As time goes on, I think we’ll see more and more Quilt Shops closing.
One of the newest and fastest growing reasons is called “Showrooming”, in which shoppers look at merchandise in stores, but buy online at lower prices. Sometimes they’ll do it on their Smart Phone right there in the retail shop to make sure that they get the correct pattern number. Even if a shop has a lot of foot traffic, sales are declining. It’s not just the fabric shops that are seeing an increase in showrooming. It’s becoming a major problem in most retail shops that sell merchandise that is also for sale online.
While both types of businesses might hire staff, pay rent, pay for electricity, and pay for telephone service, the costs are usually higher for a retail outlet than for a warehouse operation. The brick & mortar shops usually have to pay much more for building maintenance, store fixtures, and real estate taxes, due to their location and public access. Online-only shops usually have very low overhead.
Shop Owners see the problem, and many are getting out of the retail business because of it. Some retire, some relocate their inventory to a cheaper facility and change their business to online-only, and others simply go into another line of work. Who can afford to put up with all of the cost just to be a showroom for someone else?
I think that the brick and mortar retail shops have probably outlived their usefulness.
CD in Oklahoma