Went to my first Northeast PA Shop Hop shop, and oh boy...
 

I took the day yesterday to drive to the farthest quilt shop in our Northeast PA shop hop (Endless Mountains, and it sure felt like it!). Was thinking it would be about 1 1/2 hours, but took WELL over two. Walked in the door, and what do we find but UTTER chaos! You could literally cut the tension in the air. Lines all the way down the aisles (I'd say at LEAST 15 women per line), and only two people working. We literally put our name in the door prize drawing jar, and got in line to get our passports stamped & to purchase our block. Stood there for well over 1/2 hour, and at one point the two feisty older ladies behind us were very close to starting a riot! I'll tell ya, they were saying a lot of stuff that most of us there were thinking. LOL We stood there so long, in fact, that the ladies were actually taking turns walking to the back of the store to sit down.

The lady at the register was WAY too chatty, continually tried to sell fabric panels and give advice (which would be nice if the place was empty!), and at ONE point excused herself and left because she had to "go make up more passports". All of us in line were all like "You're kidding me." She was NOT kidding. As she cut the fabric she was bragging that Saturday was their busiest day EVER, but why then were there only two people working the next day?? There was no organization, and we stood behind women with bolts and bolts of fabric to be cut, even though all we wanted to do was check out. Not even ONE time did anyone apologize for the wait. Made absolutely No sense to me. It was totally worse than any Black Friday shopping experience. Ever. This shop is WAAAAY too far away from the other shops in our area.

I already have a Wednesday morning trip planned with my neighbor to hit a few of the shops close to home. I sure hope it's not as crazy as Sunday afternoon was! I will say, from what I saw between the crowds the quilt shop was really lovely, and their rendition of the finished Shop Hop quilt was really nice.

Just wanted to see if anyone else experienced any chaos during their LQS visits this weekend.

We did 6 shops on the hop on Saturday and none of the shops we visited had a long wait. We plan on going to Endless Mountain on Friday, sure hope they have their act together by then.

I don't live in your area, but I have been on shop hops that where some stores are ready for the action, and others were trying to understand why anyone would want to that! Yes, the owner of the store actually asked what all the fuss was about to go driving around the country side to buy fabric! She was unreal, and unprepared for the crowd.
Didn't make any one of us really feel comfortable being there, or caring if we bought anything!
I hope the rest of the shop hop is enjoyable. :)

Norbanaquilt, I SURE hope I have your luck on Wednesday! Endless Mountains shop was very quaint, and I really wish I'd have a better experience with them. Some really beautiful quilts displayed, but we didn't even get to shop. :(
BarbaraSue, I'm told this shop actually has been participating for many years, so I'm clueless why they were so unorganized. I 'm headin' south on Wednesday, and hope to at least do some shopping this time!

Wow sounds like a lot of places have issues on this Hops - our LQS had a bus going out last weekend I'm glad I wasn't on it now hearing these stories I'm glad I didn't go now. I'm disabled I can't stand or sit for long periods of time so I'd be in bad shape coming home. I don't understand why the shop owners were so unprepared or unorganized when they know that people are coming for these Hops.

so where do you live? I thought about doing this hop but didn't have enough information on it! Sorry about you chaotic experience! Maybe I'll do it next time.

It's the Northeast Pennsylvania Shop Hop. I don't think I'd ever go again on a weekend, but maybe willing to try during the week. Tomorrow we are hitting the southern shops from us, Kutztown, Hamburg, Lehighton, and maybe Allentown. I'm really hoping it will go much better than the first one!

I hope Wednesday goes smooth for you. I was surprised that you had that experience at Endless Mountain, it's usually a great shop to visit. In fact it's one of my favorites on the Shop Hop, so hopefully they were just having one bad day. I'll let you know how we make out on Friday.

Any idea what time you might be at the Allentown shop tomorrow? I plan on going tomorrow on my lunch break.

We are planning on leaving home around 9, but not exactly sure what route my friend has planned. She is my co-pilot, navigator, and experienced "hopper". :) Let's see, I plan to swap out my bag tonight & use a black quilted 'bag' purse, so if I'm there around lunch look for the purse! ha ha

Thanks for the hint, my bag is skinny strips of batiks, think bright. It would be a hoot if we recognize each other with this little clue:D