I am not a Wal-Mart hater. I buy most of my groceries there. What has happened in my town, however, is that Wal-Mart's fabric was so super cheap that all the small fabric stores have gone out of business. Now that Wal-Mart is getting rid of fabric we are left with a small quilter's shop that only sells cutesy quilt fabric and the outragously overpriced place that caters to designers and upholsters. They close at 5pm, so if you work, you are screwed. Thanks Wal-Mart.....
The clerks in my store told me a few weeks ago they expected at least another two years. But who knows how much the clerks know. They dais the volume of fabric sold out of that department would seem to justify keeping it open. Ya'll come to Lewisburg and boost the numbers. Maybe they'll keep it longer.
I may be slow... But I sure am gimpy.
"Bless you child, when you set out to thread a needle don't hold the thread still and fetch the needle up to it; hold the needle still and poke the thread at it; that's the way a woman most always does, but a man always does t'other way."
Mrs. Loftus to Huck Finn
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Important thread injector guidelines especially for Newbies
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I also don't hate Walmart, but this is what happens when people stop supporting locally owned small business. I get certain things from Walmart if I can't find them somewhere else. You have to support them if you want them to stay open.Originally Posted by Dancer
It has been my experience that the small indie fabric shops have been closing whether there is a Walmart nearby or not. The fabric distribution structure was wanky when we were in business 25 years ago. I'm sure nothing has improved. We were dealing with one of the major distributors in Boston and could not order particular fabric. We could get what they had. That's it. If they didn't have what you wanted... you had better want what they had. It was real tough to make clothing if you could not rely on your fabric stock. So as much fun as it is to blame Walmart for driving local businesses out of the area.. and sometimes it is very true... in the case of fabrics I don't think they hold all the blame. The fabric industry has been driving the indie shops out of business for decades.
I may be slow... But I sure am gimpy.
"Bless you child, when you set out to thread a needle don't hold the thread still and fetch the needle up to it; hold the needle still and poke the thread at it; that's the way a woman most always does, but a man always does t'other way."
Mrs. Loftus to Huck Finn
We Don't Sew... We Make Gear! video series
Important thread injector guidelines especially for Newbies
Bobbin Tension - A Personal Viewpoint
I wonder if we're about to see that change. There has been a resurgence of 'old school' living in this country. It started before the economic meltdown and has accelerated. Don't believe it? Go to the bookstore and take a look around. The number of do-it-yourself books is madness compared with a few years back. People are taking up gardening more and more for sustenance rather than decoration. Homemade soaps, cooking from scratch ("scratch" does not mean a box from Betty Crocker!), spinning yarn for crying out loud! Here's my favorite; bread making machine () sales have plummeted the past two years. I think it's because people discovered making bread by hand really isn't that difficult.
More and more people seem to be looking for a reset switch to modern life. I've been shopping for a sewing machine for the past month and have been told several times that they can't keep the good refurbished machines on the shelf. I wonder if we'll see a resurgence in fabric shops and maybe even textile production in the States. It'd be nice and I bet the wait time on Blackbirds drops.
Trust nobody!
I hope so.. but the distribution system is what is going to have to change to allow that to happen. Take what we got or leave the store is not a good way to build a customer base whether it is final user, retail, wholesale or what.
I may be slow... But I sure am gimpy.
"Bless you child, when you set out to thread a needle don't hold the thread still and fetch the needle up to it; hold the needle still and poke the thread at it; that's the way a woman most always does, but a man always does t'other way."
Mrs. Loftus to Huck Finn
We Don't Sew... We Make Gear! video series
Important thread injector guidelines especially for Newbies
Bobbin Tension - A Personal Viewpoint
Yeah, maybe in your state...all you Coloradans are turning back into hippies!
Yeah, Boulder seems to be contagious.Yeah, maybe in your state...all you Coloradans are turning back into hippies!
Trust nobody!
Just checked my local WM this morning. All fabric is now 50% off. I managed to find a bolt of DWR and several bolts of plain green ripstop on the shelves.
Typically, no one was in the dept to measure and price the fabric at 6:30 this a.m., so I'm hoping to get back there after quitting time tonight and load up on some fabric. at $0.75/yard it's hard to go wrong.
Oh, and pay no attention to my location listed at the left. I really live in... uh... Utah! Yeah, Utah. Nothing here, er, THERE on the east coast. Nope.
- Mark (S-4-C)
(hand waves) this is not the fabric department you are looking for....
KM
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