Today I was at Wal-Mart for more zippers and stabilizer fabric for my clutches, and the fabric section was just a really sad sight. Yes, this was a different store than I usually go to as I was in a different section of town, but what I saw was a crafting graveyard. In case you don't know, Wal-Mart is eliminating most of its craft departments, so huge changes in the fabric sections are showing up in pretty much every store.
The huge fabric selection that this particular store used to have (I used to work there about five years ago) was reduced to one aisle crammed with bolts of unloved, expensive fabric. The real pathetic thing was that I saw Christmas fabric mixed in there, and usually when you see Christmas fabric you know it's a fire sale. No interfacing, no felt bolts, no plain colors...
The current store I go to is one of only two Wal-Marts in the area where the craft section is actually stocked and maintained. The company is also making more and more moves towards pre-cut fabric--OK if it's going to be as great of a price as their $5 bolts, I'm all for it, but that's probably just temporary so customers will get used to the precut fabrics idea. Then what happens, though, when you just need a tiny bit for a project? Another great thing about Wal-Mart is that they sell fabric remnants at great prices too.
It's getting to the point where there is only one fabric store left in my entire area--JoAnn's Fabric. There's also a couple quilting stores that sell fabric, but at $10 a yard for regular cotton fabric, that's prohibitively expensive. I love JoAnn's, but it's really not that great of a place to get fabrics from if you don't have the 40% off coupon, especially if its for business. I'm probably going to start looking for online suppliers...I've already found one for my jewelry on Etsy. I'm tired of the driving anyways :)
I agree with you about Walmart. I have to drive for half an hour to the nearest store that sells fabric.
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I love your Etsy shop - especially the Japanese banana coin purse and the cassette tape. Very cute!
~Wendy~
www.quickdistraction.blogspot.com
I've has trouble finding fabric too. The only place near me is Joann's and a over-priced secret fabric store. I've been searching on both etsy and ebay and have found that there's a much better selection if you're looking for a specific pattern :)
ReplyDeleteThat is terrible. Wal-mart use to have decent crafting items. Well, I guess there's always AC Moore and other crafting stores. Wal-Mart really shouldn't get rid of their craft area. They are officially on my not-like list.
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