Wall Worlds dropping fabrics

Now with my husband semi-retired and about to be fully retired in a few months, we have to watch how we spend. No pensions here, just SS. Also, I sell some of my quilts but barely make my money back on them.

Perhaps there's some other reason then because that dept. was always busy here as well. I'm in a semi-rural area where a lot of the older women are very much into sewing and the younger ones into crafts.

How well we all know this. They put more than a few stores out of business in our nearest town. No one can compete with their prices.

Me, too! If I didn't want to drive 20 miles, I would never buy anything - including food! The food stores closer to me - 5 miles & 9 miles, both in small towns - are small stores and expensive besides the fact they don't carry much. If I want/need anything else - it has to be 20 - 30 miles!

People in town are definitely spoiled!

Donna in (SW) Idaho

My nearest LQS is less than one-and-a-half miles away. It's a great store; not very big but a good selection and friendly helpful staff. I didn't even plan it that way - after we moved in I thought "I wonder where the nearest LQS is?" and when I found out you could have knocked me down with a feather.

I can also buy quilt> in australia they're known to make a wee jaunt down the road.

And this leads to a question.

It's not for me. I live in a place where I'm able to get to a small local quilt shop with a little fabric and a lot of service, a larger family owned store that carries home dec, yarns, and a good selection of quilting cottons, and a few other stores. There's one I only get to on the weekends if we're going in that direction for something else, but it has the best selection of batiks. A JoAnn's is farther away which I could go to if I absolutely had to. If the WalMart near me stopped carrying fabric, it would be O.K. I rarely go there for anything anyway.

But for those of you who are more dependent on mail ordering from Internet stores, which ones carry the low end cheaper fabrics? I normally go straight to Big Horn (

) when I want to brose at home for pretty stuff, but they carry top quality. If you didn't have Walmart, what would substitute for it online?

--Lia

joann.com and

(this is NOT Hancock's of Paducah) both sell fabric online for somewhat less than many others. I've never bought anything online either place, so I know nothing about their service and price relative to quality. Julia in MN

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Julia Altshuler wrote:

Oh the hardship. It's 4 hours, one way to the nearest city for me. And it's the only city within that distance. There are lots of small towns but most of them have even less than we do.

I regularly drive 20 miles to the quilt store. When I'm not working I drive over there once a week just to sew. Shoot, that's not even going anywhere.

And maybe with walmart getting out of fabrics both of those chains can survive and expand again.

The nearest Joann's is about 4 hours one way from me. I think the nearest Hancock's is 6 hours, one way.

I do have three great quilt stores within 50 miles though. We regularly run over to the shops that are 20 and 45 miles away.

If money was the key factor I would go to ebay. It takes a bit of work finding the deals but they are there. I just bought some batting from Tennessee quilts.

They had the exact batting I wanted at a sale price with reasonable shipping. They had machine needles on sale too. They have a sale page but the fabric price and quality are not going to be 'Walmart' in either instance.

fabricguru.com has really great prices on dec fabrics. I really have had great luck there.

Fabric blowout supposedly has fabric they buy retail from the well known M&L >

I seldom buy quilting fabric at WalMart- I shop online for that and Big Horn is one of my favorites along with Material Pleasure. It's fleece for chemo caps, heavier fabrics for chair seats, and Heat & Bond, and zippers and buttons and patterns and that sort that I'll miss when WalMart closes their fabric dept. And that stuff isn't the easiest to buy online- I want to

*feel* drapery and upholstery fabrics before I buy it and look thru the pattern books. Often it is spur of the moment things I've just run out of and can't wait for an online order. I love living in 'The Country' just outside a small and friendly town, but having The Big City 120 miles away is a pain! My town (pop. 11,000) is the largest around- in 100+ miles in ANY direction. But then the Gammills are made here, so that puts us on the map when talking to quilters! VBG

Leslie, Missy & The Furbabies >> Same thing here. I have to drive 120 miles one way to find a Joann's or

Lia asked>But for those of you who are more dependent on mail ordering from Internet stores, which ones carry the low end cheaper fabrics? I normally go straight to Big Horn (

)when I want to brose at home for pretty stuff, but they carry topquality. If you didn't have Walmart, what would substitute for it online? I've done really well at Their prices are low and so far, I've not received anything sleazy. Years ago fabric.com was a good place for low prices but their prices are no longer competitive. Polly

TN QUILTS is a nice shop ! When in TN some years ago I went to that shop and 3 gals with whom I had chatted with online met me there and off to lunch we went ! At that time there were a lot of chatters in fabric-stash.com . I think now there is an early morning group that meets . Anyway..it was fun to meet these chatters and shopping at that store. Mary/VT

"Taria" > If money was the key factor I would go to ebay.

The woman on the phone at WM told me as far as she knew, the larger super store will keep it's craft and fabric dept.

I personally can't see using top quality material in a quilt unless I'm making it for family or friends. The stores here are loaded with cheap $30 and $40 "handmade" quilts from Taiwan and China. Unless the person knows "quilts," they buy those cheapos. Who can compete?

Yes, but I'm spoiled. I'm from NYC where everything was right at hand. :^) A 40 mi round trip is a trip to me.

I just dread the traffic getting there. It's a real PIA.

I'm not sure what you mean by "dependence issue." If WM closed tomorrow, I'd shop at the local K-Mart store. We also have great grocery stores here but all are more expensive than WM. I don't see that anyone would be harmed if WM stores closed up shop and disappeared.

Please explain this dependence issue - you have me curious.

Debra in VA See my quilts at:

Our Wally's in central Illinois are cutting and chopping their craft departments. I was able to get in on the 10 cent floss when they sold out. I'm not surprised because the trends shift a lot. Our Hobby Lobby has less cross stitch materials than I have in my craft room, a small fabric area and lately, they are selling off a lot of yarn.

We are fortunate to have several quilt shops in areas we visit often. Knowing we were about to retire next year, I began stocking up on lots of stuff and boy am I glad I did. My husband got an early buyout deal and we are happily retired as of last Friday. We won't be pinching pennies, but I just won't be as open fisted with the money. Luckily, I'm set for years to come. Let's hope my "golden" years produce some lovely quilts and other needlework. Moni ---- Posted via Pronews.com - Premium Corporate Usenet News Provider ----

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