kluedesigns

if i remember correctly you don't have a real "store" that people can walk in and shop at you're mainly an online retailer.

if thats the case, i think the prices you've mentioned are too high. there are many sites that buy discounting lines and are selling it for $3-$4.

then the thought of buying the newest releases online people expect a discount. if i'm going to pay retail price for new releases i'd rather shop local and support my community.

since you don't have a "community" except maybe an online one that you're trying to develop you should consider lowering the prices. online stores do not have the same overhead and don't need to charge as much.

there are many sites that are selling the new releases for under $8.

live2quilt

Just have to jump in hear with my 2 cents worth. I am one that buys the line, matchy matchy. That is my personality, everything sysmetrical (sp).
I do buy the better fabrics have not had good luck with the cheeper fabrics in a quilt. Then of course I am not good at scrappy quilts.
I do buy sale fabrics for backing. This is not to say I never buy from different lines, I do as long as they match lol.

I do think you need too have both for customers. Everyone is different, thank godness.
I do love scrappy quilts just have a hard tiem doing them. lol

live2quilt

Favorite Fabrics

RedGarnet, if you do a search at google, and put "rhythm and blues red rooster" into the search box, you'll get a number of results including http:www.fatquartershop.com and listings on www.etsy.com. (This is a "mod" line, an etsy is a good place to find that type of fabric). But... I think this line is not one of the newest ones by Red Rooster, which means you should go ahead and get them now, before they're gone. Also... have you heard about http:www.missingfabrics.com? It's a place where you can place a free "fabric wanted" ad, and anyone who has some will reply. It's a good route to take for older and/or out of print fabrics.

Joan

Price is the name of the game when I'm shopping for fabric unless it's for a very special project.

I never buy a complete line of fabric. To me, part of the creative process is finding things to match the focus fabric. Usually, I buy the focus fabric---"that one that just jumps out and says you have to buy me!" and add others that go with it from my stash or do a little shopping.

I would prefer to buy all of my fabric online but can't get away from the experience of actual touching and feeling the quality or lack of quality in the fabric. For that reason, when buying online I stick with "brands" that are well known and have a reputation for quality.

But that said, the price is usually the deciding factor....

Rose Marie

Shopping online I only buy sales for 3 dollars a yard. This is how I build up my stash.
I buy backing as cheap as possible even Walmart.
If a new fabric line comes out that I really like and if I have a pattern in mind I will go look for it at a local shop. But most of the time they do not have the complete line and the missing one is the main coordinationg fabric that ties it all togather.
I love Connecting Threads fabric since they are reasonable and issue a complete line of fabric. I buy alot from them.
I like to buy fat quarters and charm packs on sale.
Now I find a pattern first then check out my stash then go online to look for sale fabric, then as a last resort I will go to a local shop.
My favorite online shop is Quilt in a Day. They carry a large amount of sale fabric. They also have good sales for fat quarter packs. Hancocks of Paducah I get alot of charm packs for 3.99.

Favorite Fabrics

Actually, that's not true. We certainly are open for walk-in customers, though the majority of our sales are online, and we're okay with that.

We love having "real people" stop in and shop. I'm also aware that it takes more time to fill the order of our walk-in customers than it does to fill the same order when placed online. That's because, I suppose, we're friendly and chatty and want to see what the customer's making, etc. This is one of the reasons why a LQS has to charge more than a place that ONLY sells online.

Though I have no way of knowing what the prices at LQS across the country are, ours are lower than what the other LQS's in our area are. Also, even an online seller that has a sizeable inventory, does have to have an actual physical place to keep all the fabric.

Most importantly... just because we're mostly an online shop does not make us less "real". Everybody who works here is a real person with a real job, supporting a real family and paying real bills. They are all paid a real living wage, because they deserve nothing less. If you call us during business hours, a real person answers the phone (because you deserve nothing less). We have spent countless hours on the phone counselling our real (though far-away) customers about which fabrics look best together for their projects. The business itself pays real rent, real taxes, real benefits such as workers compensation and disability insurance and unemployment insurance, just like every other real business. And we keep the chocolate box full, for the staff and the customers and the neighborhood kids who drop in just to "raid the stash".

lfw045

I love all the fabrics, but I think that having a good selection in the "closeout" section would be a very wise move. Athough I can afford to pay the prices at my favorite LQS (Fabric Hut), I love that back wall that has the markdowns. There is some beautiful stuff there too!

Favorite Fabrics, I appreciate what you share here with us! Keep up the good work!

ai731

I buy both.

For a very special project (wedding quilts, mostly) I'll buy new, modern, matching fabrics from a line. For my stash, or for projects that have a further-off, more flexible deadline (baby quilts, Christmas presents, quilts from myself, etc.) I tend to check the closeouts and sales and discount racks until I find the right fabrics I want for the project I have in mind. If I had oodles of money to spend on my hobby, I'd buy all my fabric from the gorgeous new lines, but I don't so I save up for big purchases of "expensive" fabric for special projects, and buy the deepest discounted stuff I can find the rest of the time.

Jan

kluedesigns

you said yourself that your business is mainly online yet your prices are high for an online store. You don’t have store front property in the center of town where people go to shop, you don’t have classes, etc – the typical things people expect from a LQS.

this not a subjective thing, the services you provide is the same as all other online stores. i can call them and chat on the phone, i can have them mail me samples of fabric, etc.

these places also have the same expenses as you - they have staff that deserve to be paid, they have overhead expenses, and yet they can sell fabric for less money than you and provide the same top quality service.

Your services and overhead aren’t any different then anyone else and listing those reasons as why you have to sell for more money is just not valid - all online stores have similar expenses.

if you take the time and study the posts on this forum you will see the same shops come up and this is your competition and if you want to get their shopper dollars away from them and into your pocket you need to match their price point.

RedGarnet222

Wow 9.50 and 10.25 a yard is crazy at those sites when I need 16 and a half yards!