Keep Your LQS in Business
07-06-2011, 03:11 AM
#31
Super Member
Join Date: Sep 2010
Location: Woodbury, MN
Posts: 1,027
I agree.
I love buying stuff from any small quilt shop. I always try to buy something when I visit a LQS, even if it's just a fat quarter or two.
Gotta remember the small businesses. They aren't making tons of money like Wal-Mart and the customer service is usually the best.
I love buying stuff from any small quilt shop. I always try to buy something when I visit a LQS, even if it's just a fat quarter or two.
Gotta remember the small businesses. They aren't making tons of money like Wal-Mart and the customer service is usually the best.
07-06-2011, 03:29 AM
#33
Super Member
Join Date: Oct 2010
Location: Fox Valley Wisconsin
Posts: 1,920
I am not a Joann's shopper except for using their coupon for buying batting. I do like quilt shop fabric, but now days using my stash, and only shopping for borders. I remember back when fabric first went over $5.00 a yard and how people complained back then.
I do visit our LQS's...we have 4...but only occasionally, and usually when there is a sale going on...and I really need something. The special service you get at a quilt shop is so much better than what you can get at the big box stores....and I love seeing all the samples and the inspiration I get at the LQS's.
I do visit our LQS's...we have 4...but only occasionally, and usually when there is a sale going on...and I really need something. The special service you get at a quilt shop is so much better than what you can get at the big box stores....and I love seeing all the samples and the inspiration I get at the LQS's.
07-06-2011, 03:45 AM
#34
Super Member
Join Date: Jan 2007
Location: Spring Lake, NJ
Posts: 2,458
Originally Posted by humbird
Originally Posted by AbbyQuilts
I too think its not my responsibly to keep someone in business. I like going to LQS but if they want to stay viable in this tough market with rising commodity prices then they need to maybe find away to broaden their demographic market.
Offer more entry level classes, allow kids and husbands to come in the store or at least not make then feel like outcast for being there. Offer sales and special rewards. Offer some cheap basic level classes to get new people interested. And maybe "gasp" find some cheaper lines to offer those that can not pay 10+ a yard. If they can not get good prices on their own then they need to reach out to other LQS and form a co-op and have buying power together
but those are just my thoughts. Like I said I like going but I cannot afford more then 5$ or so a yard for most of my quilts
Offer more entry level classes, allow kids and husbands to come in the store or at least not make then feel like outcast for being there. Offer sales and special rewards. Offer some cheap basic level classes to get new people interested. And maybe "gasp" find some cheaper lines to offer those that can not pay 10+ a yard. If they can not get good prices on their own then they need to reach out to other LQS and form a co-op and have buying power together
but those are just my thoughts. Like I said I like going but I cannot afford more then 5$ or so a yard for most of my quilts
07-06-2011, 04:00 AM
#35
Super Member
Join Date: Mar 2009
Location: Midland, Michigan
Posts: 1,951
I buy my fabric where ever I can find what works for my project and if I can get a great price-even better. Sometimes the LqS has what I need and sometimes not. I did notice in Petoskey yesterday that Calico Craft quilt store was going out of business. I didn't even get a chance to visit!:(
07-06-2011, 04:04 AM
#36
Super Member
Join Date: Mar 2011
Posts: 1,761
Originally Posted by AbbyQuilts
I too think its not my responsibly to keep someone in business. I like going to LQS but if they want to stay viable in this tough market with rising commodity prices then they need to maybe find away to broaden their demographic market.
Offer more entry level classes, allow kids and husbands to come in the store or at least not make then feel like outcast for being there. Offer sales and special rewards. Offer some cheap basic level classes to get new people interested. And maybe "gasp" find some cheaper lines to offer those that can not pay 10+ a yard. If they can not get good prices on their own then they need to reach out to other LQS and form a co-op and have buying power together
but those are just my thoughts. Like I said I like going but I cannot afford more then 5$ or so a yard for most of my quilts
Offer more entry level classes, allow kids and husbands to come in the store or at least not make then feel like outcast for being there. Offer sales and special rewards. Offer some cheap basic level classes to get new people interested. And maybe "gasp" find some cheaper lines to offer those that can not pay 10+ a yard. If they can not get good prices on their own then they need to reach out to other LQS and form a co-op and have buying power together
but those are just my thoughts. Like I said I like going but I cannot afford more then 5$ or so a yard for most of my quilts
07-06-2011, 04:04 AM
#37
Super Member
Join Date: Mar 2011
Posts: 1,761
Originally Posted by AbbyQuilts
I too think its not my responsibly to keep someone in business. I like going to LQS but if they want to stay viable in this tough market with rising commodity prices then they need to maybe find away to broaden their demographic market.
