To Market - to Market -  Just why do we go?

This was Quilted Twins’ third year to go to Market. 

Houston Quilt Market this year took on a whole ‘nother element of intensity when we decided to bring along Sarah, our daughter. She joined Steven, our son, who flew down from Ohio, to see the craziness of Quilt Market and why we have started to go. (Steven is our digital marketer, and in addition to taking classes from those more in the “know” than us, his job was to capture our experience and post it on FB and on YouTube for you all to enjoy.)

Number one reason: It is NOT because we cannot spend money from our own computers and reps who come into the store. We can find all the fabrics we need to fill our store right from Dade City. However, it is because we want to expand our market, see what we’re missing, and fill in some gaps. I guess the easiest way to say it is, “We don’t know what we don’t know.” This is a good way to find some of those things out relatively quickly, as we speak to industry experts in a wide variety of fields.

Oftentimes the fabric companies will have small “market discounts” that are only available to those who physically go. I know that’s to help cover plane fare, hotel fare and restaurant/food costs. We try to take advantage of those small discounts, to help in those areas.

We have also established that with some smart shopping, we can purchase things like patterns and mesh and novelties at discounts, helping to keep our prices steady. 

Jill Finley was showing us her newest designs in her booth in the Riley Blake section.

Most of our prices have remained quite steady, even throughout the crazy shipping dock workers’ strike, the container prices increasing incredibly and so on. Throughout all of this, we have continued with our $5.99 and $6.99/yard section that is at least 70% of our store’s inventory. The $12.50 has remained constant, as well. (This has ONLY happened with incredibly smart shopping and tight fists!)

This is Mike from Northcott. He’s the sales manager that has allowed me to fill our shelves with beautiful Northcott and Figo fabrics.

By going, we have learned that some manufacturers will show us things that they don’t have enough of to put out into a universal reach email. This has happened by getting to meet company presidents and explaining our mission of keeping quilting affordable. (Many, many, many of our customers are trying to maintain a summer home up north, as well as a small winter home in Florida! We want to keep our snowbirds coming back. So, this is one way we can do it. )

I will say it’s daunting to me to speak to company presidents, until you learn that most of these fabric companies are NOT huge companies with thousands of employees, but rather, relatively small, smartly run businesses, just looking for store owners who are willing to buy without playing games. But Ken is right at home doing this speaking, and he explains our mission far better than I do at these markets.

Additionally, it’s fun. It’s different. But, don’t get me wrong, it’s 100% work. You are “on” from early morning when you stand outside waiting to go in, until after your evening supper either with manufacturers or with your own team, discussing what we should try next. You are approached by designers seeking to get their designs, be they patterns or fabrics, into your stores. You dare not look at something too long or you’re stuck for 20 to 30 minutes listening to the stories behind their designs. (Realizing that you have only a set number of 20 to 30 minute blocks of time, I did tell Steven, Ken and Sarah, to rescue me, if they saw me stuck.)

So, it’s totally exhausting. It’s NOT a vacation, but it is lovely to get a break.

Below are some shots of us all at work - at various stages of things - looking, examining, and always realizing that a camera is watching you! Below, you’ll recognize Annie of ByAnnie designs, but some of you might not know who Jason Yenter is of In the Beginning Fabrics. Sarah was showing you the 50th Tula line combined with the new ByAnnie bag!

Someone smarter than I am, once said to me, “A change is as good as a rest.” I’m still trying to internalize it and decide if that’s true for me. It may have been true for him, but we felt like we needed to come back and have a rest, but because the Quilt Market covered an entire weekend, we came back running, with our feet on the ground!

So, in this short blog post, I thought I’d share some of our shots of us at work. I was so busy sitting at the tables, with the camera not out, that I didn’t get a lot of shots of us working. Either Ken, Steven or Sarah had to take these pictures

We flew in on Thursday afternoon, and flew out on Monday afternoon. What was effectively five days away felt like two weeks.

We’ve brought back in our suitcases over 1200 Villa Rosa patterns; and have ordered hundreds more. We have started to see some of the other new things trickling in, like our new Fabric Cafe 3 yard books. Businesses have started calling, and the new fabrics have begun showing up , filling our shelves.

Below are two of the many Shannon Minkys which you will be seeing! These two are already up and on the site!

Here are some of the Christmas patterns that got in from Villa Rosa. I think they are adorable.

So, enjoy the photos and look for more blog posts, as I share some of what we experienced, . I hope you saw some of the incredibly amazing quilts on display at the International Quilt Show Quilts in the November 19 blog post. They were truly amazing!

And once again, I’d like to thank each of you for reading this and for supporting our store. We love what we do, and I hope it comes through!

Rachael Woodard1 Comment