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Keeping it local

Published 1/9/2009 in Business : Business

By STEPHANIE FARLEY

sfarley@gctelegram.com

LEOTI -- The building at 102 S. Indian Road in Leoti used to house a deli.

The deli closed, which made way for the space to be available to an entrepreneurs willing to start a business in the vacant space that has so far had a low success rate.

Five women have decided they're up to the challenge.

After months of planning, as well as three months of building and remodeling, the brown paper has come down from the windows at the location to reveal Prairie Flower Quilt Co. LLC, which opened New Year's Day and features a selection of quilting fabrics, sewing notions, quilt patterns and books, classes and eventually custom machine quilting, as well as the store becoming a Baby Lock sewing machine dealer.

According to Wichita County Economic Development Director Sharla Krenzel, the idea for the business evolved after she heard a presentation on a community-owned dress shop in Russell. Krenzel started working early last year on the concept of a community-owned quilt shop, researching regulations governing such business arrangements and ventures, and building a business plan around the concept.

Through a series of meetings with local quilting enthusiasts, though, Krenzel said, she found the community-owned concept wasn't feasible because of a lack of interest. But, Krenzel said, a core group of five individuals, including Krenzel, Deb Case, Belinda Oldham, Marilyn Wilbur and Krenzel's mom, Janet Droste, emerged from the meetings as being interested in forming a limited liability company rather than community owned.

For the last three months, the group of women, along with Krenzel's husband, Alan, who handled most of the carpentry work, has remodeled the space by painting, building displays and counters and processing inventory for the new business. They'd covered the windows with brown paper to create some excitement, Krenzel said.

"We had the whole town talking," Droste said.

"Opening day was packed," Krenzel said.

"You couldn't even move in here," Wilbur said of the crowd.

With Krenzel's background in economic development, she helped the owners access assistance in starting the business, including through working with the Small Business Development Center at Garden City Community College to develop a business plan. They also received help from Jamie Morphew, a business consultant with Western Kansas Business Consulting, on their financial projections and accounting setup -- both services are free to clients. The women also received help from local attorney Laura Lewis with legal formation documents.

The shop opened 1 to 5 p.m. Jan. 1 and has kept its regular hours since -- noon to 8 p.m. Mondays, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesdays through Fridays and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturdays -- and plans to host a grand opening Jan. 31 and Feb. 1.

Krenzel and the group have seen customers from as far away as Ulysses, Lakin, Johnson City, Scott City and other towns throughout southwest Kansas, adding they expect to pull from a customer base within a 60-mile radius.

Quilters aren't exactly a loyal bunch, Krenzel said -- not in a bad way, but they tend to buy fabric and other supplies wherever they can find it.

"It's a bad addiction," Wilbur said, laughing.

It was Wilbur and Krenzel who were seeing money leave the community when quilters would go shop elsewhere.

"So why not keep it in the community," Wilbur said.

Droste was looking for something to occupy her time. Case was ready for something new. Krenzel had wanted to start a business and add to Leoti's tax base. And Wilbur and Oldham were on board, too.

According to Wilbur and Krenzel, the group all has different tastes, with Wilbur trying to grow accustomed to Krenzel's favorite types of fabric with a '30s/'40s look to them, and Krenzel learning to like Wilbur's favorite: batik. They all like the color black, though, so the store has a lot of shelving and other decor involving the color.

And each woman has her own strength, Wilbur said, explaining she sees things as more "black and white," while others in the group give the shop its creative touch and Krenzel helps with the organization, advertising and public relations. The group also has varying degrees of experience, with Oldham having worked in the textile field; Krenzel started quilting in the mid-'90s after taking one of Oldham's classes through Kansas State University Research and Extension; and Wilbur grew up sewing, with her mother showing her the sewing machine, a bag of scraps "and said go at it." Wilbur started making doll clothes, and the hobby has progressed.

While the national economy isn't the best, the group hopes quilters will stay closer to home.

Leoti has had several businesses, including a flower shop and appliance and furniture stores, start up recently, with Krenzel saying things appear to be turning around some in the town.

"We just haven't been hit as hard, yet," she said.

Several classes and events are scheduled at the store, including a Block-A-Month class featuring Jody Barrows' "Square in a square" technique on the second Saturday morning of every month and the following Monday evening; a Breakfast Club is scheduled for the third Saturday morning of each month; PIGS (projects in grocery sacks) is the first and third Thursdays.

For more information on Prairie Flower Quilt Co., call (620) 375-2044.

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