We were lucky to catch up with Karen Riley recently and have shared our conversation below.
Karen, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today What’s the backstory behind how you came up with the idea for your business?
The Quilt Asylum was a fabric store in McKinney and also my “favorite local quilt store”. The original owner carried all of these bright, loud and some funky fabrics that you just weren’t seeing in other local stores. And I loved it! I had gone to work for her at her peak time in business. When her lease was up and they were upping the rent tremendously. She decided to go at it online only. She was a very good business woman. After two years of online only, she told me “I underestimated the need for women to touch fabric.” Online shopping was just getting started. She was going to close after 17 years and retire. I could not stand the thought of losing my local store, so I asked if she would sell it. She said yes! The name was very well known. I kept it. One of those prime examples of If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. I knew it would work, as I saw it in action. People were excited to have the store back open in brick and mortar.
Karen, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
I got into quilting through an acquaintance who called and needed one more person to take this quilting class to meet the minimum student count. I said ok. I was a police officer at the time and in my mid 20’s. I took to it quickly and found it was a great stress reliever and a creative outlet. After 17 years in police work, I started staying home with our kids. By then I was deep into the fabric addiction, I mean, the fabric stash building process. (If you know, you know. )
Our store personality leans more toward the modern quilt designs, modern fabrics, bright and some eclectic fabrics. We try to find those fabrics that just aren’t seen in all the stores. We also try to carry fabrics that allow you to purchase all the pieces you need to complete a quilt from start to finish. What good are the wild fabrics if you have nothing that coordinates with it?
One of the best things about our store is we carry a large amount of Australian designers’ patterns. Jen Kingwell, Karen Styles, Megan Manwaring, Kathy Doughty, the list goes on. We also do hand piecing patterns, English paper piecing and hand applique. We do a lot of what we call hand work, not using a machine. For me personally, there’s just something satisfying in sewing with just a needle and thread. But I take nothing away from the machinists, It’s me. I use my machine, I just can’t sew a straight line.
You hear this often at quilt stores, but we have the best group of ladies working there. We love when a new quilter comes in. We love to help them choose fabrics, talk them through pattern choices, show them little tips to make their journey easier.. We tell them if they have a problem, to just gather it all up and bring it to the store and we’ll see if we can work it out. It is overwhelming when you first get started. We want you to be successful in your hobby! Your success is our success. But when that new quilter brings in their first completed quilt, that we helped them with, that is just an awesome feeling! We are so excited! Some come in a hot mess, but alot of our first quilts were just that! There are no quilt police in our store. I have the first hand-pieced quilt I made hanging in our store. I could pick it apart but I don’t. I hang it to show them it’s ok for it to not be perfect.
Even when an experienced quilter comes in with a new project, we are all excited to get to help in the process! And when our customers bring in their completed projects to show us, we will stop what we’re doing and look at it. Even other customers want to see it! We truly are excited to see it.
Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?
Wow! very first question. . . I don’t often think of myself as resilient. Maybe most business owners don’t because of the constant struggles. But, I would say that recognizing a need for a pivot and acting on it was key to resilience.
There have been a couple of bounces I’ve had to take. It was kind of weird in that the store was a well known store that had been online only for a couple of years. When I bought it, the reopening got a lot of buzz around it. People were excited this store was opening back up. Positive side. But three weeks after opening I had a heart attack. Pivot 1. Makes you wonder if buying this business was the best idea. But, after the stent in the widow maker, I felt SO much better, I thought I have to get on that horse and ride this out.
Then pivot 2. COVID. Most fabric store owners will tell you 2020 was a great year in business, especially if you were already online. We were considered an essential business. We provided fabric for people to make masks. So people were home and they were buying machines. Buying fabric. I had no employee overhead. I’d go in, check online orders, cut fabric and mail it out. It was good!
Then we started opening back up. But by now, people who never shopped online had discovered an entire world of stores online. Their shopping experience changed. Their friendly local quilt store could now be eight states away!
However, I too learned to help out others from other states. I now had time to facetime a customer in Louisiana and walk around my store and let her see the fabrics. She didn’t like doing the internet. So she would see something I put on facebook, call and ask to see it and place her order with me. She and her next door neighbor friend are still good customers today, because I took time with them back then and still do.
Any thoughts, advice, or strategies you can share for fostering brand loyalty?
Like the ladies in Louisiana, I think I was just willing to help them in the best way they needed in order to purchase fabric while in the middle of a lockdown. Well over 50% of my clientele are over the age of 50. During covid, I would call on some customers who were regular before, but haven’t heard from them. Just to touch base. See how they’re doing. I didn’t try to sell them something, I truly wanted to know how they were. Then we were allowed to open by appointment. I had a regular customer come in. This was in August. She came in and asked if she could have a hug. ABSOLUTELY! I hugged her and she just started crying. She said it was the first time someone had hugged her since February. THAT’s how you keep in touch. They just need to know you really care. Of course you want them to buy from you, but I also know there is no way I can carry all the fabrics available out there, and she will always check with me first to see if I have something she’s looking for.
I talk to people on the phone, or a crabby customer and my employees will say, you are much nicer than me. I tell them it costs nothing to be nice. It truly is the easiest way to earn a customer for life. Be nice. You can say no and be nice about it.
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