Quilted
Cottage, opening in October 2007, was never meant to be simply a quilt
shop, selling fabric, notions, patterns and books, our vision was much larger
than that. It is situated in Saginaw Township, just outside the city limits,
centered in Saginaw County. The county has an estimated population of
over 200,000 covering over 800 square miles, and our township with an
estimated population of over 40,000 people, covering over 24 square mile.
With these statistics in mind four women sat down, planned a place where
women and men could come together to work and share as they created the
designs of their heart. The times have necessitated that many women need to
work outside the home, and many grandparents are in the role of caregiver.
This has isolated many people. In the past we talked across the fence and
worked out our worries, now many are alone and miss companionship. With this
thought in mind we planned a business where our customers could shop for
supplies, attend classes, and enjoy the friendship of others. Our plan
was to divide our space into retail, class, and office space. The original
shop was approximately 2500 square feet with retail in front and classroom in
back. Five years later its size has doubled, with classroom, office, and
repair room taking half and retail the rest.
Our
mission focuses on service; to help, educate and connect. We make it a goal
to learn the names of all our customers, greeting them as they enter, helping
them find what they need, then utilizing a POS system for check out. This
keeps a history of each of their purchases for future reference. Our cutting
table is a central area with stools, for seating. It is reminiscent of the
“everybody knows your name” era. If we do not have what they need we
custom order, or find another store in the area that does. Our monthly staff
meetings are filled with discussion on how to better serve those who come
through our door, as well as personal staff development. Educating the
customer is a top priority, that is why we set up a 40 table classroom, and
invite local, and national teachers to come and teach. With several clubs,
groups and classes to choose from each person has the opportunity for growth
and personal development. Providing opportunities for customers to gather and
work together takes planning and effort, in order to be successful. Each week
we have open sew, free to anyone who wants to attend, each month’s activities
include a “Sleep At Home” event, and once a year we plan an off site
retreat. Our “Sleep At Home” retreats are unique and a customer
favorite, they spend 4 days, 35 hours, making new friends, finishing
projects, and having FUN!
Community
involvement can be as small as one or as many as a nation. Part of our
mission is to serve the individual customer, as well as provide an
environment for them to serve others on a local, national and international
level. From the moment we opened our doors we have encouraged service through
fundraising, group activities, take home projects and public awareness. One
of our clubs, Sisterhood of Quilters, provided opportunities to gather and
sew over 400 pillowcases for children in hospitals, over 300 dresses for
girls in Haiti, and adult bibs for hospice patients, to name a few. We kept a
notebook recording 1000’s of hours of personal service. Each year our shop
along with a neighboring corset shop, has raised money for a special
mammography fund set aside by a local hospital to help uninsured women. One
of our events recorded in local media, included over 1000 pink mini quilts made
by individual women as a memorial or expression of love, which were hung in
front of several stores in our strip mall. Through fundraising events and
sales, we support “The Pinkie Fund”, which raises money for breast
cancer patients, helping pay for medications and daily needs when their
stream of income is exhausted. We have hosted two Valentine Dances
“Sammy’s Sweetheart Ball”, to raise money for the cardiomyopathy fund. Part
of our service efforts include public awareness and education. Two of our favorite
activities include self defense training, where staff from a local hospital
came dressed in a padded suit, taught self defense moves and then simulated
an attack, allowing us to practice what we had learned. The second was an
evening for couples to come and learn from a dance instructor a few steps,
making for an enjoyable evening out!
A
second aspect of community involvement is to work along side other businesses
in the area for the benefit of the local neighborhood as well as personal
business success. Many quilt shops hold a shop hop each year, where customers
travel from shop to shop with passports, shopping and meeting new people. A
shop hop requires a shop to be at least a year old to participate, so during
our first year we found several other “NEWBIES’ and invited them to be part
of the “New Kid on the Block Hop”, this provided support and growth for each
shop. Since then we have participated in 3 more hops that cover over 400
miles each and 7-8 shops in a three day period. Along the same lines we
invited several businesses, scrap-booking, beading, stitchery, and yarn that
lie along the same highway near us to be part of a Saturday event, “Explore
the 46 Corridor”, which open the eyes of the community as to what is
available just outside their door. We are part of a group of 3 buildings that
consist of several stores and businesses. We meet as a group to plan combined
activities such as sidewalk days and holiday walks.
Honestly,
when asked what would a $250K grant mean to our business, it would be an
answer to prayers, the kind that keep you up at night, thinking about how to
make what you envision happen. Having a vision of something great and being
able to afford to make it are two separate things, both are needed, both
require work, the get down in the trenches kind of WORK. We knew this from
the moment we sat down to plan, and we continue in that effort each day. In
order to maximize the utilization of the funds, and to avoid waste we need to
look at our ultimate goal of becoming a full service sewing center. We would
love to manage a facility where quilters could attend quilt academy, receive
instruction, purchase supplies, and fellowship with one another. There are a
few small retreat facilities in Michigan, several are booked two years out.
