The store used to be twice as big as it is now.
“My sister and I opened Flying Geese in 2002,” Dutt said.
But after 23 years, she said she’s just ready to retire.
“Well, for one thing, I’m 90,” she said. “You have to stop sometime.”
Dutt’s not selling the business, though – she doesn’t think anyone would want to buy it. The nonagenarian said business has been declining for a while now.
That’s why all of the fabric in the store is half off until she runs out of stock. She said traffic isn’t what it used to be. While there is an active group of quilters, Dutt said it’s not enough to keep a fabric-dedicated store open anymore.
“Some days nobody comes in – even with 50% off,” Dutt said. “It’s just a small customer base, which is another reason I sort of figure, ‘Why am I doing this?’ There’s just not enough people buying fabric.”
And her costs keep going up as demand goes down.
“I remember when we first started prices were way more – even for quality fabric – way more reasonable than they are,” she said.
Dutt’s sister and the store’s co-owner died in 2016. She said most of her remaining family has left the island and closing will free her up to visit them more often, too.
Kodiak residents will still have one local option for fabrics after Dutt’s store closes – the Rookery. But Dutt said she doesn’t expect them to buy out her inventory.
“Everybody who has been over there said it’s packed,” she said. “It’s just absolutely jammed with stuff, so I can’t see her hauling all my stuff over there.”
That said, Dutt said she’d be perfectly happy to sell off her inventory if she could.
For now, she said she’ll keep being at the store six days a week, hoping to sell off as much as she can while she prepares for retirement.
