Missouri Star Quilt Company — Local services in Hamilton

Of course I loved it, I've ordered supplies from this company for years and being able to see it in person was awesome.

We first went into what we thought was "the" store and we both remarked on how underwhelmed we felt, we agreed we thought it would be larger and somehow more grand; I felt the same way about the Coliseum in Rome too, just sayin'. But we quickly realized the shop... It's literally the whole town!

I knew that this business had revived the small town where it is situated, one of the reasons I was so keen to visit is the company's marvelous story, but I didn't quite understand what that meant until we went for a walk around the area.

Beautiful old buildings that sat abandoned have been and are even now being thoughtfully restored and repurposed to serve as arms of this business, one, for example, is devoted to sewing machines, another sells mostly Batik fabrics.

One thing I particularly liked is that there are ample curb cuts, ramps, and handicapped parking spaces, and there are nice wide aisles in most of the stores making these shops accessible to those in wheelchairs and those who use supportive gear. The bathroom I visited in the main store was also accessible.

There is a spot set aside for those who do not find this type of excursion enjoyable, complete with puffy recliners and a television to keep you occupied if you don't care for fiber arts. My complaint with this area is that its design is so hypermasculine that it creates an obvious division between what they believe is supposed to be for "men" and what is supposed to be for "women", and could end up making members of either group (or of no group at all) uncomfortable if their interests don't fall in line and with what Missouri Star's marketing folks have decided their role should be.

I get why they did this and I appreciate it, but I hope that as we move forward and continue to grow as a society they might consider toning down the focus on gender being the dividing line specifically; I do know men who quilt and I know women who hate it, and I know people who fall into yet different categories who just want to decide how they feel about a thing based on factos other than gender.

So, in summation- if you're into fiber arts and quilting, go! Visit! It's a truly lovely place with a lot of interesting history and a great story. It is relatively easy to access, and there is a spot for those who want to opt out of obsessing over different shades on green for two...

I placed an order for pre-cut fabric the end of September. Its a long boring story but it is now October 17th and I still don't have my fabric (which was nothing that had to be cut). I need the fabric to make Pennants for a festival in 2 weeks. I have reached out by email a few times and the response time is slow and not reliable. Finally Kelly answered my email and said that it was transferred to USPS and it would be delivered on the 16th. She said she would give me the tracking number which she didn't. Still hasn't answered my email. So today I finally called and spoke with Misty she looked into the problem and didn't understand what was taking so long. Told me I needed for call USPS. Called them, on hold for 60 minutes. They said is was sent by boat and won't be here for at least 2 more weeks. UGH! So I called MSQ back and spoke with Misty. I asked her to 2nd Day Air the products to me and I would send the others back when and if they arrive. She said her manager said they can't get it here in time. Hello I get things sent overnight from New York to Hawaii all the time. I live in the USA not Europe. She said her manager would go speak to the shipping department and would call me right back. Four hours later still not call back. So I emailed Misty and finally the manager (Andrea?) called me back. Said there is no way to send the package to me. I said what of you mean? We can't send 2nd day air. Yes you can, its easy. She assured me it wasn't going to happen. Need-less-to-say I am very disappointed with this and I see that customer service is not a priority for this company. Its a shame that they can't make things right. That's what makes a good company great, customer service, which this company lacks. The only reason I am giving them 1 star at all is because Misty was very kind and tried to help to the best of her ability. Won't purchase...

Update: they finally shipped my order.... to my billing address instead of the address I quadruple checked with them on their recorded phone line was the shipping address. We’re moving in a couple weeks so we’re never going to get the package they decided to ship to our apo billing address. They refuse to reship any part of the order. They also refuse to issue a refund. They made me feel like it was my fault they sent it to the wrong shipping address. The lady on the phone was polite but she just made excuses. No apology, no offer to try and fix things. Just excuses like ‘I didn’t know you had an apo billing address on your account’. This is the person who said ‘yes’ every time I checked that the package was being sent to our home address. Now I’m left with zero options but to dispute the charge with my bank.

It’s been 37 days since I placed my order on their website. I’ve contacted them 8 separate times trying to find out why the order still says ‘processing’. I was told three weeks ago they were working on it. I was promised two weeks ago it would ship that week. Then I was promised one week ago it would ship last week. It still says processing. This is a $397 order. They’re nice on the phone and chat and email but they don’t actually do anything to fix the problem. This fabric was for costumes for my kids to wear on a trip to a historical site. I’ve had the patterns cut out and ready to go for weeks. Our trip is coming up and there’s no way I’m going to be able to finish the sewing in time. The kids and I are so disappointed and I’m out almost $80 in patterns that can’t be returned plus I have to figure out what to do with all this fabric because the order ‘cannot be changed since it’s already processing’. On top of everything we’re moving in a couple weeks (active duty military) and if the fabric doesn’t arrive by then we’ll never...