We Get Lucky

         Mid April of 2012 the building was ready.  However, before we could have our grand opening we had to fulfill our contract to return to the AQS show in Paducah.  No problem.  We figured that since we did so well during the flooded out show in 2011, we could do even better with a bigger booth and more experience.  The profits from Paducah would help pay for the renovations. Wrong!  With no floods our competitors were out for blood, including Eleanor Burns and her warehouses full of discount fabric.  Our sales were 15% less than the year before and costs were double.  We headed back to Concord lighter in the wallet.
        Our Grand Opening of the new shop was the first weekend in May.  We had a big party, lots of goodies and made decent sales numbers that day.  Father Jay, the Assistant Pastor of our church came and blessed us, the business and everybody there.
          We were off to a good start and waited for customers to pour in.  And waited.  And waited.  And waited.  May,  June and July we would go days without a single customer.  We worked our mailing list, advertised in the local newspaper, were on Google places, YP.com, the national Yellow Pages, The Quilters Travel Companion and the Quilt Shop Navigator.  I had given a presentation to our local quilt guild, which meets around the corner from the shop.    We were on Facebook and had a Web site.  Still, not much sales. Judy was having hysterics.  She told me and Virginia, "If business doesn't pick up by January, I'm liquidating the inventory, going into my sewing room (at home) and never coming out again!"  "Just once in my life I'd like to have a successful business!"  She had conveniently forgotten about the Stained Glass Studio she and Virginia had in the 1980's.  That one was quite a success.

Our 15 minutes of fame!

          August sales were a bit better, and then we caught a couple of lucky breaks.  Whether it was Father Jay's blessing or just dumb luck, in August we got a call from Lisa Thornton, a reporter for the Charlotte Observer.  They wanted to profile our business for the Local Section of the Sunday paper.  We were thrilled.   The article ran the week before labor day.   Business started picking up immediately.
          Then came our big break.  Susan Edmonson, a nationally recognized fiber artist and teacher who lives in Concord showed up one day.  She wanted to rent out part of the studio to teach her classes.  She had an ongoing monthly class (known in the trade as a "Block of the Month Club") that she wanted to bring in right away.  Later we could discuss what other classes she might want to teach at the studio.  This was a great deal for us because her students would be in the shop once a month and would buy supplies for the class and whatever else we could sell them.  After we agreed to the financial arrangements, we asked Susan how many students she would be bringing in.  Nineteen.   Nineteen!!  We only had 3 parking spaces and 200 square feet of classroom space!  We would make do.  I hustled over to the Church across the street to see if Pastor Pickett would allow us use their parking lot for the overflow.  No problem.  They now use our parking lot for their overflow on Sundays and we use theirs during the week.  We expanded our classroom and bought another big table.  The first day of class I played parking lot attendant and things went fine.  To this day Susan and her students have been a cornerstone of our business. As an added bonus, Susan is a wonderful, vibrant person who's fun to be around.
          New customers from the newspaper article, Susan and her students, and organic growth from just being there finally got the studio going.   Once again I learned the lesson that success takes a little bit of luck.