MacArthur Avenue’s stitching shop spotlighted
The Times-Dispatch’s Monday business section took a look at one of MacArthur Avenues quieter storefronts, and revealed that there’s plenty of activity going to behind the doors at Rich’s Stitches: Identical twins Cecilia and Chris Rich opened Rich’s Stitches, an embroidery, screen-printing and ad specialty company, in 1988 in the basement of their brother’s home on […]
The Times-Dispatch’s Monday business section took a look at one of MacArthur Avenues quieter storefronts, and revealed that there’s plenty of activity going to behind the doors at Rich’s Stitches:
Identical twins Cecilia and Chris Rich opened Rich’s Stitches, an embroidery, screen-printing and ad specialty company, in 1988 in the basement of their brother’s home on Hawthorne Avenue in Richmond.
Before opening the business, Chris worked for sporting-goods company C.P. Dean, and Cecilia worked for what is now Anthem. The two had talked about building a business together but didn’t act upon it until Chris saw a growing need for custom embroidery work.
The two complement each other, they say. Cecilia is artistic and creative as well as mechanically inclined. Chris enjoys working with sales.
Both women had to teach themselves to create embroidery — neither had sewed a great deal in the past. They started with a four-head machine that embroidered four items at a time. Today they have an eight-head machine that churns out twice as many items in the same amount of time.
By 1993, the business grew so much that the twins moved to 4013 MacArthur Ave., their current location.
“We ran out of room,” Chris said about the previous location. “We loved the neighborhood and wanted to stay here. We saw this row of shops and we took the plunge.”
Since their move, the sisters say, the demand for embroi dered items has exploded.
Over the years, the twins added several services that include screen printing and making banners, signs and promotional items. Customers include businesses, sport teams, clubs and associations.
In the past 15 years, Rich’s Stitches has seen sales grow about 15 percent to 20 percent each year.
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Valerie Catrow
Valerie Catrow is editor of RVAFamily, mother to a mop-topped first grader, and always really excited to go to bed.
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