Meet the Missouri State Small Business Persons of the Year.
Siblings Alan Doan and Sarah Galbraith, the founders of Missouri Star Quilt Co., are being recognized as the 2015 Missouri State Small Business Persons of the Year. The award is presented every spring as part of the U.S. Small Business Administration’s National Small Business Week.
Founded in 2008, Missouri Star Quilt Co. is based in Hamilton, Mo., the hometown of legendary retailer James Cash Penney. The company sells quilting supplies both online and at its bustling brick-and-mortar store in Hamilton. It ships hundreds of packages every single day to customers all over the globe.
How They Did It
Though it launched on a shoestring budget, Missouri Star Quilt Co. has earned a global following.
Jenny Doan, Alan and Sarah’s mother, is a YouTube sensation thanks to her free quilting tutorials—she’s often referred to as the Oprah of quilting. Missouri Star Quilt Co.’s YouTube channel boasts more than 217,000 subscribers from all over the world.
Another factor in the company’s rapid success was the Quilter’s Daily Deal, a steep discount on a different piece of merchandise 365 days of the year. The Daily Deal and the company’s $5 flat-rate shipping have attracted huge numbers of customers.
Missouri Star Quilt Co. also decided to make pre-cut fabrics for quilts, which revolutionized the industry and is now the company’s core product. In less than six years, Missouri Star Quilt Co. has grown to offer the largest selection of pre-cut fabrics in the world.
A Catalyst for Growth
What started off as a family business has now grown to benefit an entire community.
As sales increased, Missouri Star Quilt Co. needed more room for its business, so in 2013, the owners received an SBA 504 loan to construct a 45,000-square-foot facility. It’s used primarily for warehousing and shipping, as well as for customer service, sales and a photo-catalog studio.
Missouri Star Quilt Co. now owns a total of 15 buildings, encompassing approximately 116,365 square feet.
The company has also grown in employees, from a few family members to 148 workers. Because of Missouri Star Quilt Co.’s tremendous amount of shipping, the local post office has added additional staff to keep up with the volume of mail.
Galbraith and Doan are passionate about bringing additional commerce to their community. They built a bakery and a burger shop next to their main building, and they remodeled an existing building to fit the needs of a full-service restaurant. It has attracted a chef who was interested in owning his own business.
As in many small, rural communities, Hamilton’s Main Street had several vacant, but architecturally elegant buildings. Doan and Galbraith decided to repurpose these empty storefronts and quickly bought a few for their specialty shops and a retreat center. Other new and rehabilitated buildings have since begun popping up and are being rented to recently formed businesses in the community.
Due to the success of Missouri Star Quilt Co., the local Chamber of Commerce reopened its doors after being inactive for several years. The company also is instrumental in helping the city with sidewalk and street improvements.
Hamilton, Mo is turning around thanks to Missouri Star Quilt Co., the “Disneyland of Quilting.”
(photo courtesy of Missouri Star Quilt Co.)
