Shorebird

LIKES - Friendly, knowledgable staff...good quality fabrics, decent selection (unless you want to specialze in, for example, Civil War era quilt fabrics or Art quilts).

DISLIKES - staff that cannot be bothered to help, or acts like you are not worth their time. Lesser quality fabrics at top of the line prices.

leaha

classes for EQ and a couple of computer's to use it on,(not on line)Amish solids as well as prints, and batiks. and batting. classes, in daytime & evening, a good line of thread. When they sign up for a class give them a card for--% off for all fabrics and notions needed for that class. (but do not make them buy materials from you to take class) less than a yard, or 1/2 yard end of the bolt, give it the person buying the last piece. or make it into a fat 1/4 card and add to fat 1/4 bin. sales are good, but hard to have a sale right off , I hope they will give you some time. We have a lot of suggestions on a friendly staff, but that works both ways, are we all friendly, polite customers?
(I hope I am) make sure all the staff knows how to use each gadget you sell, and what it is for. Maybe a gadget night tea? I wish you all the best in your new adventure!

raggedyann

friendliness and fun-we all spend so much money on fabruc etc that it is nice to feel good about spending it....the nicer the experience the better i feel! and prob the more i spend!!!

gailkv

We only have one quilt shop and the man in there was quite rude to me. I had bought an expensive Bernina off him and after he serviced it, it didn't work properly. He said he didn't know what I had done after I took it home... well I had only tried to sew on it to find it not working properly.
I won't go back but now shop on line at another store four hours drive away. The lady there is lovely and I have spent quite a lot there. (more than I really can afford)
I think cheerful, helpful service is the main thing with lots of lovely fabrics, kits and notions.

wishfulthinking

Wow, you really struck a nerve! I also think genuine friendliness and helpfulness are the most important thing. I've been in so many quilt shops and yarn shops where the help isn't friendly or helpful. A helpful, friendly shop is a real joy. About classes I just think they really need to be about quilting. One new shop near me has lots of classes but they are all geared toward selling expensive sewing machines. Good luck with your shop if you do go that route.

Maia B

Likes: friendly staff, clean bathroom for customers, kids welcome and little play/TV corner (seriously-you are missing sales and $$$ if you don't somehow accomodate kids), lots of samples, kits, bundles, and notions, loyalty punch card or program, monthly e-newsletter with coupons, a al carte classes-ie one or more FMQ class, not just FMQ covered in a 6 class series on basic quiltmaking, notions, books, and magazines. Prices on items I can get elsewhere have to be competetive. I can pay 10-20% more at the LQS for notions, but not more than that. But guess what, if I go to JoAnn's for beeswax or pins, you miss the opportunity to sell me fabric. Reasonably priced BOM kits and patterns. Dislikes: snobby staff who hate kids, no bathroom, no returns whatsoever, notions 150-200% the JoAnn's price, going to the LQS for books to support the LQS, and finding they have none, or few, and can't/won't get it either.

imayo

Need space to move around. Make sure it is smoke free environment. Went to one quilt shop and bought fabric that smelled of cig. so bad I couldn't use it.

MTS

Here's a thought - I'd suggest to you both that you find a Bernina Dealer in your area that also sells the "My Label" software.

http://www.berninamylabel.com/

First off, NAYY.

I don't even sew clothes (horror stories from home-ec class 35 years ago - I've never gotten over the experience), but I was blown away by this software.

It is just software, pricey at $500, but it has nothing to do with Bernina sewing machines, they just happen to produce and market the software.

If you could find someone, maybe through the dealer, that already has it, I'm sure they'd love to measure you for a fee, and maybe even print out some patterns for you (since you already know how to read and sew them).

Really, very,very cool.

QuiltingPinjinsa

I like a true-friendly atmosphere,lot of fabric, fabric kits,notions,new products,sit down room to look at books-magazines,some already pieced projects,associates with knowledge in selection-ideas..I don't want much :lol:

Quilting Nana

I am sorry to hear you had such a bad experience. But I would like to address the no sack question.
I work at a LQS and we ask everyone if they would like a bag? We call is "going green" If they say no to a bag we then give them a slip of paper and tell them that we will enter their name in a monthly drawing for a $20.00 gift certificate. Most of our customers love the idea.