Most of the successful ones I have seen are dealers and sell machines, and offer lots of classes and large events as well as quilting services, and also have good online base as well. How much time and money are you willing to invest to make it profitable because that is the difference most people can buy fabric cheaper online which means you have to be offering more to make up what you are not selling in fabric.

Yes offer Sewing Classes to start with . my nearest /Fabric/Quilt shop ( beside Wally World or JoAnn ) is about a 30 min drive..southwest of where I live, other wise I would have to go to Erie Pa or into Mentor, OHIO ...I don't even know if our local High School offers Home Ec Sewing anymore? Maybe approach local County Extension Office to see if you could offer a Beginner's sewing Class ? for Adults or Teens...

Keep in mind that many quilt shops are closing because of online shopping and being undersold by Walmart and Hobby Lobby. Small business people cannot compete unless you offer almost continuous classes, sell machines, etc. There is one 50 miles from me that has been for sale for years and no takers. It is in a very good location with lots of retired people and a good customer base. I would not do it in todays economy.

We had two quilt shops in our area close in the last year. I know some quilt stores that are doing great, I think you need a mentor about this. There is a wonderful quilt store in Hannibal, MO that is doing fantastic. You might want to call the owner and ask some questions. She has several buildings just full of fabric but of course, Hannibal is a tourist area.

Missouri star started online and giving classes on Utube. I think the her popularity on Utube is why it's kept growing.Good luck and if you go online please let us know!I cannot travel so almost all my purchases are made online.

One little quilt shop here has classes and sells a lot of fabric. Sells no machines. Another sells machines and has classes and very little material. She can't compete with the material. She also has a repairperson who works on all the machines. Another has classes and sells some machines, a lot of fabric and has get togethers where they share there work. Not really a guild. Only one is in a detached building not a strip mall. We also have JoAnn's, Hancocks and a few Walmarts. I look at the smaller shops and they are busy. The smaller shops have rewards programs and you can order what you want ahead of time then go pick it up. I love to go and play touchy feely with the fabric.

When starting up a new business I think one needs to go into it not expecting to make much profit for the first 10 years. I was given this advice before starting a DVD rental/sales store and found it to be true. We eventually closed shop because we couldn't compete with the on-line competition on pricing. As much as people like to say they like to support the local mom/pop businesses, they will go elsewhere to literally save a buck. I had the opportunity to buy an existing LQS in a large city where there was no competition, and after a lot of agonizing had to pass up on the offer based on my previous experience with having to deal with online competition. With the Internet the world has become a very small place now and it's very hard for a bricks and mortar based business to compete with all the choices people have online. JMHO

I owned a quilt shop for 5 years and as others have said, its a 24/7/365 endeavor. Do your homework & research before jumping in. It's a HUGE investment. It's good that you have retail knowledge & experience.

IMHO, I would suggest starting out online and get yourself established because most of the competition really is online. That way, hopefully you can minimize your overhead expenses and it won't really matter if you have local support or not. From my experience, guild members and local quilters are very fickle; they want to have a quilt shop nearby but won't support it. Go figure. . . . .

Good luck -

This is what I was thinking....of course not having anything w/i 60 miles won't make it easy...but may 1 day a week for awhile to see what it's like.

Do some simple math...add rent, utilities, insurance, staff, stock and your salary. Divide by how many days a month you will be open. If you think you can generate that amount of revenue every day, you could be on to something. For the sake of argument, let's say your overhead is $5,000 a month. You will be open 6 days a week, 24 days a month. That is about $190/day of sales/income. Every day; day in and day out. At a minimum. Just sayin'.