Everytime I make it to town (about evey 2-3 months) I always go to one of many LQS. I have always bought something from this shop. The one thing I really liked about it was going through all the discontinued bolts of fabric. I always found something. She would mark them 1/2 off. Last time I was in their she is no longer marking down the older lines. She is now cutting them all up in fat 1/4's. I'm not real fond of fats and she sells them at regular cost. Unless I'm looking for something specific, I don't think I'll be back for a long while. Her prices went up $2-3 a yard also. Come to think of it, there wasn't one thing in that shop that was on sale. They always had a good selection of sale items.

I can understand being upset when prices go up but I doubt LQS's are raising prices "because they can" or just because they want to rip people off. That's the quickest way for a small business to go bankrupt. They already have to compete with online stores that can charge less because they have less overhead and more volume.

And business costs go up with no regard to how much a shop owner charged for a bolt of fabric one, three, or six months ago. If your utility costs go up sharply or there is some other rise in your business related costs, you don't have many options. You have to find some way of bringing in the revenue to cover those costs, and most of the time that means raising prices across the board.

The price charged for a bolt of fabric isn't based solely off how much that bolt of fabric cost them originally.

I hear you on that one. I save up and buy at the big Quilt Shows. WE have one coming up in October and I have my money stashed.

When the store first opened DH figured out that half the money he took in went to various taxes - some of which I never heard of before we got married. He always made sure that we charged enough to stay open and eat.

Last night I order the backing for DGD's wedding quilt. I know I won't put it on for months but with the crop failures this year I want to have it here in the house. I Googled and found that cotton is harvested July - Nov. Don't know how long it takes to get from field to store. Not even going to guess what the prices will be next summer.

shop online - you can find fabric online anywhere from $3 to $7 a yard.

Fabricprices at the LQS here in The Netherlands from $ 21 up :( So now I buy online in the US!

the LQS shop did that here. some of the bolts have been on the shelves for 6 years (thats how long i've been teaching a class there).

fabric went from $6-$10 to $10-$16 (batiks cost $16 a yard).

they shut down the store for an entire weekend and raised the prices on everything in the store including notions.

since then all 3 guilds that i'm in no longer invite them to the meetings to sell product.

the classes for the fall don't even have enough students in them to run the classes.

if this continues they will be out of business in no time.

yikes! i dont know how im going to afford fabric!! I keep buying on here but if I cant find what I need YIKES!!!

Wholesale costs, at best, between $2 and $2.50/yd. Last time I bought (about 2 months ago), designer fabric was $2.25/yd, 15 yd minimum.

I feel sorry for the LQS. It's not their fault that the prices are going up. They have bills to pay and want to stay in business. They are trying to offer us merchandise that we can't get at Walmart, Joann, or wherever. We sometimes want something extra special for a particular quilt, gift, project and they were there when we needed it.

And it's not our fault that we can't afford the increase. Our bills go up and what gets eliminated from the budget? Not food. Not gas to go to work. It's the extra's, like fabric, that get cut out. And those offering the "extra's" lose that revenue.

It's a sad situation and I'll be sorry to see even more businesses close up and more buildings sitting empty.