'm missing too.' The strike, which began earlier this week, involves Air Canada flight attendants represented by the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE). Members are demanding a fair contract and say the airline has ignored long-standing concerns. Just hours after the strike commenced on Saturday, the federal government intervened. Labour Minister Patty Hajdu ordered binding arbitration between the airline and the union, and ordered operations to resume. 'There was an offer tabled by the employer and the talks broke down,' Hajdu says. 'It is clear that the parties are no longer or are not any closer to resolving some of the key issues that remain, and they will need help with an arbitrator.' Henly Larden, an Air Canada flight attendant and the vice president of CUPE 4094, says the government is violating their Charter rights to take job action and gives the airline exactly what it wants. 'We are incredibly disgusted that the Liberal government has been speaking out of both sides of its mouth,' Larden says. 'They said that the bargaining table was the appropriate place to make this address. And here they are, having invoked 107.' The strike has disrupted dozens of flights in Ottawa and thousands nationwide, leading travellers like McKechnie facing costly alternatives, missed commitments and frustration. 'I just feel like hung out to dry, that's really what it comes down to,' McKechnie says. 'I see the videos on social media, oh, we're going to rebook, they are not doing that, nobody is rebooking anything, if I didn't rebook myself, I could still be sitting at the airport waiting. It remains unclear when normal operations will resume. With files from
