ghostrider

One of my favorite local shops (Keepsake Quilting) has a separate table where you can pile up as many bolts as you like, plop a beanbag on top of them and no one will touch them. It's great for fine tuning your purchase decisions and keeps the 'reserved' bolts out of the way of the cutters, though within their line of sight.

As for shopping carts in small local shops, I think I'd probably stop going if any of my shops added them. First off, the shops are all carpeted and carts don't move well on carpeting. Secondly, there are too many bends and sharp corners to navigate even with small carts. And lastly, I just think it would ruin the atmosphere...make it too much like a grocery store or Home Depot. Besides, I've always been offered a place to set down the bolts I'm carrying, even if it's only one or two, so it just doesn't seem necessary to add carts to me (not even Keepsake has carts, big as it is).

I've offered assistance to other shoppers when they appear to be physically struggling with something and have had offers of assistance extenderd to me as well. Quilters are like that...thankfully.

NJ Quilter

I was going to ask this as well. Is this the shop in Dagsboro with the 'new' location? Or is this another new-to-me LQS that I must visit when I'm down there in a few weeks????

My LQS has display shelves 3 high. I'm only 5'2" and can manage to get bolts off the top shelves with no problem. In fact, when they put finishing kits or other larger purchases together for you, the put the bags on the top of the shelving units and I can even reach them! The will also have additional bolts on the floor leaning against the shelving units but so far I haven't had issues with too many of those. I was at another shop a few months back that had many, many (at least it seemed to me) bolts also on the floor. But I think they were in the process of stocking/arranging their bolts as the shop had just moved into larger quarters. And I nice, bright shop too, I might add.

nativetexan

Yep, I do. I also hate my library having books on the floor shelf. I would have to sit on the floor to read the Titles!
so take it up people!

Jeanette Frantz

Like you, I cannot bend and stoop to look at fabrics. If I ever got down on the floor, I would need a lot of help to get up. I've had that happen to me in the grocery -- I got down on one knee to get something off a bottom shelf way in the back. When I tried to get up, I couldn't! It's rather frightening (it's the first time I've ever had anything like that happen). I'm not a really large person but it took two other women to help me up. I don't do that anymore!

Jeanette Frantz

Material Witness

I found a cute little Ott light at Joanne's that flip folds closed. I carry this with me to quilt shops, which are notorious for bad lighting. It enables good color matches, preventing many a bad purchase!

Iraxy

My DH and I are also aging, and we are not ashamed either. If we need to get on the floor to do something, so be it. We were at a local hardware store and just took our time on the floor looking at doorknobs and latches. I know some must of thought we were nuts, but hey, they don't know us and besides that, we don't care. We too, laugh at our geezer status and revel in it. It took us a long time to get here and we are glad we're here, still loving the life we built together. Me quilting, he tinkering.

May in Jersey

Newly relocated quilt shop in my area has fabric bolts on 3 shelves, and I always have trouble really seeing the color of the ones floor level. One nice thing they do have are some small carts to put the bolts of fabric into while you continue looking throughout the shop. They also have a few chairs scattered around, just the thing for bored DH's and people with leg or back problems that many of us have.

sahm4605

My problem is when I have to go to a lqs with a stroller (used to be more of a problem when my kids were much smaller). they have many "crooked" rows and when you get to the end of one it is really hard to turn the corner and its pritty much useless to do so when they have bolts on the floor 4-6 deep. They have a wonderful and very extensive selection of all fabrics, but I would like to see more fabric on shelves. even if the fabric was so squished the only way to move it would be with dynamite. I would also love to see most of the citch stuff that they have decorating the place go away, my kids wont stop touching it, it is a little tiresome to have to keep telling them please don't touch this or that. The stuff they are selling I am fine with "yelling" at them about but other junk just drives me nuts. I would also love to see a small section with crayons or paper or blocks for kids to be occupied with. (I would stay longer and buy more if this was the case. but that is just me.) I almost hate to take my kids to the fabric store. Joanns and walmart are bad enough but at least they have carts to confine my kids. and the bolts are stacked in two rows and the bottom is about 4" from the bottom or flat on the floor type shelves. which is hard to see. especially when there are bolts on the floor 4-6 deep in front of the shelves (the shelves are so packed that you couldn't fit a piece of paper on the shelf between the bolts).

Lavada

Our is diffently crowded but there is always someone to help

mhansen6

I with you on this. I visited a very high end quilting store in West Linn, OR. Beautiful store. All sorts of antique furniture that the fabric was displayed on. But 50% of the fabric was on the floor. It was under antique tables, or the bottom of antique cupboards. The lighting wasn't the best and it was so difficult to see the fabric. I quit looking at the fabric on the floor. I am not that old but it gets tiring to have to squat down and look at fabric. I go to quilt stores to enjoy myself not to get a workout. I don't know if this is a trend, I have seen fabric displayed on the floor in many quilt stores, but they really need to get it off the floor.