New Member researching opening a quilt shop
 

Hello everyone I’m new here! I came across this board yesterday while researching about opening a quilt shop. I live in the Midwest with my 4th gen farmer. We have two sons, a daughter in love and three grandchildren. I have wanted to open a quilt shop for many many years and am finally at a point where I’m putting things together to see if I can make it happen. We don’t really have much for quilt shops in the area but we have quilters. Any suggestions or ideas would be greatly appreciated!
thanks in advance,
Mel

say hello to everyone that comes in. I never spend any money in a shop where three people are working and not one says Hey, thanks for stopping in...
All the very best in your endeavors!!!

got to have some kind of web presence. Even a simple Webly page with photo, hours address, phone and email.
I travel a lot and it's sad how so many shop owners shoot themselves in the wallet by not haviing a specific webpage.
facebook, not so important

I'm sure there are shop owner FB groups which would be a wealth of nuts and bolts info.
I'm a mod on a pacific northwest quilters fb group, if something similar is in your region, post often.
If they have a sales page, post ever couple of weeks to stay in the potential customers eye.
I think classes are were the real money is.

you will have bolt end trimmings. bag those up and sell them. We scrappy people don't even want fat quarters really, we want scraps, but new ones to keep our quilts fresh.

A happy shop owner sets the tone of the shop. I love seeing as many projects hanging in a shop along with pattern and fabrics to make them.

I agree with all of the above. Classes are great for bringing people in. Open sew days also help to get people in your shop. If there's a quilt guild in the area, you can offer your classroom to them for bees or whatever they might need a room for. And, yes, definitely be friendly. I spend a lot more at shops with friendly employees.

[QUOTE=KalamaQuilts;8667779]say hello to everyone that comes in. I never spend any money in a shop where three people are working and not one says Hey, thanks for stopping in...
All the very best in your endeavors!!!"

Great advice, Kalama. I'll just add one thing to your it. Never talk about customers after they leave your store. I stopped shopping at one quilt store because they did that after another customer left. I've always wondered what they said about me after I left!

I agree with everyone and would like to add - please be open when people can get there rather than what might be convenient for you. When I worked, the only day I could go to the shop in town was Sat., 10-2. I had grocery shopping, housework, and all sorts of other necessary things to do in the mornings so had a very small window of time to shop. On Sundays I would drive 35 miles and back to a shop that was open. That really cut into my sewing time.

I owned a quilt shop for 10 years. I loved every minute. Owning your own business is a lot of work, but being a farmer's wife I think you're used to hard work. If you have a vision of what you want your shop to be, stick with it. Be friendly, have posted hours and stick with them. Being open late one night a week is helpful to your customers that work.

If offering classes - be nice to the people that are using fabrics from their stashes at home.

All the best in your new venture!!
What kept me from shopping in one LQS was when I was a new quilter. I would go into the shop with my pattern and an idea but it always seemed that I didn't belong. Hard to put a finger on it but I was left to wander on my own and didn't know what questions to ask. When I selected my fabric I received service, not friendliness. I eventually found somewhere else.
So, chit-chat the visitors not necessarily with the purpose of making a sale. Let people come in and visit without buying because the next time they will make a purchase. Give advice if asked and use your intuition to find the "lost" shoppers such as I was.

Have a wonderful time with your shop and welcome to the Quilting Board! We love offering our perspectives.

Here are my first thoughts after agreeing with what eveyone else has brought up.

If you are thinking about selling sewing machines, please make sure there is someone nearby that can do repairs on the brands you sell. I know I don't want to buy a machine and then send it off to get repaired. I want to maintain my relationship with the store I bought it from. Perhaps you can get certified to do the repairs?

I have been to shops where they would rent accuquilt dies by the hour to folks who didn't necessarily want to buy the system themselves. I am not convinced that there is a lot of money in that unless you wanted the dies anyway.

Longarm quilting seems to be a trend some shops are leaning towards as well. Would quilters in your area want that service? If not, are you willing to do longarm quilting for folks mailing things to you? (In which case your online website needs to be up and running really well.) Those machines cost a fortune so make sure you can make money off a longarm before you commit to it. Unless you just want one, of course.

Expect the best and make contingency plans if the best doesn't happen. I have talked to owners who love ther online presence and others who hate the complications of a an online presence and so don't sell online. If the local business generated isn't enough to keep things up and running, are you willing to consider an online presence?

And for the partners of those who quilt, make sure you have affordable quilting-themed knick knacks for them to buy when getting fabric is just not intriguing. Mouse pads, band aids, etc., silly things that won't fill up a lot of space and won't cost you a lot of money, but give nonfabric lovers something to look at and consider as a fun last minute gift.