Because you're straddling the border in this chatroom? 😊 Welcome to the USA! 😊

Don't have any kids with you, I hope...never know whose kids the T-word will kidnap next!

Cause you're not on a Canadian site 😉 ECS is located in Ohio, in the USA.

I saw in another post that you're from AB - me too! I love ECS because the prices are better (even with the exchange rate) than Canadian shops and sites, and the delivery is very fast. I use the Canada Post option as I've had issues with having to pay duty on packages that came otherwise. It's the least expensive way to post to Canada and gets here about a week after shipment which isn't too bad. If you're in northern AB, it may be a bit longer. When I lived in Grande Prairie it took ages to get anything, but in southern AB (I'm about an hour outside Calgary now) it's much quicker.

I am in SW Ontario in Canada and I order my patterns from ECS because they have the largest selection. My orders take anywhere from 1-2 weeks to arrive. Mary

I'm sue this is a great on-line store...but it makes me sad to hear Canadians ordering from the states when there are shops in your area. If we don't support the local shops, soon there won't be any. 🇨🇦

MissKitty - I suppose that depends on what your time is worth and how much you pay for gas. It's about 45 minutes each way for me to go to Michaels. About 1 hour and 15 minutes each way to get to the closest LNS. Either way, the gas I would spend if that was the only errand I had in that area would be about the same as paying shipping from ECS.

While I love shopping local - for instance I love my local farmer's market - there are some things I am super grateful that I can buy online. 😁

No shops in my immediate, primarily rural, area. The nearest Michael's is at least an hour's drive away and they have next to NOTHING as far as cross stitch supplies - a bit of floss, a paltry selection of fabric and NO patterns. i would definitely shop local if I could get what I want/need locally.

There are NO specialized cross Stitch shops in the Myrtle Beach area; the closest one being a 1 1/2 Hour drive. Our Michael’s, Hobby Lobby and A.C. Moore hardly carry any cross Stitch supplies other than floss, non-Bohin needles.
I save myself from fighting traffic, standing in line, cost of gas and a 3-hour round trip drive by paying the shipping costs.

There are no LNS' in my area, either. The closest one being an hour and a half away over on the other side of Minneapolis. There used to be 6 or 7 cross-stitch shops in the Twin Cities area. No more, they've all closed up shop. So, online shopping is my only option, too, and I agree with the other chatters and see nothing wrong with that.

Thanks for your reply’s. I live in Lac La Biche , alberta. We are a small farming community about 2 1/2 hours from the closest city. That makes a five hour round trip and as others of you mentioned, Michaels had very little selection. I love this site and the fact that each picture has a selection of all the required materials. Love the chat area. Have a great day👩🏼‍🌾