Debi has an accounting background and over 30 years of retail, wholesale, manufacturing, and design experience in the fabric, quilt, and crafting industries. A private business consultant since the late 1970s, Debi specializes in business and money management for retail stores in the creative industries and for people exploring opening a retail store.each her at dmlinker@yahoo.com

– Pine Needles Sewing Center, Cedar Rapids, Iowa
From home-based cottage industry, to small town quilt shop, and expanding to an urban market with a second location, Jill Reicks has experienced many facets of independent retail in a variety of environments. Having faced nearly every challenge imaginable, Jill is well-known for presenting perspectives to realities in retail that some wouldn’t consider. Thus the title of her column being “A Fresh Perspective.” With a focus on education and optimizing skills of staff and resource management, Jill has utilized her 21 years in the fabric market to mentor and inspire other business owners and employees in the fabric and sewing machine sales industry.

– The Quilt Company,Allison Park, Pa.

Laurie founded The Fabric Shop Network in 1997 and is a nationally known business consultant. With over 37 years in the fabric retailing business, she provides industry-specific expertise in financial management, marketing and promotional strategies, and human resources.

In 1972, Marti and Richard Michell founded Yours Truly, Inc., a premiere quiltmaking and fabric crafts company. Since then Marti has worn many hats, including conceiving of and running Quilt Market’s Schoolhouse, manufacturing, publishing, designing tools and fabric, writing books, teaching, and owning a quilt shop. In 2004, she received the Silver Star for making a lasting and positive impact on the field of quilting over the span of her career.

Meg is the author of the best-seller, The Quilter’s Catalog: A Comprehensive Resource Guide and president of the nonprofit Alliance for American Quilts. Previously a staff writer for The Wall Street Journal, she has quilted for 20 years.

For more than 20 years, as a quilter and several years as a shop owner, Ohio-based Penny Haren has been developing and teaching techniques that make it quick, easy and fun for quilters —even beginners—to create intricate blocks with stunning results. In her “spare time”, Penny consults with and writes the newsletter for Checker Distributors. She has just signed on with the creative team at Henry Glass and will be designing fabric lines for their Spring 2010 collections. She writes the notions column for FabShop News.

Sarah is a writer and communications professional in Portland, Oregon and writes the FabShop News’ WebCents and BizNotes columns. She also works on marketing projects–including the Project 95 campaign–and writes the FabTalk blog for The Fabric Shop Network. In addition to her work with FabShop, Sarah is also an instructor in the Pacific Northwest College of Art’s Continuing Education program. She is a lifelong sewer.

When I opened Capital Quilts in Gaithersburg, Md 15years ago, I had a blurry vision of what I was trying to do, a completely unrealistic sense of the problems that might occur, and absolutely no awareness of any help that might be available. After one year, I foolishly believed that I had met the challenge of “being in business” and could probably help others who wanted such a career. Reality quickly intruded. Over the next few years, I experienced many trials and learned from all of them. In this column, I offer insight into common quilt-shop pitfalls, and their possible resolution.