Cabin Fever Shop Hop 2019
We have a Cabin Fever Shop Hop going on in Indiana right now. It started on Friday, February 15th and runs until Saturday, February 23rd. There are nine shops participating around central and east-central Indiana. (The feature image is of The Quilter’s Nook in Versailles, IN.) My friend, Linda, and I went out last Saturday to try to cover all of those on the East side of the State. This was a doable notion, but it was a little tight. We had a great time and the shops were all well worth the stop. My writing today is more reflective of the creativity that goes into being a small business owner, more than that of a quilt fabric connoisseur.
The first store we visited was a bit ill prepared. We arrived right around 10 AM because we didn’t check the hours to know that we could have shown up at 9. However, it was more than an hour’s drive from my house, and we rose early enough that day. Not long after 10, a meeting of quilters that had been in an upstairs room ended and quite a few people poured downstairs. There were only two staff members in the store. One had to cut fabric and the other had to work the register. Apparently, the store owner had caught the flu that day and was home sick. While I have sympathy for her discomfort, I can’t help but think this store could have been better prepared with more part-time help and another point of sale, even a smart phone with a Square app for people who wanted to pay by card. We’d already committed to purchasing fabric cut from bolts, so we tied up for about 45 minutes longer that I think was necessary. Quilters are nice, patient people, and I would definitely go back to this adorable store. But, the time lost meant that we couldn’t stop for a nice lunch and get to all the other stores before closing. We ended up grabbing something at fast food place in less than 20 minutes. That could have been a more pleasant experience.
Overall I was impressed with the effort of all the store owners. This event took a good amount of collaboration. They chose a book that would be given as a gift with the price of the shop hop “passport”. Each store made one or two projects from the book. This was a great conversation starter when shop hop travelers entered the store. Having a reason to engage those shopping, right from the start, is a great marketing technique. It allowed us to tell each representative what we might be in search of and get some help right away. Plus, it gave us ideas on how we might create some of the projects in the book.
The other thing I noticed was that in a couple of the shops there was a display of greeting cards for sale. But, they were two very different displays. One store had greeting cards that were manufactured. They were on the small side, but also priced very affordably at $1.95 each. They were the size a wedding shower thank you card usually is. The display was eye-catching because the cards themselves were highly colorful and contained fabulous artwork, much like the quilt fabric in the store. With cards in big box stores running $5 – $7, these smaller cards at $1.95 were quite desirable. It just made sense to grab at least one when you were paying for your fabric. This seemed a smart move on the part of the business owner, value added.
The other type of card display I found was a rack of hand-made cards that were rather elaborate. They contained multiple layers and techniques, and were the size of a regular greeting card. The cost for the hand-made card was $4.49, still less expensive than in any big box store for an artsy card. I noticed that this card rack was not displayed at the check-out counter. Rather, it was displayed next to the machine demo area. It got me thinking that perhaps a lot of machines are purchased as gifts for big events and that having an appropriate greeting card right where the gift is purchased is probably pretty handy. I imagine a husband coming in to buy a machine as a gift for his wife and after he’s committed to a couple thousand dollars, what’s another $4.49? So, you card makers out there, try asking your local sewing machine dealer if you can work out a consignment agreement.
Last, I think giving an incentive to bring shoppers out of the warm comfort of their homes during the dead of winter is a smart idea to boost sales during a slow period. I recall driving all over the State of Arizona in the dead of summer for a shop hop, for the same reason. This time I discovered not only some nice quilt stores I had not visited, but some lovely little towns that would be worth visiting again. I can see myself participating in next year’s Cabin Fever Shop Hop and hope to convince more guild members to join. It’s a great quilter’s day out.