Well my family is back from vacation, and Esther has handed the blog writing back over to me. She did a fantastic job while I was gone, and I thank her for this. .Now that the holiday is over it is time to get back to everday life again, this includes work, and so this morning Esther and I made a trip to the border. Esther makes the trip several times a month, and it is really worth it. When we ship some of our products to the border rather than to Canada we save a substantial amount on shipping. We can in turn pass these savings over to you.
Our GO! products are where we probably see the biggest savings by shipping to the border and picking them up ourselves. Our prices are very competitive, and we are the same and even cheaper on some products than the Canadian Accuquilt site, and they charge shipping on top of their prices.
Aurifil thread is another big one, our prices are $6.50 for the small spools and $14.50 for the the 1300m spools. While visiting some shops in Texas last fall, we noticed that their Aurifil was also $14.50 but theirs were priced in American Dollars.
Sometimes we will get asked why our fabric prices are high compared to those in the States but if we do a breakdown, our prices are similar in that regard as well. Many of our cottons are priced at $19.50 right now,but the last few shipments have been coming in at less, and the newest one today was priced at $18/meter. This by the way was Savannah by Gingiber for Moda, which I am thrilled about. But back to my little bit of math here, lets go in the middle of our prices and work with $19/meter. One yard is 0.9m, so 1 yard of our fabric is $17.10. Now if we take prices from an American site, they are at about $11 per yard. That's in American currency though so if we translate that into Canadian Dollars we are at $14.85/yard. Now that is still $2 a yard cheaper but you have to pay shipping and duty on top of that per yard price, as well as wait at least a week for it to come to your doorstep.
While we are clearing up some questions about prices here, lets talk about kits. Some people think that buying a kit is more expensive, however this in untrue. When we cut kits, we read the pattern first and cut accordingly, some patterns call for a lot of extra fabric and we try to cut this down somewhat making the kits a little cheaper. Also in our kits you only pay for the fabric and the pattern, we do not upcharge for labour and time.
Now that we have gone over prices, and determined that local doesn't always mean more expensive lets look at some other reasons to shop local.
Customer service is a big one. The owners of local businnesses often have their livelihood at stake. Therefore the service they extend will be better than that from a big box store.
At Chicken Feed Quilts we care about our customers and want to help you. We will listen to what you want. Do you have something you love and wish we would carry? Perhaps there is a new fabric or pattern designer that you love, or a notion that you use all the time. Let us know and we will do our best to figure something out. Feedback is so important to us, and the only way for us to improve is to know what you do and do not like.
Have you ever heard the term "local multiplier effect'? This phrase refers to the dollars that re-circulate amongst other local businesses. For example, we will need some new doors for our expansion, these doors will come from Bethel WIndows and Doors, we just got another cutting table made at Adora Kitchens and Cabinetry, the construction, electrical and plumbing that needs to be done will be taken care of by local contractors.
In a small town Local Businesses are so important, I am not referring to just our little quilt store, I am talking about all the independently owned shop and businesses in our area. The next time you need to do some shopping or need some work done around the house, check out the local businesses to see what they have to offer.
Now I have to get back to my sewing room, I am falling behind on the Luxie Lunch Bag sew along, and I have several quilts cut out that I am itching to finish as well.
Kayla
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