Well, I for one, love a variety of things in a quilt shop and am lucky enough to live near a number of them. One of the things that I like the most about my two most local shops is that they know me there and they greet me by name. I think samples are the key to selling patterns and books so I like a shop that has lots of labeled samples made out of fabric they still have or similar to what they are selling. I do not like outrageous prices but I don't know how you would get around that in today's economy, especially with the new business start up costs.
I love that one of my shops has a free sit and sew on Sundays. Believe me, the purchases I make there during that time more than make up for the free aspect of it.
I wish you the best of luck! I love having local quilt shops around to tempt me!