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Hi everyone,
 
     We finally opened the walk in store at the beginning of November, 2004.  The building was only late by nine months (which is not as bad as it could have been in the Destin area).  It was worth the wait.  It's a clean, modern look with color correct lighting throughout.   Fabric are sorted by color with repro's, solids, novelties, etc in their own slots.   The classroom has room for 10 and sports a nice video projection system with stereo sound.  We can have classes, run lectures and show movies.

   Many people asked where our temporary space was and we avoided the
question.  Now that we're open, the whole story can be told.  We were running the internet business out of our house in Destin and we lived in our 35 ft. motor home in RV park near the house.  Quilting for that time period was almost out of the question due to limited space. I did a lot of cutting and piecing.  Can't tell you what a relief it was to finally move into the house, redecorate and stretch our legs. My quilt studio is getting close to finished and I'm productive again.

   The house was absolutely jammed with inventory.  The living room, master bedroom and second bedroom were filled with aisles of boxes.  The kitchen contained the cutting and shipping tables and the third bedroom acted as an office.  Half of the garage contained what little we kept from our house in Chicago and the other half was devoted to.....gee take a guess......FABRIC! A wireless local area network took care of all of the computing issues.  Each box had a location number and each bolt was assigned to a particular box.  When an order came in, the location was assigned to the item by the server software and we wnet to the particular box to pick the bolt. This same system is used in our new space. We know exactly where every bolt is in inventory.

     Destin is a resort town located on the Gulf of Mexico between Mobile or Pensacola to the west and Panama City Beach to the east.  The sands are sugar white and the water is a clear emerald green. The town has 11,000 permanent residents and swells up to almost 100,000 during the peak season which is June through August.  Golf courses, water sports, restaurants and shopping abound.  If you like to fish, Destin is a hotspot for the offshore, inshore and bay fishing of many species. Most people come down here just to spend the day at the beach.

     We truly appreciate your business and will continue to offer quality merchandise, excellent service, quick delivery and a quick response to your questions.  Considering the increase in sales every month, I believe we're keeping you happy!

The Cotton Loft Gang (chris@quiltingcotton.com)