I agree with all of you on every issue! I'm thinking of the shops in my area --- one has a cafe/restaurant attached to the store (
) and one has a bench for resting They all have bathrooms. But they ALL have fabric on the bottom shelf. I know that's "real estate that costs money"....so fill every space. I agree that putting the bolts in so tight that you have to use a pry bar is the most irritating. I recently was in a shop on the other side of the state. They use a strip of fabric to wrap the bolt so the fabric doesn't come off......sounds good, except I like to open up the fabric and look at the pattern. I found it a pain in the xxxx to have to futz with that strip while holding bolts of fabric. One of the LQS has lots of counter space and a basket that has tags in it. The tags read "purchase in progress" or something like that. You stack the bolts as you shop and put the tag on the top bolt --- that way they aren't put back on the shelf as fast as you pull them out.