I went to my LQS this week for a fabric fix. Starting a quilt and wanted to see what was available for the borders. Took my sashing fabric with me, hoping to find what I wanted. As I walked in I almost asked if she was going out of business. But looked around and saw no signs to the affect. The prices were the same as always. But she had about 50% less fabric than she has in the past. I didn't find any fabric for my border, but wasn't surprised since the selection was slim. Has anyone else noticed this at their LQS?

No, in fact I was in my LQS Friday for a class and they had so much fabric that I had to be careful with my rolling tote. I wonder what's happening in your LQS?

Really sounds as if they might be getting ready to close the doors.

Gosh, I hope she was just trying to "use up" before ordering the newer lines.

One of my LQS is like that. They used to have a wonderful selection, but slowly it is about half what it once was. They added more tables for classes to take up the extra room. I want to support them, but I find it really hard to shop there due to the lack of selection.

Theres 3 small towns and 3 smaller towns in my area.
She is the only fabric shop around. One would think she would have a good business. (?) Really would hate to see her close the doors. :cry:

The one LQS in my area is like that too. Their "strong suit" is machines. She just doesnt freshen the fabric as often as the others. She prices herself below the others and does have a loyalty card but the selection is stale. I only go in there in a pinch. Two others have new things all the time and rotate the others onto a sale rack. They are a buck higher in the beginning but things go on sale.

There is a difference in classes too. The two that move their fabrics have lots of classes. The first one never sends me emails either. The other two I get email flyers.

Seems to me that you would do more and keep your stock new but who am I to say since Im not the one paying to stock the shelves.

why don't you just ask her why?

When you work in a quilt shop you sometimes get tired of the same old fabric all the time, but you can't buy new until the old sells. She may be going through that cycle, trying to sell as much as possible and then getting a better price on a large purchase of new fabric. Keep your fingers crossed that she is doing just that!

Oh, I hope she isnt going out of business!

And sadly even if she is getting ready to close she may not say so.

The company I use to work for knew for quite a while that they would be closing , but never said a word just stopped ordering new product and slowly dropped the prices.

The internet is hurting a lot of businesses and she might be getting caught by it also. Sad but true.

She could be getting ready for inventory. Lots of places have inventory around this time and let stock sell down till after inventory

Take heart; I've found that May is the slowest month in this business, but May and June are the months when the new holiday lines start to come in.

Could be she ordered a LOT of new stuff and was wisely making room/saving up to pay it off. Why not go back in late June and see if things look different? :)

I sure hope she isn't going out of business.

I hope she isn't going out of business but it does sound like she may be. Is there a place you can go further away? As that my be the issue she is having.

I have one LQS that when she is vendering someplace she takes half the store and leaves it pretty bare....its hard to find what you want when all the good stuff is with her

I'd just ask her and find out the real scoop.

There is a quilt shop in Bloomington, IL that has soooo much fabric you can barely get thru the isles. It is stacked 3 high and then on top of the racks is more fabric. There is fabric on the floor and in every crevice that some will go. She has been closed down by the fire department because you couldn't get to the back door. It is incredible. Has anyone been in a QS like this?

Yes, there was one in Franklin Ten like that. I had never seen so much fabric piled all over the place in my life. It made it hard to find anything. They were going to be moving but it looked like it had been that way for a while!!!

I thnk the store in Franklin was called the Strawberry Patch. I heard they moved to a bigger space, but it is still the same (floor to ceiling, wall to wall). I think Franklin was flooded as badly as Nashville.

I've never been in a shop like that, but it must be really neat! We have one big one here, and a couple of small ones.

I LOVE the crazy Franklin shop, drives my Mom crazy. I want to dig around and find hidden treasures!