Judie

This is Judie.  

Judie is our newest employee.  Judie should really be named Jack (Of-All-Trades), because she can do just about anything we ask her to do.

Judie has extensive sewing experience, along with a retail and teaching background.  She is patient and knowledgeable, and she will be educating many people in the coming months.  We will be offering a sewing class soon and Judie will be the teacher.  Judie is also becoming the expert in our Baby Lock machines.  If you have any questions, or need a new machine, Judie would be happy to help!

Judie has lived in the Black Hills area for the last 30 years.  Her hobbies include quilting, writing, and enjoying her grandchildren.  Judie is excited to meet everyone when they come into the store.  Please make sure to ask for her when you come in!

The Machine Expert

This week we are introducing you to Fabric Junction's other store expert, Chris Koontz.  Yep, you read that right!  Chris is Terry's son, and is the go-to guy for machine repair, embroidery, order fulfillment, and whatever else needs to be done.

Chris is the second child in the Koontz family. He started his career in construction and sales in school and started working for his Dad after college.  He learned the details of business ownership and excellent customer service from that experience.  Now, he applies those qualities to Fabric Junction.  

Chris spends a lot of hours at the shop.  He's the cameraman behind Terry's YouTube videos, the certified Babylock representative, payroll manager, and he may even be the one that quilts your project when you drop it off.

 When Chris does have some free time, he spends it with his wife and three children.  As a family, they have criss-crossed South Dakota many times participating in Taekwondo meets, baseball tournaments, and soccer games.  If you want to impress Chris, tell him your favorite quote from Friends or Pawn Stars. 

Chris and his family support small businesses here in South Dakota.  They also enjoy the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally where they meet people from all over the world.  

The next time you're in Fabric Junction, make sure to ask Chris to show you around!

Next week, we will introduce you to one of our helpful and efficient employees.

The Quilting Expert.

In our first post, we will introduce you to the founder and creative professional of Fabric Junction, owner Terry Koontz.

Terry was born and raised in South Dakota.  She met her future husband in college, where she completed a degree in business management.  After college, the couple married and moved to Sturgis and raised four children.  Terry sewed clothes for her children, then expanded into quilting for friends and family.

Terry opened Fabric Junction in 1998 to offer customers a wide variety of products and services. Starting out in a 600 sq ft space, the store eventually grew to fill a spacious 2400 sq ft store. It carries a wide variety of designer fabrics, books, patterns, quilt kits, finished projects, gifts, and more. Along the way, Terry also added qualified sales of Baby Lock sewing machines, and custom quilting services to her stores growing list of store specialties.

Because of her arthritis, Terry cleverly invented a rotary palm cutter that is easy on wrists and hands.  It is a one-of-a-kind tool that we use here in the store.  Terry assumed other quilters might need this convenient tool, so she offers it here and on our website.

Terry's customers come from all over the U.S. and the world.  The store has had guests from the Netherlands, Australia, Canada and more.  Terry gets to chat with many visitors during the annual Sturgis Motorcycle Rally.  There are so many people that come into the store during Rally that Fabric Junction has printed an exclusive Sturgis Rally fabric.  

Because so many of her customers aren't local, Terry decided to provide YouTube tutorials to help her friends who couldn't come into the store and ask questions.  Over 18,000 people now subscribe to our YouTube channel!  

Terry loves getting pictures of our customer's completed projects through YouTube, Facebook, or email.  She is always impressed with the creativity of other quilters.

When Terry isn't thinking up patterns or helping customers in the store, she enjoys volleyball, traveling, watching old movies, completing word puzzles and watching her grandchildren participate in their favorite activities.

Come back next week to meet our resident Babylock expert, head embroiderer, and all around know-it-all (in a good way, of course!), Chris Koontz.