Fabricnut

My suggestion would be to keep the owners' husbands out of the shop. Two of our LQS have husbands in them and they act as "know it alls".so I don't like to go there often. The women are nice and helpful though. They have classes often plus block of the month with several types of blocks at different skill levels.
Sorry but I had to get that one off my chest.

crazy cat lady

I'm a fondler myself :lol: I talk to myself when an eyecatching fabric "begs" to go home with me

Tropical

I was in one of my LQS last week and when I asked if they ever have sales, the young woman working there told me with a slight attitude that no they don't because the fabric will sell, anyway. They don't need sales to sell it. I thought Well, Ok. Maybe I really want to go to the other LQS where they do have sales and some fabric that is always
$5.99 a yard and one color a month that is 25% off all month. Realistically, I know I won't quit shopping there because I love some of the fabrics and I can only purchase so much a month and so I have to go back and get more of what I need for a specific quilt.

jojosnana

My LQS does charity quilts for great causes and they supply the material. Everyone comes whatever time you can on the day selected and sits at a machine and makes whatever they want. We also bring a dish to pass, cookies, appetizers, chips, whatever. There is always too much food and too many laughs. We all make the tops and then hand them off to the longarm chicks, and we make many, many quilts in a day. You feel tired and real happy when you leave.

jojosnana

Oh I forgot, you can take quilts home from the pile to bind and bring them back in the next week or so. Just as long as you meet the deadline

sassey

I never go to my local quilt shop there are several within 50 miles of where I live. I have never been greated in any of the local shops in fact I am ignored or treeted rudely. However anytime I go to Ne I go to material girls where I am always treated like a friend no matter who is working that day, If I happen to have the time I will travel to Holdredge Ne to the quilt store there also. I also shop a little in tne Hastings Ne store where it is a 50 50 chance of whether you will be treated nice or not, go there mostly for ideas.

bea cda

Our LGS has a draw once a month. For every purchase you make you get to enter your name. The last time I was there I got to enter twice because I turned my head on the way out and saw something else I desperately needed. (yeah right!!)

JulieR

You have a point. But it depends on the situation - in my favorite LQS the husband is the sewing machine fixer-upper! He's awesome, last time I was in a poor woman brought in a Bernina she had bought not long before (she was a beginner, too), and the saleswoman went upstairs to get the husband/co-owner. He came straight down and clucked and cooed over the machine, and looked at it straight away while she was there. She ended up leaving with a sub (same model), and I left with a ton of fabric and a great feeling that these people were going to take care of me.

But you're right, if the husband - or wife, etc. - is just a meddler then they need to stay home. Or upstairs. :)

G'ma Kay

It has been suggested that a room for DHs with a TV and sofa might be a good thing.

k9dancer

When I had a store in California, I always had a pot of coffee and free pastries for the customers. It was a rubber stamp/craft store, and there was a table full of class supplies that the customers could come in and play with all day at no charge. My feeling was to make the shop homey, give them something to eat, and make it fun to stay longer. The longer they stayed, the more often they went home with a full shopping bag and free samples they had made.

So if the LQS were mine, we'd have a pot of coffee and free snacks for the customers. There would be free BOM patterns. At least one class a month would be a free one, and it would cover a different block or topic each time. There would be a sewing area where they could sew and get free advice during the day. And of course, at least one pot luck a month. Whenever possible, I would have visiting teachers present a class, and there would be classes every weekend. There would be at least one sale a month, and regular customers would get extra coupons. Most importantly, I would ask the customers what they want to have in the store, and do my very best to get it.

It's important to have every customer feel she is the 'favorite.'