Wal-Mart fabric

If any of you frequent Wal-Mart fabric section, I just heard on CNN that WM has decided to discontinue fabrics. They will expand their crafting supplies. Fabrics need someone to always be there to measure and cut, and they can save $$ by not selling fabric. Not that their fabric was all that great. You can see through it! AWKK Anyway, I have often times searched through their bolts and $1.00 bins and found something I could use. They are also a good source for trims.

FYI

Reply to
Boca Jan
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Joanna

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Christina In ok

Reply to
Christina In ok

I don't know if it will happen in Canada. Perhaps if you go to the Wal-Mart site. Close to my house I have The Rag Shop and Wal-Mart - both are going to stop selling fabric. I will now have to make a trek to Sunshine Sewing (which has much better fabric, but sometimes you just need a little something.)

Reply to
Boca Jan

Consider yourselves lucky to have a Walmart close by that has sold fabric. I have no where with in 2.5 hours of me to buy fabric and so I order all mine on line, so far I have been pleased with most of the colors and they have pretty much been what I wanted. I trade with one on line that if I can't find anything to be a blender they will pick something out for me and then write me and ask me if I like it and then will ship it. I would love to visit a big fabric shop but I don't see it happening any time soon.

Jacquel>this will stop me dead in my tracks, I buy all my backings from walmart..

Reply to
Jacqueline

I agree. If this affects Canadian stores as well, this really sucks.

Nancy in NS

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Reply to
Nancy in NS

I found this news item online and it sounds somewhat hopeful. I got the gist that only select stores are considering discontinuing their fabric line, but there's also a toll free # and an address where customers are urged to phone/write to save the fabric department.

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It's a place to start, I guess. :)

Nancy in NS

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Nancy in NS

Reply to
Joanna

I don't know for sure, but I have been told that it is all Wal-Mart stores everywhere. The nephew of one of the members of my quilt guild is the manager of one of the local Wal-Mart's, and he said all Wal-Mart stores will discontinue the fabric portion and parts of the craft portion in their stores. They want it all phased out by the end of the year. The 3 Wal-Mart's close to me, have been doing this since June or July.

Sherry Starr

Reply to
Sherry Starr

Google just changed the appearance of the ng, so I hope I am replying correctly! Employees of our local WalMart told me about a month ago that ALL the fabrics would be discontinued in ALL the WalMarts. Nobody seemed to know when. I talked to the fabric dept. manager last week and she said she has been told they are closing her department but she hasn't been given a date. She said she just ordered 18,000 bolts(!!!) and will keep ordering as much as she can for as long as she can. Sadly, she also said she ordered mostly $1 a yard fabrics since that's what sells the best. I won't find much to buy in that bunch of bolts. The really, really sad part is that there will be no place left in my little town to grab a spool of thread, a rotary blade or a box of pins. I'll miss that MUCH more than the fabrics- but then I have a mighty stash!

Leslie & The Furbabies > If any of you frequent Wal-Mart fabric section, I just heard on CNN that WM

Hurricanes

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Reply to
Leslie & The Furbabies in MO.

I don't post very often and I am new to this group as of the first of the year. I was told about this early fall. Wallmart made $720 million dollars in profit from their fabric alone last year. Their mark up is small compared to other fabric retailers. That is a lot of yardage and will leave a very big hole in the availability of fabric for sewers. When Sam Walton opened his first store, he was not getting the traffic he needed to make a go at it. His wife, Helen, made all her children's clothes and had to drive to another town to buy fabric that she could afford. They only had one car and this was a problem when she needed sewing supplies. She tried to get him to add fabrics and notions to his store because she said it would bring in the ladies. He resisted because he didn't want to have to worry about scheduling employees to man the cutting table and all the space the bolts would take up. She kept making the argument that the ladies would come in often to look and while they were there they would remember that they needed other things. He finally gave in and order notions and fabric. He spent one Sunday { In those days they had Blue Laws that did not allow stores to be open on Sundays} building the counters and getting the cutting table set up. He didn't think that this was really going to bring many customers in without advertising so he would have a chance on Monday to finish putting out the fabric and notions stock. But it didn't take long for the word to spread on Monday that he had a fabric department. He spent the day trying to get the fabric and notions displayed between cutting fabric. He had not hired anyone extra yet. By the end of the week the sales doubled and the rest is history. I read this in a book about Sam Walton 15 years ago. What ever Helen wanted for the fabric department Sam bought. After Walmart became a large company, the accountants and other upper management wanted to get rid of fabric because of the lower profit per square footage of space and the higher employee over head compared to what the other departments made. He would not do it because he understood that was his part of his customer base. He was satisfied with the company's profit. I bet Helen and Sam are rolling over in their graves.

