I find this subject to be so interesting. It appears to me, from reading this thread and others like it that marketing techniques that used to work for the decision makers in stores is no longer working. This thread points to the fact that pricing is too high in most stores and people are moving to more and more online purchasing which just wasn't the case even five years ago. It must seem to the store owners that sales solely determine what is popular and what is not but they apparently are only looking at half of the picture. They are not taking internet sales into consideration or most importantly the reasons why. Obviously quilting is alive and well in the US and I'm sure in many other countries according to the reports from other countries on how ridiculously high fabric prices are in their own areas. I'm all for healthy competition, it's the American way but the trends do not seem to be being read correctly. The decision makers appear to be making decisions based only on their personal revenues and are misconstruing the real reasons why. I hope they get a clue very soon before all the brick and mortar stores close up and leave online shopping as the only avenue for quilters. I know I would rather shop in person but the high prices the shops are trying to charge is driving me away from them too. Many seem to be boycotting the really high prices but are still buying at the online venue and it is skewing the picture for retailers. Really, they are cutting their own throats by not looking at the whole big picture and at the same time cutting our options to do business the old fashioned way which seems to be what people would really rather do. I have thought for a long time that greed was the driving factor for these shops and it may still be but the more I look at the issue the more I am beginning to believe that it's just narrow mindedness on the part of store owners. Very interesting indeed!