Bulletin E-Edition:
Quilts in Sisters: where it all began
Mother and daughter run store that opened in 1975
By Kimberly Bowker / The Bulletin
Published: May 05. 2009 4:00AM PST| order photo
Jean Wells Keenan, left, started The Stitchin’ Post more than 30 years ago, and her daughter, Valori Wells Kennedy, became co-owner in 2005. The mother-daughter team consider business operations, like the projects and patterns the store sells, a creative process.
Melissa Jansson / The Bulletin
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Bright colors, fabrics and quilts hang from the walls and fill the interior of The Stitchin’ Post in Sisters. The store has motivated customers for 34 years to get out that sewing machine or find those knitting needles and start a project.
“I feel like it can’t be better than this,” Jean Wells Keenan, 65, co-owner, said about her feelings when she walks into the store. “It feels so good.”
Keenan started what is now a sewing, quilting, knitting and crocheting store in 1975, after nurturing a passion for sewing that her grandmother instilled in her at a young age. She started the store because no other shops in Central Oregon offered sewing supplies at the time.
Thirty years later, her only daughter, Valori Wells Kennedy, 35, became co-owner.
Mother and daughter, who both graduated from Redmond High School, emphasize customer service and running the business in a creative way.
“The biggest thing we do is to create a friendly atmosphere and help people feel inspired,” Kennedy said.
The owners meet every Monday to discuss cash-flow issues, review journals of past years that sometimes explain revenue fluctuations, and make plans to adjust accordingly.
“It’s so important knowing where your cash-flow is and managing it, not letting it manage you,” Keenan said.
Keenan and Kennedy approach business and numbers as a creative process.
“We make it creative because that is something we are interested in,” Kennedy explained. “You have to make it into something you like to do.”
Managing a successful business is an inventive process for Keenan. She is developing something, which is creative.
“Part of the reason the store is successful is because we are constantly re-evaluating the shop and how we can make it better — because if you don’t do that, it becomes stagnant,” Kennedy said.
The owners continuously search for trends, keep the shop fresh with new inventory and rearrange merchandise to keep customers interested.
Keenan and Kennedy also pursue their own passions outside of the business, which keeps the store fueled with creativity and movement.
Keenan quilts and sews in her spare time, and Kennedy pursues her fabric design business, Valori Wells Designs. Keenan has written 27 craft books and Kennedy 11. The two co-authored seven of the publications.
The store increases inventory by a third between May and September for Sisters’ summer tourist rush. Most classes, workshops and clubs that accommodate all skill levels are offered in the fall, winter and spring to help local customers have fun during the area’s cold winters.
“We are a destination store,” Keenan said. “We have our Central Oregon clientele and the out-of-the-area clientele.”
The store’s Web site also plays an important part in the business.
“There’s more emphasis on the shop, but we look at the Web as a place for growth,” Keenan said. “There are only so many people that will walk (in) your door in Sisters in the middle of winter.”
Having the Internet business and a brick-and-mortar store provides The Stitchin’ Post with a competitive advantage, according to Kennedy.
A quilting tradition
The Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show, now in its 34th year, draws many tourists to Sisters and increases business for the store and other local shops.
Keenan started the quilt show when she hung 12 quilts outside the store in 1975. It was the first outdoor quilt show in the nation, according to the owners.
“The next year we had 50,” Keenan said, “and we thought it was really something, and the next year we had 100 and it continued to grow from there.”
This year they expect 1,300 quilts to decorate Sisters, using the ambience of the buildings and the community to complement the show, according to Keenan.
“It was a day of sharing,” Keenan said about starting the show.
“And we have maintained that,” Kennedy added.
Next year the co-owners are planning to come out with a coffee-table book that displays local quilts in outdoor settings. Kennedy, who graduated from the Pacific Northwest College of Art in Portland, is taking photographs for the publication.
Keenan also will be inducted into the Quilters Hall of Fame in Indiana next year, an honor she received for her contributions to the quilting industry.
The business may stay in the family if Kennedy’s young daughters, who enjoy running through all of the aisles of fabric, are interested in running the store. For now, though, the business will continue to do what it is doing and evolve, Keenan said.
“I like thinking up stuff,” she said. “I always have. I feel lucky to be involved in the kind of business that I am. I like developing ideas. It’s a creative process.”
Keenan answered the following questions by e-mail.
Q: What is the essence of the store?
A: Inspiration for sewers, quilters, knitters — with education as the foundation of the business. We carry a wide selection of fabrics to appeal to the many taste levels that are out there.
Q: What suggestions or tips would you give to business owners about operating a company in Central Oregon?
A: Do your demographics, know who your customers are, do your planning on a regular basis, pay attention to cash-flow, be adaptable, create a business that fills the needs of the customers.
Q: Are quilting, sewing and knitting activities that go in cycles of popularity? How do you keep the business growing from year to year?
A: There are cycles of popularity with actual styles of quilting; but, overall, it is an American tradition and in these times people like to “make” things and feel good about it. It is entertainment.
Q: How do your identities as fourth- and fifth-generation Oregonians influence how you operate the business?
A: We are committed and we are here to stay.
Kimberly Bowker can be reached at 541-617-7815 or kbowker@bendbulletin.com.
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