Homespun Charm

Primitive Star Quilt Shop Evokes Days Gone By

Writer / Lois Tomaszewski
Photographer / Tony Straw

Primitive Star Quilt ShopHome, it is said, is where the heart is. At Primitive Star Quilt Shop, Owner Jacki Alcorn offers her customers a little homespun charm for their decor, no matter what their style may be.

“I love unique things, and pieces that look like they could have been treasured in a home a long time ago,” Alcorn says. “It gives a hint to days gone by.”

Her store offers a line of quilts similar to those on https://orezon.co/blogs/home-decor/non-toxic-bedding-healthy-bedding-for-your-home, curtains, kitchen decor, reclaimed wood items, and other primitive home decor products that evoke a sense of grandma’s house.

“The textures are cozy with rich, warm colors and long-lasting quality,” Alcorn says. “They fall into the primitive or rustic country niche, but can easily blend into any interior style.”

The primitive star from which the shop gets its name is an asymmetrical, elongated five-pointed star often seen in primitive design. Alcorn designed a custom quilt collection that features the unique primitive star, but the store has a variety of quilt designs.

There’s a variety of home decor and accessories that blends well with the primitive-star style, as well as the downtown Argos building in which Alcorn has opened her shop.

The storefront is an addition to a thriving online business. Alcorn started an online store in 2008, offering home decorations. In 2010, to celebrate her 25th wedding anniversary, she wanted to find a quilt that reminded her of the ones her grandma made. Being a quilter herself, Alcorn did some searching and found a quilt manufacturer with several patterns she liked.

Primitive Star Quilt Shop“I fell in love with the quilt we chose and I knew I wanted to offer those quilts to my customers,” she says.

Primitive Star Quilt Shop was born, absorbing her previous store and greatly expanding. As the business grew she added other home decor items, and more bedding including her custom line of quilts, throws and curtains called Cheston.

In 2022 Alcorn had been operating Primitive Star Quilt Shop out of her home for several years, but had grown to the point where a change was needed.

“We were trying to store all of our product and do all of our shipping out of our home, and we were running out of space,” she says.

The answer was a building on South Michigan Street in Argos. Alcorn and her husband, Jon, purchased it in June and jumped right into the renovation, doing much of the work themselves. They moved Primitive Star Quilt Shop in and opened in October.

The move into the building has provided the much-needed space for order processing and shipping. There are also plenty of shelves to store inventory, and a spacious workspace for her employees.

Renovations to the building were thoughtfully done, Alcorn says, to fit the aesthetic of her products. Reclaimed wood was used on the walls, corrugated tin was repurposed, and beadboard was installed for a rustic look. Heirloom pieces from Alcorn’s family were brought in to be used as home decor display items.

Six employees work alongside Alcorn, putting together orders and keeping track of the inventory. They help answer the phone, manage the website and handle customer service.

Quality customer service is one of the most important aspects of the business, Alcorn says. “We want to serve our customers well,” she says. “They can call us for any questions.”

Primitive Star Quilt ShopHer customers tend to be “family oriented, and not just people who like quilts,” Alcorn says. “Some are simply looking for things that make their home cozier, to make it feel lived in.” That coziness might come from the quilts, candles, decorative garlands, mason jars or rustic wood vessels she stocks in the store.

The venture into a home-goods business has been a lifelong journey for Alcorn. Her parents and grandparents were always involved in business ventures and she followed their lead.

“Both sides of my family were artistic,” Alcorn says.

As a youngster, she crafted macramé necklaces and her father encouraged her to sell them. She had a business in the 1980s selling a variety of homemade items and enjoyed traveling to craft shows to sell her work. With four children at home, Alcorn took a pause from craft shows until, in 2005, she started painting on salvaged slate shingles, which she sold to friends, family and co-workers.

With more than 4,000 items available in the online store, there really is something for everyone at Primitive Star Quilt Shop. Having a physical store gives local customers a chance to see the quality of the products firsthand, Alcorn says. Some of her online customers have already been in to see products in the Argos store.

The physical location also brings more life into downtown Argos, the town that Alcorn and her husband have called home for years. She grew up in New Paris and met Jon while both were attending Grace College. The couple married and moved to Argos when Jon accepted his first teaching position.

The couple raised four children. Their oldest is 36 and the youngest is 28. They have also been blessed with nine grandchildren, with another two on the way.

“Argos is a great place to raise our kids,” she says. “My kids have often helped with the business and my youngest still works for me.”

Primitive Star Quilt Shop is located at 160 South Michigan Street in Argos. For more information, call 574-892-5043 or visit primitivestarquiltshop.com.

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