Customers have been complaining since this first leaked out last summer. I don't know if it has made much impacted on the CEO and his team, CEO background is in groceries. He used to be CEO of Kash n Karry Foods in Florida. They ended up in bankruptcy and reorganized and sold to Sweet Bay a several years ago. I hope that Walmart has taken notice of the mistake that Federated Department Stores made last year. They changed over 550 regional departments stores ( Marshal Fields, Mays Co. and Kaufman's) to Macy's trying to make themselves a national brand store. People complained bitterly after the announcement and in some places picketed. I think this why Walmart has been so closed mouth about their plans. With all the complaining Federated Dept. went through with the change over any ways. Changed all the stores over in October and the bottom fell out of those stores sales in November. They lost between 10 to 20% of their customer base in each of the stores that was changed over to Macy's. Walmart tried this once before as a pilot program in 60 stores with prefolded package fabric in 2001 and scrapped it because of the customer complaints and sales fell off in those 60 stores. The Walmart stores here in South West Florida is already winding down for the change over and face lift in April. The store that I shop at has already felt the drop in sales. The fabric department was told in November that the store would stop selling fabric in April.

I used to buy everything there but I don't now because the fabric stores are in the other direction and I shop at the grocery stores in the same strip malls that the fabric stores are located. I don't go to Walmart just to go. When I shop I like to look at fabric even when I can't buy. I always fabric shop first then do the other shopping. I only go in Walmart now to buy the fabric that is being marked down. They are underestimating how important the fabric department is to Walmart's customers and how much it will effect their bottom line. Why go to Walmart for just groceries and stand in a long line when I can go to a traditional grocery store and save time and have someone offer to take the groceries to the car for you.

It make me wonder how much this will effect quilting trends because it make fabric harder to buy in small communities and rural areas that only have Walmart. Not everyone is on the Internet. Walmart has a low income customer base so many shop there for fabric because that is what they can afford. I think we will see a lot of scrap quilting and depression era patterns being featured in quilt magazines using a lot of muslin. If I saw something pretty in Walmart fabric dept., I would buy enough of it to back a queen size quilt. Now I am glad I did that because I have a nice big stash of fabric that will keep me going for awhile before I have to start using plain muslin. Also this will have an effect on charity projects that guilds and cottage groups work on. I know I won't be making as much because of the increase in the cost of fabric.

I have finished two sets of star blocks this week for the exchange and will post pictures of them as soon as I figure out how to use web shots. Don't laugh it took me a couple of weeks to work out the bugs in google to be able to post here.

