12/6/24
by Victoria Ritter
Conrad, Iowa is your typical farming community with a population of roughly 1,100 and a downtown that’s one block long. Among the storefronts sits a cozy quilting and fabric emporium, Hen & Chicks Studio which is the city’s third iteration of a quilt shop. The store, founded and owned by Heidi Kaisand, seeks to inspire creativity in all who visit.
Kaisand is a long-time quilter. Starting at the age of 9, she learned the craft from her grandmother and was a member of 4-H for 10 years. “I learned to quilt before rotary cutters,” Kaisand said. “I learned to pull threads to cut fabric and I hand-stitched my first full-sized quilt when I was a sophomore in high school.”
Kaisand went on to study consumer food science and food nutrition with an emphasis in writing recipes. She worked for publisher Meredith Corporation and jumped at the opportunity to write “recipes for quilts.” She also hosted local quilting retreats. Her passion for quilting never diminished and her dream of making a career out of quilting soon came to fruition.
Around 2010, the owners of a quilt shop in Conrad approached Kaisand and asked if she was interested in taking over their business. Kaisand was initially hesitant, but thought it over. Owning a quilt shop would not only allow her to follow her passion, but also remain available for her family. Plus, there was room to establish a retreat center on the second floor. Kaisand ended up purchasing the building itself, but didn’t take on the former business’ inventory or name.
“It was easier to just start from scratch,” Kaisand said.
Kaisand named the store Hen & Chicks Studio, a reference to herself and her three children. Today, she works alongside her daughters, Goldie and Virginia, along with eight to 10 employees.
Keeping on point with products
Hen & Chicks Studio measures roughly 75 long and 25 feet wide, with two thirds of the space allotted to retail. The product selection mainly focuses on fiber arts including quilting, embroidery, hand applique and specialty fabrics. (The store once offered scrapbooking supplies, but the demand was not enough to keep it in stock.) Popular fabrics come from brands such as Beginning Fabrics, Andover Fabrics, Timeless Treasures, Windham Fabrics, Sykel Enterprises and Riley Blake Designs.
“We have a variety of fabrics,” Kaisand observed. “I always describe my taste as eclectic, so therefore the look of the store is eclectic.” She went on to explain she curates her inventory from sales reps, trends she has seen online and shows including Creativation by Namta, h+h americas and Quilt Market, an international quilt festival.
To keep records up to date, employees perform daily spot checks, replacing any products that have been depleted on the shelves and checking inventory for back-up supplies.
Hen & Chicks Studio also offers online shopping, sharing the same POS system as in-store purchases. Although online sales account for about 20 percent of the store’s revenue, this retailer has quite a far reach. In 2023, Kaisand shipped orders out across the U.S. – there was even one customer who regularly ordered from Alaska – as well as Australia and parts of Canada.
“We spread creativity coast to coast,” Kaisand said.
The back third of the building is reserved for offices and a long arm quilting machine rental. The machine has been available to rent out hourly since 2015. “It’s a nice add-on for customers to have access to the machine,” Kaisand said.
Kaisand welcomes a variety of customers through her doors, as some come to shop, rent out the long arm, attend classes or book rental space. Her main customers for the store are those who are consistently working on projects.
To further engage customers, Kaisand introduced a monthly subscription program, Feathered Friends. Participants have three levels to choose from: rooster, hen or chick. The subscription comes with a regular newsletter, special project ideas, previews of products and exclusive discounts.
Recently, Kaisand has seen a trend toward more handiwork crafts and smaller projects such as needle punch or lap quilts. She explained these smaller-scale endeavors are not as overwhelming nor as expensive as larger works, thus making them more appealing to crafters and quilters.
“It’s not very often that we sell fabric for a king-sized quilt,” Kaisand added. “When you think about the cost of just to get it quilted, it’s hundreds of dollars.”
A place to roost
Crafting retreats have been a major focus for Kaisand’s business. Six weeks after Hen & Chicks Studio opened, she had her first retreat center in the upstairs space, appropriately called the Nest. The retreat center started out with 18 twin beds as well as a full kitchen and an area for quilting and crafting.
Over the following years, Kaisand made small adjustments as she got a better idea of her customers’ needs. She realized that the “sweet spot” for attendees was four to eight people. Still, she needed some extra space to keep up with the demand. This past summer, she proudly opened her second retreat center, fondly called the Coop, two doors down from the store. The space, about 25 feet smaller than the Nest, also came with a kitchen and two large bedrooms. Kaisand split the beds up, leaving 10 in the Nest and giving eight to the Coop – with four in each bedroom.
“We get a wide variety of creative women in the retreat centers. We see everything from scrapbooking groups to quilters and everything in between,” Kaisand said. “Quilting is as much social as it is about making the actual quilt.”
Both the Nest and the Coop are available seven days a week, with no minimums for people or time. A $50 deposit is due at the time of scheduling, but Kaisand doesn’t charge people until they arrive. “Nobody is penalized for somebody not showing up,” she explained. “It’s worked for me so far for 13 years.”
The most popular timeframe for rentals is three days, two nights as people book weekend retreats. Kaisand provides bedding and towels, beverages, power strips, extra table lights, irons and cutting mats to decrease the amount of stuff people have to bring in. “We try to make it as easy as possible.” Additionally, retreaters receive a 15 percent discount at the store during their stay.
Whenever the Nest and the Coop aren’t booked out, they play host to classes. Hen & Chicks Studio offers a long arm machine certification course and introduced crochet classes in November. In the past, Kaisand has hosted a virtual binding class and even had a yoga session to entice new customers to come in the store.
Room to grow
Kaisand has faced common challenges that come with managing an independent business such as finances and managing variables. However, she views obstacles as opportunities to learn and further engage with customers.
“Covid was a unique challenge, but in a very positive way,” Kaisand commented. “We tried to perfect our shipping and being able to handle things online and that pushed us forward.”
Kaisand and her staff continue to be on the lookout for ways to refresh what they currently have and learn more about how to use social media to connect with customers. Through the good and the bad, Kaisand enjoys coming in to work. “There’s always something I can improve upon,” she said. “It’s about being open to the possibilities of what we can do.”
