Hi Gina, I know your post is a few years old but I hadn't been to this site for a while. It caught my eye because I once owned and operated my own fabric shop in Colorado for six years. When we moved from Kansas to our town in Colorado, there were no jobs in the field I normally did so I decided to try running my own fabric shop. There was another one in town that was owned by a wealthy lady who lived 100 miles away and all of the people in town who liked to sew and quilt complained about the shop never being restocked and managers who just didn't care. Instead of buying that shop, I started one up myself. Started small and it was a lot of hard work. Had great support from the community but I had a school age daughter and wanted to have another child and just couldn't find reliable people to even work for me. I sold it to someone who walked away and never paid me what she owed me. Overall it was a good experience but lots of long hours. I think working for that shop was a very wise idea to get a feel for what you might have in store as an owner. If you are still considering your own shop, feel free to contact me if you want advice, ideas or input!
Joyce