Hidden a few feet back from Washington Street. in the Old & Historic District is Marissa Dittrich’s store, New England Needlepoint. Since opening July 3, the store has quickly become a destination for Marblehead stitchers and visitors alike. According to Dittrich, the Marblehead community’s response has “been wonderful. Everyone has been so supportive and kind and welcoming.”
While New England Needlepoint has quickly become successful, for Dittrich this has been a long time coming.
After spending several years working as an occupational therapist, she decided it was time for a career change.
“There’s something that happens in your brain after you have kids where you really think hard about how you want to spend your time away from them,” says Dittrich, “and after having worked in healthcare for the last decade, which can be hard, I really wanted to do something that made me happy every day.”
Upon visiting various needlepoint stores, Dittrich realized “being in the stores, around all the colorful threads and canvases, and around all the people, how happy that made [her].”
Once Dittrich decided to take action towards opening a store, she wanted to see if the local community would be interested in a needlepoint store. So, she created an Instagram account and started posting her current projects, including self-made Marblehead designs. Through this process, Dittrich found out “there were so many other stitchers around.”
Following up on local interest, Dittrich began hosting needlepoint events where she met what she described as “really wonderful women” who “were all so sweet and supportive and helpful in their business advice.”
That community has extended far beyond Marblehead. Customers have traveled from Boston, western Massachusetts and even out of state to visit her store. Dittrich says that people who have come to visit the area see her store on social media and add it to their travel itinerary, even if it means a detour.
Social media has also played a significant role in New England Needlepoint’s success. Dittrich says she “didn’t realize the power of [social media] as a marketing tool,” and she feels that “every day, at least one person comes in who says that they found [her] on TikTok or Instagram.”
However, social media is not the only important factor in New England Needlepoint’s success.
Marblehead’s coastal aesthetic aligns with a very popular style of needlepoint designs, and yet, before Dittrich opened her doors, the closest needlepoint stores were in either Winchester or Boston.
New England Needlepoint customer Deb Waters believes that these circumstances will help ensure the long-term success of New England Needlepoint.
“I think there’s such a market for it,” says Waters, “with everybody now wanting to needlepoint and no stores nearby. I think bringing it closer to home will definitely help keep her in business because she’ll have everyone local going there.”
Christine Boehning, another New England Needlepoint customer, believes that although needlepoint is a trend, “there are enough people who aren’t doing it necessarily as a short-term fad… who are invested in this and have done this for a long time and will continue to do it, that it will create longevity for that.”
Dittrich hopes to continue serving the local needlepoint community through classes and an open invitation to use her store as a place to practice needlepointing.
Currently for sale now in the store: canvases, thread, needles, stretcher bars, bags, self-finishing items, needleminders, needle threaders, seam rippers and needlepoint guide books.