Offer more entry level classes, allow kids and husbands to come in the store or at least not make then feel like outcast for being there. Offer sales and special rewards. Offer some cheap basic level classes to get new people interested. And maybe "gasp" find some cheaper lines to offer those that can not pay 10+ a yard. If they can not get good prices on their own then they need to reach out to other LQS and form a co-op and have buying power together
but those are just my thoughts. Like I said I like going but I cannot afford more then 5$ or so a yard for most of my quilts
Offer more entry level classes, allow kids and husbands to come in the store or at least not make then feel like outcast for being there. Offer sales and special rewards. Offer some cheap basic level classes to get new people interested. And maybe "gasp" find some cheaper lines to offer those that can not pay 10+ a yard. If they can not get good prices on their own then they need to reach out to other LQS and form a co-op and have buying power together
but those are just my thoughts. Like I said I like going but I cannot afford more then 5$ or so a yard for most of my quilts
07-06-2011, 04:15 AM
#38
Super Member
Join Date: May 2009
Location: Orchard Park, NY (near Buffalo, which is near Niagara Falls)
Posts: 3,884
It's very sad to hear of local shops closing... and when I saw the wholesale prices of fabric rising so steeply beginning late last year, my first thought was that this was going to be a year that weeds out any shops who were "just hanging in there".
I know everyone loves a sale, but - to give you a shop owner's perspective - there really aren't any lines out there that we can buy, that will let us offer them at a retail price of $5 / yard.
So... you will ask, what about thousandsofbolts and 5bucksayard? They are buying closeouts and discontinued prints. Those are already "picked over" by the time the manufacturers make them promo goods. So IMHO they don't quite constitute "a line" at that point.
And even the promo goods cost nearly $3 / yard, and shops still have to pay an additional 20 - 30 cents / yard in freight to get the fabric in the door. How is a LQS going to make a go of it, on a gross profit of less than $2 / yard? I think they can't. That's why it is pretty much only the online shops that can offer the $5 / yard pricing. And even there, I've noticed that they often let you buy only in whole yards (or with a minimum cut of 1 yard). We all know that quilters *love* to buy just a little bit - maybe a quarter-yard - and that takes just as much labor as the one-yard cut that yields four times as much profit.
It's not easy to be a little shop. Especially this year!
Just offering the view from my window...
I know everyone loves a sale, but - to give you a shop owner's perspective - there really aren't any lines out there that we can buy, that will let us offer them at a retail price of $5 / yard.
So... you will ask, what about thousandsofbolts and 5bucksayard? They are buying closeouts and discontinued prints. Those are already "picked over" by the time the manufacturers make them promo goods. So IMHO they don't quite constitute "a line" at that point.
And even the promo goods cost nearly $3 / yard, and shops still have to pay an additional 20 - 30 cents / yard in freight to get the fabric in the door. How is a LQS going to make a go of it, on a gross profit of less than $2 / yard? I think they can't. That's why it is pretty much only the online shops that can offer the $5 / yard pricing. And even there, I've noticed that they often let you buy only in whole yards (or with a minimum cut of 1 yard). We all know that quilters *love* to buy just a little bit - maybe a quarter-yard - and that takes just as much labor as the one-yard cut that yields four times as much profit.
It's not easy to be a little shop. Especially this year!
Just offering the view from my window...
07-06-2011, 05:37 AM
#39
Super Member
Join Date: Jan 2011
Location: 25 yrs in TN; now back home in MI
Posts: 1,871
Originally Posted by NHSOMND
Here in New Hampshire, I found out this week that two quilt shops are closed and moving their inventories either online or to other shops in the area, and another has cut their inventory.
We don't have a huge number of shops in NH, many of them are small and are really struggling during these hard times.
I implore all of us to try and keep our local quilt shops going. Frequent them when you can, get the word out to other quilters and sewers to do the same, contact your sewing guilds to have their meetings or special events there during the year, take part in a shop hop!
Let's do are part board members!
We don't have a huge number of shops in NH, many of them are small and are really struggling during these hard times.
I implore all of us to try and keep our local quilt shops going. Frequent them when you can, get the word out to other quilters and sewers to do the same, contact your sewing guilds to have their meetings or special events there during the year, take part in a shop hop!
Let's do are part board members!
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