Probably most have heard that Wal-Mart is planning to discontinue off the bolt fabric in 80% of their stores. Today, I went to a neighboring town, and their Wal-Mart has stopped carrying DMC embroidery thread and is now carrying less than 50 colors of Anchor! It is really bad for those of us who live in the boonies and far away from cities with fabric and needlework shops.
The stores that have been renovating have taken away the space from fabrics and crafts and given it to electronics, sporting goods and automotive - higher profit items. While those of us in the boonies really depended on our local Wal-Mart for essential supplies, the chain doesn't care about us because they don't make enough money off of our purchases. They have to have someone in that department full time to cut fabric, and that means less profit. Sadly, there isn't much we can do. Complaints to 1-800-Walmart and walmart.com seem to fall on deaf ears. They have made up their minds, and we are left without fabrics and floss. In my area, it means an additional 40 mile drive one way to get floss and over 60 for fabrics, unless I go to the overpriced quilt store in the next county. Face it.. Wal-Mart doesn't want *our* dollars because they don't make enough on them. We may as well shop elsewhere!
Has anyone noticed as of late how Hobby Lobby seems to be backing out of the needlework craft; cross-stitch, needlepoint, crewel? They aren't running ads in the Sunday paper like they used to for needlework. My local HL seems to have less & less of these items everytime I visit it.
I hear what you're saying about WalMart, and it's a shame, because it sure doesn't fit in with the reasons Sam Walton started the chain.
FWIW, if you ever need fabric or floss, I have a great LNS near me, and I'd be glad to pick up some things and mail them to you, or you could communicate with Linda by email or phone. She's really nice, and very helpful and knowledgeable. The name of the shop is Knots-n-Needles and it's in Bossier City, LA.
I am fortunate in that I have a pretty good Michael's near where I work (40 miles from home), and have been ordering stitching supplies online since the early 80's. What gets me is the total disregard for what is needed in the area and the slavish devotion to milking every penny of profit out of the dollars going through the registers. Departments like Fabrics and Crafts are expensive because you have to have qualified people to be there all the time to cut fabrics. Eliminate the low-profit fabrics and you can eliminate at least one or more full-time employees. The Wal-Mart I used to work at didn't even hire anyone to help out over Christmas. With no layaway and a much poorer selection, they got by with having people wait in lines and putting everyone possible who could run a register up front. Hmmm.. who did that leave to help the customer? Not many.
I have been strongly encouraging people to develop relationships with traditional LNS' that also have online shops or that will do mailorder. SilverNeedle in Tulsa, NordicNeedle in North Dakota, Ginger's in Austin and Cross Stitch Plus in San Antonio come right to mind, and I know there are quite a few more that would love the business Wal-Mart no longer wants. Sounds like we need to add Ms. Linda to that list!!
Julie Central Texas
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Feb 4, 3:31 pm, "Jere Williams" wrote:> I hear what you're saying about WalMart, and it's a shame, because it sure> doesn't fit in with the reasons Sam Walton started the chain.>
It's the same with our Wal-Mart here in Vancouver. Thank God we have a Michael's in every town. Their needlework/wool department seems to have doubled in recent months! :)
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