There is a group of stores in the fabric district run under different names but managed by the same group of people. The men who run the stores wear giant kippot, are of Sephardi extraction but are also followers of the Lubavicher Rebbe. If you enter one of their stores early in the morning, you are likely to have the sonic treat of hearing the Psalms of the day chanted in the melodic modes of the Sephardic traditions broadcast over the PA system.
One of the men who works in these stores keeps a complete set of the Zohar by the cash register to read when things are quiet in the store. Because of this off-time study of Kabbala, I call this confederation of stores "Kabbala Man".
The locations of the Kabbala Man stores shift. There used to be two on 35th street. Now there is just one. For a while there was a location on 37th street. But there are now two locations on 39th street in addition,to the one on 35th street. How can you tell when you have arrived at a Kabbala Man store? Easy, you can tell by the many ugly signs scribbled in ballpoint pen on notebook paper in the window advertising low prices for fabrics like Broked, Cashmir and Jirzy.
I discovered Kabbala Man thanks to a friend on the Creative Machine list. I began shopping there when my late mother in law was in her final decline. I used Kabbala man as my retail therapy outlet when dealing with many of the difficult decisions we needed to make at the end of my mother in law's life. at $2 and $3 a yard for knits I could buy mountains of fabric and barely make a dent in my bank account.
My friend Miriam asked me to go fabric shopping with her. Her husband had bought her three lovely jackets, but Miriam needed to make dresses to wear under those jackets. our destination was Kabbala Man. well, the only thing better than shopping at Kabbala man is shopping the big card board boxes filled with remnants at Kabbala Man. Everything was priced at $1/yard. We found two different fabrics that went with all three jackets, a shimmery gold rayon blend, a silvery floral print on a rayon satin. We also found a great tweedy rayon knit in green that will be a jacket and skirt for Miriam and a thin rayon ombre in a coordinating green that will be the top she will wear with the jacket and skirt. Miriam also bought several lengths of knit lace and a really silly length of orange faux fur that will be a scarf for one of her grand daughters.
I bought a length of a black and white ITY print that will be a summer dress for next summer, lots of brown knit that will be a mainstay of my wardrobe for the next several months and a yard of black knit lace. I also purchsed a yard of yellow satin for my daughter.
One of the men who works in these stores keeps a complete set of the Zohar by the cash register to read when things are quiet in the store. Because of this off-time study of Kabbala, I call this confederation of stores "Kabbala Man".
The locations of the Kabbala Man stores shift. There used to be two on 35th street. Now there is just one. For a while there was a location on 37th street. But there are now two locations on 39th street in addition,to the one on 35th street. How can you tell when you have arrived at a Kabbala Man store? Easy, you can tell by the many ugly signs scribbled in ballpoint pen on notebook paper in the window advertising low prices for fabrics like Broked, Cashmir and Jirzy.
I discovered Kabbala Man thanks to a friend on the Creative Machine list. I began shopping there when my late mother in law was in her final decline. I used Kabbala man as my retail therapy outlet when dealing with many of the difficult decisions we needed to make at the end of my mother in law's life. at $2 and $3 a yard for knits I could buy mountains of fabric and barely make a dent in my bank account.
My friend Miriam asked me to go fabric shopping with her. Her husband had bought her three lovely jackets, but Miriam needed to make dresses to wear under those jackets. our destination was Kabbala Man. well, the only thing better than shopping at Kabbala man is shopping the big card board boxes filled with remnants at Kabbala Man. Everything was priced at $1/yard. We found two different fabrics that went with all three jackets, a shimmery gold rayon blend, a silvery floral print on a rayon satin. We also found a great tweedy rayon knit in green that will be a jacket and skirt for Miriam and a thin rayon ombre in a coordinating green that will be the top she will wear with the jacket and skirt. Miriam also bought several lengths of knit lace and a really silly length of orange faux fur that will be a scarf for one of her grand daughters.
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| Most of my haul from Kabbala man, Lto R, black lace, brown jersey knit and ITY knit |
Sounds like you and Miriam had a wonderful time. I needed to look up a lot of terms and names from your post and learned much along the way. Thank you.
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