I think that everything that has been said are all excellent ideas, and I just want to emphasize the "for real" friendly greeting (most of us are smart enough to know when it is fake), gentle help with suggestions (pressure puts me off every time and no two people have the same tastes), and the "go the extra mile attitude". I recently went into a LQS and was really interested in getting to know the shop because they carry the machine and frame that I am thinking of purchasing ($4000.00+) I was looking around and no one spoke to me for the first 20 mins that I was there, not even a Hello or Welcome. I finally approached the clerk and asked about one of the quilts that was hanging in the shop, I really liked the pattern and she told me in no uncertain terms that the displays were there to be looked at and not copied. If I was interested in copying someone elses work I would have to look in a magazine. I asked about a bolt of fabric that only had 1 yard on it and I needed more and another clerk told me that if she was going to order it for me I would have to pay for the whole bolt and then they would refund what I didn't take. I had never heard of this. I thought okay maybe this was just a bad day for the shop and went back a few weeks later and the attitude was the same. I am very very fortunate to have a husband that induldges my habit and I don't have a budget for fabric, I just spend what ever I want whenever I want (usually $100-200 a month). Needless to say I will not be going back to that shop and won't be spending any of my quilting dollars there. Customer service is the main thing for me and something a little different to lure me in.