I would WORK in a shop for 6 months to make sure that this is what you want to do. It is a huge investment of time, talent and treasure. (Investment). It is a retail business and you must have a working understanding of the day to day interaction with people, merchandising and stocking the store, etc. A previous post mentioned $100,000 in inventory....are you in a position to spend at least $50,000 to open the doors? You have to make a good first impression when you open your doors. Quilters want to see lots of inventory when they walk in.
Read lots of threads on this board to get the mind set of the consumer. Good. Bad. Ugly.....they all apply. Not trying to talk yourself out of this but really think it through and talk to shopowners. Not your local shops....call shops a few states away to see if they can be helpful.
research the demographics in your area. So....important! The info is found on City websites. Income, age stats, occupations, gender, etc.
Good luck and let us know how it is progressing.
sandy