Only a couple have retail on site, and we have the largest quilt shop
classroom in Michigan. So based on that goal, the money would be divided into
accounts, Inventory Purchase, Class & Teacher Development, Event
Planning, and the creation of a Design Department.
To[jll1] maintain a competitive inventory, we
will continue to monitor the market, keeping on top of the newest trends,
ordering within a monthly budget, thus maintaining a balance of goods each
season. In order to develop classes based on customer input, we will enroll
our staff in the semi annual market trainings, fall market being based in
Houston. As well as attending other trainings offered by national teachers.
An account to pay tuition, travel and accommodations would be given a budget.
Events, such as Sleep at Home Retreat, would be expanded to incorporate the
increasing number of attendees that enroll each month, this would mean hiring
additional staff to manage and to plan. The creation of a Design Department,
to create patterns and books under the Quilted Cottage label would utilize
funding for development, branding and packaging, marketing and promotion. By
developing our own patterns and books, and marketing them, we will be able to
receive income from sources beyond our local “brick and mortar” store front.
This would give us an additional source of income, to help us reach our
future goals.
And
finally, we would create an account set aside for the purchase of our own
building, and based on a time table of growth and development we will purchase
what will become ”Quilted Cottage: Sewing and Retreat Center.
The
greatest challenge facing any business is the people who manage and run it.
Understanding that a business takes a lot of time and effort goes beyond what
words can express. Until you live, breathe, dream and wake up thinking about
it, you really don’t understand the depth of commitment it takes to succeed.
Anyone who isn’t willing to face this fact becomes one of the biggest
stumbling blocks a business can face. That being said we also understand the
need for rest, both physically and emotionally in order to avoid burnout. Of
the original four women owners there are only three left, one left due to
family obligations, one is a financial partner who lives out of state. That
leaves Jackie and I, (Stacy), as working owners, our husbands have joined us
as partners and run the Janome sewing machine and repair departments. Having
our husbands and family involved in the business has given us additional
support
The
next challenge is lack of or mis- management of money. To prevent and
to ensure stability a firm budget needs to be in place with money put into
accounts for usage. As a small corporation, we meet routinely to plan and
vote on expenditures. We have learned by experience how important it is to
manage our income especially given the economy. The best way to overcome
challenges is to face, identify, problem solve and WORK them out. We are not
afraid to do that and because we love what we do we are committed to making
it happen.
Our
staff includes Jackie and Bob, Mark and Stacy, Jessica, Judy and Marlene. We
also have several women and men from our customer base who volunteer to help
with many of our events. As a combined TEAM our staff prays for, works and
serves each customer who comes through the door. We enjoy our monthly staff
breakfast, our yearly Christmas dinner and spontaneous road trips. One
unusual fact is that Jessica is the daughter of Mark and Stacy and the
daughter-in-law of Jackie and Bob, so we share grandchildren. This may to
some be a liability, we see it as a added benefit. Each member of our team
represents one piece in a quilt, each sharing in the successes of the other,
but combined they create a beautiful masterpiece.
Jackie,
has over 20 years in office management and bookkeeping, she is highly self
motivated and will work nonstop to complete a project. She has fallen in love
with the business and is constantly working to improve our ordering and
inventory management. Her ability to pick out a pattern and fabrics one day
only to come back the next with a finished project is amazing! Bob, loves to
greet each customer who comes through the door and will carry their machines
out after an event. He has scraped the snow off windows, started cars, and
shared a sucker or two with the little ones. His official duties include
sewing machine sales, repair and cleaning. He has attended several out of
state trainings and studies to keep up on any changes.
Stacy,
has over 25 years of marketing, mainly in the direct selling market, with
leadership of several hundred women and awards for sales. She loves to
teach, teaching by principle, “teach a man to fish and he will never be
hungry.” The development of Fantastic Fridays, Sleep at Home Events,
Retreats, and Quilt Academy are some of her marketing ideas. Mark, works full
time for another company, works in the shop as needed, helping at events,
repairing machines, and managing physical facilities. Mark has attended
training to sell and repair Janome machines, and enjoys sharing a joke or two
with the ladies. He loves to fix and maintain our building space, even though
we rent.
Jessica,
is a florist and event planner, and works part time in the shop helping
customers, managing our facebook account, writing ads for local papers, setting
up displays, and designing projects. She loves to help customers pick out
fabric and teaches several classes. Judy, works part time helping customers,
cutting kits, and is a very talented long arm quilter, with a large customer
base. She has a vast knowledge of quilting and enjoys helping customers pick
out fabric. Marlene, is a very talented quilter, who loves to teach. She
enjoys trying out new products and teaching others how to use them. If you
have any questions about quilting, sewing machines, or sewing, Marlene
usually has the answer.
Our
use of social media is an asset to our business and consist of a Facebook
page where we communicate with our customers regarding events, share quilt
ideas and promote the love of quilting. Several of our customers follow and
participate on our pinterest page, finding ispiration and sharing ideas. We
also have sent a weekly e-newsletter for over 4 years, called the “Cottage
Chatter”, filled with news of upcoming events, new products arrivals, and
class schedules.
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Friday, June 15, 2012
Our Grant Application
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