One of my closest quilt stores went out of business last year. The other one is for sale. With the cost of renting the store front, local property taxes, Electricity, employees and employment taxes, very few quilt stores are likely to survive.
A couple of friends and I were discussing this yesterday. Most of us either can't afford, or are not willing to pay $12.00 a yard for the latest coordinated quilting fabrics. We can get last year's fabrics for half that price online and we don't mind last year's fabrics. Many online stores are in someone's basement. Therefore, they are not paying property taxes for a store, they are already paying for lights and heat and they can sometimes manage without extra employees. 75 years ago, it was not uncommon for people to combine a home and a business. When I worked for Frito-Lay back in the 70's, we had customer who still had his home above his grocery store.
The same thing is happening to bookstores, department stores (J.C. Penny is closing 120 stores), shoe stores and clothing stores. Our economy is changing and is likely to continue to change.
bkay