Tulsa Business Expands With Help Of Interior Design Students

By Rick Wells, The News On 6

TULSA, OK -- It's not often in today's economy that a small specialty store can add a second location.

Tulsa's Loops store has made it happen.  It's collaboration with interior design students at Oklahoma State University that has given knitters and purlers a new place to feed their hobby.

Shelly Brander has just opened a second location of her knitting store, Loops. Having one successful store devoted to knitters and knitting is good news in today's economy, a second store is just more good news.

"It's just a unique experience to have a real life situation for the students," Rick Bartholomew said.

Rick Bartholomew is an interior design instructor at OSU. Shelly Brander was a guest speaker to one of his classes and mentioned her plan to open a second store. He suggested his students might help.

"The detail they came back with was amazing," Brander said.

The 30 students were divided into nine groups. Each group made a presentation. Both Andrea Depperschmidt and Jamie Hathorn were thrilled that some of their ideas were actually used.

"The colors and the register area the circular design is the same design we used," they said.

That and the very imaginative button display using different sizes of vent pipe to display the button containers.

"That's the first thing I saw when I came in, I was like yea, she used our button display," Hathorn said.

There were other things, essential to the concept, a homey atmosphere where folks came come in and knit.

Shelly says she's very happy the way this new store turned out. The students are excited because they have real life experience they can now brag about.

Loops in Utica Square has been open five years. In that time, the store has become a worldwide internet marketer of knitting supplies, ideas and patterns.

Loops new store is located in South Tulsa at 8287 S. Memorial.