I was in an Amish store today. Fabric that i have been keeping my eyes on is $10.99 in LQS. Same man. etc at the Amish store is $7.00. The Amish don't have the overhead or rent like my LQS.

If you think about it the Amish stores are not in large metro areas , so the cost of the space is not what a large suburban or urban store would have... plus if they are using family in the stores ... the pay may not be what some LQS pay. I think their overhead is not the same.

I know there is several fabric wholesales places that sell to the Mennonite and Amish for their stores. They have shows for the stores and travel to the area as groups. They sell materials mainly for their clothes and household items, and they do sell a lot of poly/cotton. Here in the area of Missouri, there are several Mennonite communities and also several Amish farms. They do have general bulk stores and fabric stores run by their communities.

many of the Amish and Mennonite shops don't have the overhead of your LQS, thus they don't need the same markup

The one thing I do like about the stores is their selection of solid fabrics. I do not see a drop in price.

[QUOTE=tuckyquilter;6906069]I . At least I do. I pay between $9-$13 a yard,

here in Australia I pay $24.00 a mtr for all quilting fabric unless it is on special

A couple of members posted the same thing I was thinking. They usually staff with their family members and sometimes the shop in on their own property. The overhead is nowhere near that of our LQS. They don't have to mark it up as much. Think about it why is fabric so much more expensive in Canada and Australia? They use the same fabric as we do here in the U.S. Overhead. JMHO
Sue

I really don't think that is the answer, but I don't know what the answer might be. They have rural stores, too, just like our Mennonites and Amish do; they are not all in big cities. The difference in pricing is strange to me.

Same fabric as other shops - sometimes better prices and many times not, especially in popular tourist areas.

Other countries may have to pay more to have our fabrics shipped there. They pass that cost on to the customer and may have a bigger overhead. Only thing I can think of, I have not been outside the U.S.A.
We don't have any Amish around this area that I know of.