Janet in SW Florida

Jan 23, 2:06 pm, "Boca Jan" wrote:

Hurricanes

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Reply to
Janet

Some of you may think this is funny, ROFL as you say. It is not so funny in the rural areas.Where I live, there is a Walmart about ten miles away, and it is at least 30 miles to the nearest fabric store. Most of the fabric I buy at Walmart is the crafty type items, because that is the bulk of their stock. I do enjoy having that available, and having a nearby source for muslin and notions. I often go to Walmart just for that reason. Would not want to drive thirty miles to pick up thread or a zipper to complete a project. I hope they keep the fabric depts. open. Linda Enneking, Ohio

Reply to
Linda Enneking

Some of you may think this is funny, ROFL as you say. It is not so funny in the rural areas.Where I live, there is a Walmart about ten miles away, and it is at least 30 miles to the nearest fabric store. Most of the fabric I buy at Walmart is the crafty type items, because that is the bulk of their stock. I do enjoy having that available, and having a nearby source for muslin and notions. I often go to Walmart just for that reason. Would not want to drive thirty miles to pick up thread or a zipper to complete a project. I hope they keep the fabric depts. open. Linda Enneking, Ohio

Reply to
DLW

Hi Karen, I am from South/Central/Eastern, OK, Your Joann's in OKC is 102 miles from me, Sherman, TX is closer to me then OKC. Then comes in Denton, TX at 89 Miles, behind that is Frisco, TX and Plano, even Lewisville comes in before Oklahoma City. and that is just for Joanns.

Now lets try Hancocks, at 74 miles we find Shawnee, then Norman, and again Denton, TX comes in just at 90 miles, Plano at 93 miles.

Now Hobby Lobby comes in at Ardmore, Ok and at Sherman, Tx.

Still a drive down to Sherman,Tx is clearly cheaper then OKC. (grin) Just like Jacqeline, it is hard to get people to understand when you live in a rural area, that you really don't have other places to shop other then Walmart. I am not as far to Walmart as Jacqeline is, our closet Walmart is in Atoka, Then would come Durant, Ada and down to Denison & Sherman, TX. DR's are also in short supply here, and they will have you going in every direction. as far as online shopping goes, I cannot even start to shop online for fabrics, the cost for my budget is just too high.

for now I will hold my breath and wait and see what happens in my area.

Reply to
Christina In ok

If this is true for our Canadian stores as well I am not going to be increasing my stash except for the occasional finds in the thrift stores. I cannot afford much of the "good" stuff very often. Real good fabric is treasured by me since the limited budget is what I work with. The only place in my small town to buy ANY fabric new is Wal-Mart and if that's gone....... it is at least a 2 hour drive to the next closest place that sells fabric.

I am not one of those that can shop online for fabric either. I don't have a CC. It is something I don't own and don't want to. If I can't pay cash or use my debit card right out of my account, I don't buy. It has to be that way on a limited budget. I have to know where I stand and how much I have and getting a CC is just far too much temptation.

Thank goodness I believe in recycling and reusing and thriftiness. But it is still nice to be able to hit the local WM and get something new once in a while....... was that is.

~KK in BC~

Reply to
~KK in BC~

I don't have a credit card either, but I e-mailed and asked if they would accept a postal money order, they said yes, and I ordered. They told me the total amount including postage, I bought the money order and sent it, and my fabric came fairly quickly.

Reply to
Phyllis Nilsson

You know, it never even crossed my mind to use a money order! Thanks for the idea. It couldn't hurt to ask could it?

~KK in BC~

: > I am not one of those that can shop online for fabric either. I don't have : > a : > CC. It is something I don't own and don't want to. If I can't pay cash or : > use my debit card right out of my account, I don't buy. It has to be that : > way on a limited budget. I have to know where I stand and how much I have : > and getting a CC is just far too much temptation. : >

: > Thank goodness I believe in recycling and reusing and thriftiness. But it : > is : > still nice to be able to hit the local WM and get something new once in a : > while....... was that is. : >

: > ~KK in BC~ : >

: >

: >

: >

: :

Reply to
~KK in BC~

...and you can get MO's cheaper at WalMart than most anywhere else. Taria

~KK > You know, it never even crossed my mind to use a money order!

Reply to
Taria

Your debit card will have either a Visa or MasterCard symbol on it. You can use that debit card just as you do a credit card if you do mail order. As long as the funds are in your account there is no problem.

Val

Reply to
Val

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