Saturday Business Spotlight: Indigo Quilt Studio
[May 17, 2025] If
you have driven by Lincoln’s Square recently, you may have noticed what
appears to be a new business going in on the corner of Broadway Street
and S. McClean Street. This business is not new, but the location is.
Indigo Quilt Studio used to be located at the opposite side of the
Square, at the corner of S. Kickapoo Street and Pulaski Street. LDN was
able to sit down with owner Heather Barrick and get to know more about
her business, the new location, and the story behind Indigo.
Barrick is a Lincoln native, growing up and going to school there. For
someone who owns and operates a quilt studio, you may imagine Barrick as
someone who likes to stay indoors, but this is not at all the case.
Barrick loves things such as gardening, camping, and boating. She also
loves quilting and sewing, of course.
Barrick shared that she opened Indigo back in August of 2019. Barrick
had joked with the owner of the previous quilt store in Lincoln to let
her know when she was looking to retire. As it turns out, the woman was,
and Barrick had a decision to make. The decision to open her store was
not an easy one, as she had to leave her full-time job as an
environmental health and safety specialist. This job had provided
Barrick and her family with benefits such as health insurance, as her
husband John, owner of Barrick Enterprises, is self-employed. In
addition to insurance, Barrick was worried about things such as a steep
economic downturn or severe illness for her family. Despite these
reservations, Barrick decided to leave her career and take the risk of
opening her own business.
As stated previously, Indigo’s current location is not its first. It
turns out, however, that their previous location was not their first
either. They used to be right across the street from their old location
on S. Kickapoo and Pulaski, where Prairie Threads is now. They very
quickly outgrew that location, however, and had to move across the way
for more space.
Within the first year of Indigo’s grand opening, specifically in March
of 2020, COVID hit. This, as you very well know at this point, was not
good for the economy. This was the steep economic downturn that Barrick
had worried about. To make matters worse, one year later, in March of
2021, her husband was diagnosed with cancer. Within the first two years
of Indigo’s existence, Barrick’s two worst fears had come true. Luckily,
their battle with cancer was a successful one, as was their battle to
overcome the economic downturn caused by COVID.
With two large hurdles overcome, it was turning out that they were
outgrowing their second location as well. Barrick and her husband
decided that they wanted to stay on the Square, but that they wanted to
own their own building. They purchased their current location a couple
of years ago, but the Logan County Board was leasing the building as a
location to hold their monthly meetings while the Courthouse restoration
project was ongoing. During this time, Barrick patiently waited for the
Board to be finished leasing their building, all the while, telling her
customers that they would be moving.
Finally, they were able to renovate their new location and get Indigo
moved into its new location. In addition to space, owning their own
location was another major upside to moving. This way, Barrick could
renovate the building however she wants.
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From left to right: Heather Barrick, Christine Maurer, Gwen Ely
Indigo offers many goods and a few services to their customers. Firstly,
and probably most obviously, they sell everything you would need to make
a quilt. This includes materials for the back, the fluff that goes in
the middle and makes the quilt soft, and material to make the face of
the quilt. In addition to quilting materials, however, they also sell
fabrics, sewing machines, and many other sewing materials.
As for services, Indigo does offer a longarm quilting service. In this
service, they use longarm quilting machines, such as the one pictured
above, to do all the sewing that would be needed for a large quilt. They
also teach people how to use these longarm quilting machines, and allow
people to come in and rent them, using them to work on their quilts in
the store.
One additional service that Barrick is looking into offering soon are
classes. There is a large room upstairs where she is hoping to start
hosting these classes in the near future. Barrick stated that this is
something her customers have been asking for, and she is finally going
to be able to offer it.
Barrick shared a couple of the things that she loves about owning her
own business. “I love the puzzle of figuring out the next right move,”
she said. Barrick also loves wearing “all the hats.” In addition to
being the owner, she is the custodian, the purchasing manager, the
receiving manager, the desk clerk, etc. “I get to have my hands on a lot
of little different aspects of the business.”
Barrick also shared some advice for anyone looking to open their own
business in Lincoln. “If you have a plan and are pretty confident that
you can make it work, go for it,” Barrick said. “We only live once.” In
addition to taking that leap of faith, Barrick also stressed the
importance of networking with other local business owners. “It’s amazing
how helpful the people in this community are and how much support they
can give, or advice.”
If you are interested in quilting, sewing, or just want to come and see
this new location for yourself, you can Barrick and her two employees,
Gwen Ely and Christine Maurer, at 628 Broadway Street in Lincoln. They
are open Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00
p.m., Tuesday from 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m., and Saturday from 10:00 a.m.
to 2:00 p.m. You can also find them on Facebook or on their website
here.
[Matt Boutcher] |
