When I last posted under this title I laid out the issue; brick and mortar quilt shops are disappearing from our hometown landscape being replaced by online mass merchants, and purposeful small time undercutters with little need to make a true profit. Let’s not even get into the group-buy sites leveraging heavy dollars for buys often near or below cost available to your local quilt shop who is still hanging on.
I think of all these things as I watch my quilt store owning friends head off to Houston Quilt Market. QM- is the be-all, end-all of industry trade shows for the quilt industry. A wonderland of what can be bought and sold for quilters of all styles and tastes.
Each shop going has mustered the time, the dollars and hopefully a solid plan since going to Market is not for the faint hearted or those who have a slim store wallet.
While wildly fun QM is also wildly expensive and yet shops go so they can bring you the best and the newest of fabrics, notions, patterns and classes in hopes that you will bring your business to their store leaving your dollars with them as opposed to shopping online with discounters that abound in today’s landscape.
A Quilter’s Conundrum
You ask, what could be wrong… isn’t cheaper fabric good for quilters you ask? Well actually no it isn’t. Past being the death knell of the LQS on the corner the further reaching implications of our ~buy it now and buy it cheap~ mentality might actually be lessening our experience of being quilters.
Oh Quilter Where Art Thou?
A great deal of being quilters is the connections we make by just calling ourselves quilters. By taking the moniker on as our own we join and sister/brotherhood of those who have come before us in the quilting arts and we pave the path from those who come after us. And yet with the death of each LQS we each create/sew/quilt in a bit more anonymity that sends us further into our computers looking for like-minded companionship with which to share our craft.
The Quilt Connection in Your Computer
Now don’t get me wrong, I love me some Facebook time as much as the next girl. And Pinterest… oh yeah baby.. come visit me there sometime! But when this screen time is our total connection to our quilt world I fear we are missing something essential and that is one of the things quilt shops provide. I know on our part we put together social events with the idea that bringing together people is an important part of mission as a quilt shop.
Of course not everyone has a LQS and I understand that but for those who do this is important.
Houston We Have a Problem
When local quilt shops lose sales to large online undercutters like Massdrop who prey on what one friend unflatteringly called ” our instinct to hoard and die with the most fabric” rather than to carefully curate, experience and explore our hobby with others then possibly we are heading down the wrong path. Are we giving up community for a discount and free shipping?
The fact is that this is a battle and it comes down to the little guy -vs- $8+ million dollar online market places like Massdrop and Fabric.com. It will take authentic change of the part of consumer to acknowledge their part in this equation and switch their habits and perhaps buy a bit less in order to support small business if they want to see it around in as little as 10 years.
Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.
Margaret Mead
Be Not Afraid Quilt Shop Owners
The news is not all doom and gloom and times of great challenge are historically the time of our greatest inventions and paradigm shifts. Now is the time for some quilt shops to cast off their dusty bits and fully move into the 21st century welcoming ALL quilters in their doors.
Embracing authentic brand marketing to connect with customers so they know who you are and what you stand for.
Creating innovative shop programs that feed not only the fabric love but also the hunger of connection.
For shops to encourage local quilters to meet each other and find greater connection locally. I am committed to growing quilting locally as most shops are but the truth is that most shop owners are one man/woman shows and that they are dreadfully busy.
Cue A Customer Solution
If you want to help your LQS think about volunteering to spearhead something communal at your local store and see what happens!
Thoughtful Alternatives for those without an LQS
Don’t have a LQS that spins your spurs? Well then shop on-line, but shop with some heart. Learn about who you are buying from. Do they reflect your values, your purpose and your style as a quilter? Do they pay living wages to those who work for them? Do you know the person behind the site and all the work they put into making sure your order is just right?
How close to home CAN you shop even if you are doing it from the comfort of your sofa with a cup of coffee and your ipad at the ready. Can’t find a shop in your town?, how about your state?
Consider that parting with a just a bit more cash by purchasing from a small and ethically run independent means putting dinner on the table in someone’s home not just a few more bucks into the year-end dividend check of a large cut-rate company and its investors.
Most of all shop with your heart, this simple step is actually the one that best assures the health of your Local Quilt Store and that is something we are all vested in.
Time to Talk Back
So tell me about something you think your local quilt shop is doing well. A fresh idea that other shops might learn from and why you choose to spend your greater dollars there as opposed to other places.
