Paramus Fabric Center Still Thriving, 55 Years and Counting

The Paramus Fabric Center has certainly seen changes in the 55 years it’s been in business. The family-run shop has been at the Route 17 North location well before Garden State Plaza mall was built and the highway was just one lane in each direction.

One thing that hasn’t changed is the family who runs it and their personal service which is what brings customers back generation after generation.  

Michael and Larry Grapin are the third generation to run the Paramus Fabric Center. The two cousins grew up in the business. The pair remembers all the tales their fathers and their grandfather told them of the earlier days.

Their grandfather originally started the business out of pushcart in Jersey City  back in the 1920s which later led to the opening of stores in Jersey City and West New York. Both Michael and Larry's fathers ran those stores with their grandfather. 

Paramus came later when their grandfather decided highway business was the future and expanded to the Route 17 location. Michael says he was somewhat of a “forward thinking genius. The location is golden, he says.

Eventually the Hudson County stores closed and the family continued with the Paramus store.

The building has gone through some changes as at one time it was also home to two other businesses. The Grapins took over the entire building and have since expanded it.

The sign currently out front is not the original but it is quite a classic. It no longer lights up and it would be a huge expense to have it repaired because it's so outdated, the Grapins said.

Reflecting on the years that have past the cousins say things have not changed that much overall. That includes their employees.

Michael, who is also a 30 year Paramus resident, says the center's  “newest” employees have been there nearly 20 years and have basically become an extended family. Everyone who comes in is guaranteed to be dealing with someone who has experience and can give good advice, explained Larry. 

Michael says they know what their customers want and specifically look for items they know they may be needing.

Halloween is one of their busiest times of year.  They also work closely with those seeking the right fabrics for Rennaissance costumes for example or Revolutionary War re-enactors. They have even seen fraternity members come in looking to make Toga costumes.

Larry says they understand the sentimental value behind the items that come in to be re-upholstered and will even do the work right there in front of the customer.

Michael says customers have told him they remember coming in with their mothers when they were children. Now they are regulars too. Some of their customers feel like an extended family too, the Grapins said.

Longtime customer Bob Myers says he drives all the way up from East Brunswick where he works just to shop at the Paramus store for his fabrics. He says big box stores just don’t do what they do.

Myers hopes they will be around for a long time.

The Grapins say they don’t plan to go anywhere anytime soon.

“I don’t know if it’s a matter of interia but we’re here for as long as we can be,” says Michael Grapin.

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