My Biz: Making memories in quilting, fabric stores | The Gazette

Oct 16, 2024

Shop Hop marketing, ‘passports’ bring people into brick-and-mortar shops

Jul. 7, 2024 5:00 am, Updated: Jul. 9, 2024 7:50 am

CEDAR RAPIDS — Koleene Herlocker notes that many people know about pub crawls.

Not as many have heard about Shop Hops, which work on the same principal, but with quilts instead of alcohol.

She’s working to change that.

As executive director of Shop Hop Inc., based in Cedar Rapids, Herlocker and her team help people all around Iowa — and all around the country, in fact — discover locally owned quilting and sewing shops.

“We are a marketing company, and we promote quilting and sewing stores all over the United States,” said Herlocker, 58. “What we do is organize shop hops. … A hopper, or customer, will go to a quilt store to shop, then hop to the next one and do the same. Our job, through our events, is to drive customers into the doors of these stores.”

What is distinctive about the Shop Hop events is that they are “king size,” she said.

“Typically, these are smaller, regional hops with five to 20 stores, and you go for a weekend or a week,” she said. “Ours are unique. Our events encompass an entire state or a region, like the All Iowa Shop Hop or the All New England Shop Hop. We include 50 to 60 stores, sometimes more, to get a critical mass. And then our events run for two months.’

Shop Hop operates 16 Shop Hop events around the country covering 30 states. The All Iowa Shop Hop started in June and runs through July 31, with about 70 stores participating.

The other distinction is that Shop Hop publishes a magazine — with a “passport” — for each regional Shop Hop.

“The magazine has a lot of quilting information in it, and patterns, and it promotes each store that is participating,” Herlocker said. “And we create an exclusive fabric line that typically ties to the state or region that is only available to participating stores.

“Our website lists all the participating stores and tells you how to pick up the magazine, which includes the Shop Hop passport to start the hop,” Herlocker said. “Participants get to explore the state and all of the stores.”

As hoppers visit the stores, they get stickers to add to their passport, which they submit at the end of the hop to win prizes.

“We have a large prize drawing at the end of each event and give away anywhere from 300 to 500 prizes, totaling up to $50,000. It’s a big incentive,” Herlocker said.

“Every one of the stores has a different personality,” she said. "They specialize in different fabrics or machines. And hoppers learn about a whole plethora of resources for inspiration and items that they might need, regardless of the project they're working on.”

Shop Hop conducts post-event surveys with the stores and customers to measure the event’s impact on the industry.

“We track how many visitors go in each store,” Herlocker said. “Over the two-month event, we will typically generate anywhere from about 40,000 to, well, we just broke a record in Texas, of 100,000 visitors.”

The Shop Hop team also measures expenditures, both what is spent at the quilting stores and what is spent on travel-related items.

“That allows us to estimate what the economic impact for a state or a region is,” Herlocker said. “That typically will range anywhere from about $4 million to $9 million over that two-month period. So, we are promoting these stores and having an impact on a lot of other parts of the state. We’re super proud about that.”

It’s no surprise the Shop Hop team hears some fun feedback from both the stores and shoppers participating.

“The stories that we get come from both the customers who are making memories and the stores and how grateful they are,” Herlocker said. “Some of them tell us the two months of the hop is what keeps them in business the rest of year.”

“The stories are so heartwarming about the memories they make with a husband who travels with somebody or a mom or friend,” she added. “Some tell us ‘I’ve lived here my whole life and I’ve discovered parts of the state that I didn't know about.’ The gratitude that we get is awesome.”

Herlocker had owned other businesses and thought she was headed for retirement when the previous owner of Shop Hop approached her in 2019 about buying the business, which started about 13 years ago.

“I didn’t really want to work, but the concept just really piqued my interest,” Herlocker said. “There are a lot of industries out there where they are competitors, but by working together, they all benefit and support each other.”

Herlocker decided to buy the business, with her business partner Jen Gasper, 49, and the business has flourished since.

Herlocker said the business over the past four years has had nine employees and other contract employees as the business continues to grow.

“It’s crazy how much we have grown, and we probably could be in every state in the country,” she said. “But we're just purposely trying to be cognizant of making sure that before we bring on a new Shop Hop that we have added our infrastructure and people so that we can do it well.”

Having the business headquartered in Cedar Rapids continues to work well, Herlocker said.

“We have stores in Washington and Florida and Maine, and this is not difficult to manage from afar,” she said. “And we do a lot of shipping of prizes and supplies for the stores, so it helps to be centrally located.

“But I also love the workforce in Iowa. They work hard and have a strong work ethic. We have a phenomenal team and have been so fortunate to bring them on board. I’m happy that we live and do business in Iowa.”

Meanwhile, across the country, Herlocker hopes the enthusiasm for the Shop Hops continues to grow.

“It’s so important for all of us to help maintain our brick-and-mortar stores,” she said. “There’s a place for online shopping, but events like this help us support those brick-and-mortar stores. That’s our mission.

“There are just a lot of things you need to touch and feel before you purchase it. And you aren’t just shopping. You’re creating these memories with the people that you go with, and you connect with the people in the store, and that's very cool.”

Know a business that should be considered for a “My Biz” feature? Let us know by emailing [email protected].

Owners: Koleene Herlocker, Jen Gasper

Address: Cedar Rapids

Phone: (319) 721-1513

Website: https://alliowashophop.com/