Your fabric shop isn’t just competing with the other stores in town. Now, local fabric stores have to worry about online stores, big-box retailers, and nationwide chains.
But where these other stores can offer convenience and competitive pricing, they can't replicate what makes your fabric store special. The feel of fabric between fingers, the expert advice you provide, and the community you've built around shared creativity are your superpowers. You just need to know how to leverage them.
In this blog, we’ve compiled seven practical strategies you can use to help your day-to-day operations support these strengths and win loyal customers for life.
Before we explore our list of tips and strategies, let’s first answer an important question: Why do fabric stores need to prioritize loyalty in the first place?
First and foremost, average basket sizes. Loyal customers spend, on average, 67% more than new ones each visit. But that’s just the tip of the iceberg.
Your loyal customers also win you new business by way of referrals. When a customer loves you enough to recommend you to their quilting guilds, sewing circles, and crafty neighbors, you turn one happy customer into 10.
Related Read: 7 Quilting Trends To Look Out for in 2025
But here's the part that really matters for your business: Loyal customers give you the breathing room to be creative with your fabric inventory.
When you know your regulars will check out that gorgeous new designer collection or join your block-of-the-month program, you can stock what excites you instead of playing it safe with basic solids. That predictable revenue from your core customers is what lets you take chances on the fabrics that make your store special.
Now, let’s explore our top seven tips for increasing customer loyalty in your fabric store.
The first way to keep customers loyal to your fabric store is to nail the basics — chief among them, inventory management. Let’s show you what we mean.
A customer walks in needing 2⅜ yards of the perfect autumn batik for her table runner. You check your system, confirm you have 3 yards, and she's thrilled. But when you unroll the bolt, there's only 1¾ yards left. Now, your customer is disappointed, her project is delayed, and you've lost credibility.
This scenario plays out in fabric stores everywhere, and it's completely avoidable. The difference between thriving and struggling stores often comes down to inventory accuracy.
Related Read: Serialized Inventory for Sewing Shops: The What, Why, and How
Modern inventory systems can track fractional measurements, display inventory in real time, and alert you before you run low on popular fabrics. Taking this step helps you avoid awkward moments at the cutting table and build credibility with customers.
Quick action steps:
Another way to build customer loyalty is to focus on providing learning experiences to the shoppers in your area. Customers who take classes at fabric stores often become some of the most loyal shoppers you have. Let’s explore why.
When you offer classes and lessons in your store, you’re selling more than fabric — you’re selling a whole new lifestyle. Classes help crafters grow their skills, connect with other customers, and tackle projects they might not have thought possible.
The magic happens when your store becomes the place people think of for inspiration and growth, not just supplies. Whether it's a "Quilting 101" series, seasonal workshops like "Holiday Ornament Making," or technique-focused classes on paper piecing, each class builds lasting relationships.
Related Read: Quilt Class Management 101 for Retail Stores
Quick action steps:
Most crafters and quilters aren’t just going to make one project and stop — they’ll need supplies regularly to keep creating. Why not reward that enthusiasm with a loyalty program? A simple points program turns every purchase into progress toward something special, and customers who earn rewards are 64% more likely to keep coming back.
The key to a great loyalty program is keeping it straightforward. Complicated tier systems and confusing redemption rules frustrate customers instead of delighting them.
Start simple: one point per dollar spent, clear redemption values, and a sign-up bonus to excite people. As your program grows, you can add special bonuses like double points on new arrivals or birthday rewards. Be sure to implement a fabric store point of sale solution with built-in customer loyalty programs so you don’t have to try to manage and track it all by hand.
Quick action steps:
Having a massive fabric selection can be a big selling point for your store — but it can also be a little overwhelming, especially for new quilters.
They may come into your store knowing they want to make a baby quilt for their daughter’s firstborn, but coordinating colors and dealing with yardage may seem like too much to handle. If they get overwhelmed, they’re likely to leave your store empty-handed, which is where curated fabric bundles come into play.
Related Read: What To Do With Fabric Scraps: 10 Small Business Ideas
When you preselect fabrics that work beautifully together, you remove the intimidating guesswork that keeps beginners from starting projects. Your "Spring Garden Baby Quilt Kit" with coordinating pastels, backing fabric, and binding takes a customer from "I have no idea where to start" to "I can totally do this!" in minutes.
But bundles aren't just for beginners.
Experienced quilters might also love more advanced bundles or mix-and-match packages. Your curated "Autumn Harvest" fat quarter bundle or "Modern Minimalist" collection shows off your expertise while making shopping faster for busy customers. Plus, bundles naturally increase your average sale, since customers are usually willing to spend more on a thoughtfully-curated collection than they would picking individual pieces.
Quick action steps:
One of the best ways to keep customers loyal is with memberships, subscriptions, and regular releases. When you implement a block-of-the-month club, you can build a sense of community in your store and bring in reliable monthly revenue at the same time.
Here's why this works so well: Quilters love the anticipation and the commitment. When an avid quilter signs up for your "Countryside Sampler" program or quilting subscription box, she knows she’s buying more than fabric, she’s starting a year-long quilting journey!
Each month brings a new technique to master, and by December, she has a stunning quilt and 12 months of memories from your store.
Related Read: Fabric Store Marketing: 8 Beginner Tips
Quick action steps:
As we touched on earlier, one of your biggest advantages as an independent fabric store is your ability to provide a personalized customer experience. Customers come to an independent fabric store because they’re looking for a human connection they can’t get from the online retailers.
But personalized service goes far beyond friendly greetings. If you want to win customer loyalty, you need to learn your regular customers inside and out, track that information in your quilt shop customer relationship management (CRM) system, and make perfect, personalized recommendations.
When you can greet a customer saying, “I just got a new green that would be perfect for that summer quilt you’re blocking out,” you make a sale today — but, even better, you win that customer over for future sales, too.
Take this personalization to another level with follow-up. A quick call to check how that challenging paper-piecing project is going, or an email with care instructions for their new silk fabrics shows customers they matter beyond the money they spend on your products. These touchpoints cost you nothing but create the kind of loyalty that online stores spend millions trying to replicate.
Quick action steps:
Customers want a personalized in-store experience — but that doesn’t mean they don’t want an e-commerce experience, too.
Modern customers want to be able to browse a website on their lunchbreak, check your store hours online, then stop by the store after work to make their purchase. To those customers, it’s all one shopping experience with the store, not three separate interactions.
If you want to win today’s customers, you need to provide a connected, cohesive experience across channels and touchpoints.
When that customer calls about that thread and your staff can see what she was looking at online, or when she walks in and you can pull up her wishlist from your website, you're delivering the seamless experience she expects. But when your online inventory shows 10 yards available and your store only has three, or when your in-store staff doesn't know about your website's current promotion, you're creating friction instead of flow.
Quick action steps:
Using these tips, you can create an incredible in-store experience that keeps customers coming back. But implementing seven strategies like the ones we’ve listed can feel overwhelming to any store owner.
Here’s the good news: You don’t have to implement everything at once. Start with two or three strategies that feel most natural to your store. Then, measure what’s working and build your approach from there.
Solid in-store operations are the core of creating an experience that’s likely to bring people back. Trying to manually manage inventory, omnichannel operations, and more is enough to make any seasoned store owner’s head spin.
That’s why our recommendation is to invest in a top-tier point of sale, inventory management, and customer loyalty tool that helps you coordinate all your efforts and get the most out of your customer loyalty programs.
Ready to see how the right tools can amplify your customer relationships? Let's talk about what Like Sew can do for your store.