I was just at the Mill End location in St. Cloud on my way home from the Cities yesterday and was shocked to see the notice in my bag when I emptied it this morning! 30% off might be worth a road trip.

I also shopped SR Harris in Brooklyn Park... has anyone else shopped there? It is a HUGE warehouse with aisles and aisles of quilting cottons on bolts and really every kind of fabric under the sun. Everything is 50% off - which makes quilting fabric between $5 and $6 a yard. It's bit of work to pull the bolts out of the stacks and it helps to be tall to reach them all but I could have spent hours and lots of $$. Large collection of batiks including wide backings.

One quilt shop in my town was shut down by the state for not paying state taxes. Another was shut down because the owner went to jail for drugs. The last one closed because the owner would schedule new buyers machine classes and then not be open the day of the classes! Just a note on the door saying sorry shop is closed today. Some drove from nearby towns to take their lessons. Everyone quit buying from her, she filed bankruptcy.

Some of it I think is due to retirement of some of the stores owned by older people. You think people would try and sell their business first if it was successful you would think someone would want to buy it

My friends and I were holding our breath while our closest store was deliberating the rent with their landlord, the plaza where they were had stores closing left and right because the landlords (two women in another state) have turned greedy. Our store found a new home which is actually a few miles closer to us and they are having a grand re-opening this Tues. I am planning on picking up a bunch of flowers and stopping in when they open at 10, they are really nice women and it's so great to have them keep the store open, especially when they say that their money makers are classes and they more or less break even with fabrics.

I'm not sure where the greatest profit is for quilt shops is; fabric, classes, machine repair or machine sales. Another thing that might factor in to the equation is the business experience of the owner. A love of quilting doesn't necessarily mean a person can successfully run a business. Several quilt shops have either closed or downsized in my area. One the person retired and could not find a buyer for her shop. Another closed I think in large part because of lack of profit. Many of my quilting friends and I didn't shop there because of poor customer service, cancelled classes and such. If I'm going to pay more for fabric I want the person waiting on me to be knowledgeable, excited that I'm there and excited and helpful about my project. It must also be difficult for shop owners to anticipate what fabric people want. Successful shops have great business savvy, good customer service and being in the right place at the right time. The economy certainly factors into this but good businesses can survive through tough times.

I'm so sorry to hear that the shop is closing... do you have a guild that you can join to be able to get that quilt chat in? If you don't, you should start one! :D

Thanks for mentioning this place. Looks like there's a road trip is in my future!

It is so sad to see so many of them closing.

SR Harris is scary! There is so much fabric a gal could get lost in there. It is a bit of a drive for me and when I go I can't have anything specific in mind because I'll never find it among all the stacked bolts. But they have cute kids flannels and lots of just about anything else you want including random zippers, buttons, etc.

It's not just quilt shops that are closing, my little town has lost a restaurant, deli, and now the florist, a nearby town closed it's elementary school and are busing kids here . My sis-in laws town it loosing it's chain grocery! No work - families moving away. Sad, sad, sad.