Steve & Sara Snuggerud - Front Cover of "Sewing & Embroidery Professional" OCTOBER, 2002 Generation X Steps Up Small town USA is growing up. With the shake down of the .com market in the 90’s and the current state of today’s economy many younger entrepreneurs are looking for more promising ways to secure a future of their own. Small towns are saying that they are loosing their younger generations to big cities and major corporations. A new swing may be in the works as these savvy youngsters start returning to their family roots Take Steve and Sara Snuggerud of Heirloom Creations, Sioux Falls, SD for example who recently left corporate America to start their own foot hold within the family business. Steve’s mother, Cleo Snuggerud, opened a quilt store 13 years ago and has grown the business every year since opening. Taking on Bernina sewing machines in 1997 and stocking over 4,000 bolts of fabric, she has provided the eastern side of South Dakota and surrounding areas a creative haven to inspire both beginning and experienced quilters. Sara worked for Bernina of America as a Training Consultant, and for a variety of a California dealers over the last 12 years. During her travels she met Steve, who at the time was helping out at mom’s store while working for Gateway computers. They were destined to be together. Since meeting and being married, they were hired by Oklahoma Embroidery Supply & Design to be an intrical part of the company’s Tech Support and Education departments. Their move back to Sioux Falls was not for lack of enjoyment in the fast-lane of the sewing business, but thinking of long term financial security and the importance of family. They have now been part of the family business just over a year now and have taken time to implement many successful promotions and customer service ideas they have learned from working with other flourishing sewing machine store owners over the past few years. …. Steve, now commonly known as “the guy at the quilt store”, provides the light hearted personality of humor mixed with customer service. He takes time each month to remerchandise displays so monthly club participants are looking at new things each time they come. Sara named the store’s sewing club “Sewtopia” (aka Sewing Heaven in Sioux Falls) to help encourage owners of all brands of sewing machines to attend. So far this has worked and club membership is over 240 members with approximately 100 attending each month. Most marketing books and speakers say that your best form of advertising is word of mouth. With a loyal customer base already in place prior to Steve and Sara’s arrival to the store, they implemented a Customer Referral Program offering a $50 shopping spree when a friend buys a new machine priced over $1,000. … This past summer they offered a Kids Quilting Camp that included a fabric allowance, new sewing supplies and a new basic $199 sewing machine! Each student learned how to operate their own sewing machine and did not have to fight with mom’s old machine. This also helped the teacher in teaching the basics of using a sewing machine when all the machines were the same. Many parents upgraded their child’s sewing machine to a higher model at the end of class. …. What do we need to learn from these new successful business owners? Stay informed; constantly by striving to be the leader in your area with new ideas that change with the times. One never knows when the next generation of young confident business owners could be moving in next door.