EVL Chamber Spotlight – Purple Doorknob

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Unique Shopping Experience with Something for Everyone
By Kate Bartlett

Caption: Shops like The Purple Doorknob are what make Ellicottville so great. Visitors and residents alike enjoy strolling the streets and popping in and out of the eclectic shops. Small business Saturday is an annual reminder, but we need to keep this mentality at our forefront year-round, especially in the wake of the covid pandemic, during which many local businesses struggled to survive.

Rachel Northrup and her partner Scotty McGee are co-owners of the family owned and operated Purple Doorknob boutique sock shop at 11 Washington Street in the heart of the village of Ellicottville. With over 2,000 different sock designs in store (and online), there’s something for everyone from kids to adults, athletic socks to cozy home wares, from work to play. Who knew sock shopping could be so fun?!

   The Purple Doorknob originally opened as an antique store in 2004, but switched to socks in 2010. It was named, appropriately so, after the owner was inspired by the art of a purple doorknob. Rachel acquired the store in 2015 and has turned it into the anchor boutique shop that it is today. She was approached to purchase the shop after writing about her positive shopping experience on Instagram. “If we want brick and mortar stores and small businesses to survive and thrive, we need to vote with our dollars to support them. While online shopping is great, I love Amazon as much as the next person, we need to continue to support local shops if we want them to be around.”

   And right she is. Shops like The Purple Doorknob are what make Ellicottville so great. Visitors and residents alike enjoy strolling the streets and popping in and out of the eclectic shops. Small business Saturday is an annual reminder, but we need to keep this mentality at our forefront year-round, especially in the wake of the covid pandemic, during which many local businesses struggled to survive.  

   “Our focus is socks!” says Rachel. Shoppers will be thrilled to find hundreds, if not thousands of socks, of great quality at a great price. “It is a unique shopping experience shopping for one category and finding something for everyone.” Rachel stocks over 50% American made and family-owned brands, along with 2 women owned brands, while still offering a great selection of styles and patterns.

   Rachel invites readers to check out their new, more spacious location, as they recently moved and expanded their space to offer even more variety. They added an entire room for children’s socks, and now sell transparent rain boots (because you can see the socks in the boot). “We’re continuing to expand and always researching new brands and new materials.”  And if you can’t stop down, you can always shop online, with free shipping anywhere in the US, and you’re still supporting local! You can browse their selection of over 1,000 socks by style, bestsellers, interest, holiday or brand at https://purpledoorknob.com/

   Her favorite thing about her job, besides searching for fun new sock patterns, is that she gets to work with her family. “Running a business with young children can be challenging, but I’m lucky to have such a supportive partner who does all the behind-the-scenes work, and a great manager Nikki Himes who makes sure we have a great team that keeps the front end looking great. He keeps this business running.”    Rachel also loves being a part of the Ellicottville community. “It’s just fun to be a part of the action. We love participating in the street sales, 4th of July events, the Taste of Ellicottville and many more events. There’s always something going on.”

   Be sure to visit The Purple Doorknob at 1 Washington Street or online at https://purpledoorknob.com/ call 716-299-2084, now offering extended hours Thursday and Sunday until 7pm, Friday and Saturday until 9pm. Follow on social media @ https://www.facebook.com/purpledoorknob and www.instagram.com/thepurpledoorknob

Continuation Caption: Rachel invites readers to check out their new, more spacious location, as they recently moved and expanded their space to offer even more variety. They added an entire room for children’s socks, and now sell transparent rain boots (because you can see the socks in the boot).


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