Walmart
 

My local Walmart (60 miles away) has been under renovation for the last year - I went in Monday- strolling through looking for craft items and gasp........Yes....they are bringing back the fabric department. Yay...they took it out a couple of years ago and now its back..... Happy Dance.....:thumbup:

I know exactly how you fell-ours never took the fabric away but when I walked in one day and saw about twice the fabric lining the shelves, WOW!

Sorry to say my Walmart has not done this yet!!!!

Mine took fabric out when they renovated and ... it never came back. They did carry a limited selection of battings and other supplies .. but the last I looked even the battings are now a thing of the past.

They told me at mine, they would bring it back this month after renovation's were done. They never started and still no fabric. There are several others close by so I will check them even tho they are farther than the one I use.

We have fabric in our Walmart, but the girl who runs the department always acts like you are disturbing her, so I rarely shop for fabric there!!

Congrats on your Wally world update. Mine not only took the fabric away but the whole store. It has been 4 years now and I have not been to Wally world since. I sure miss it though.

Our Walmart has fabric again but there is never anyone at the counter and much of the fabric is thin-feeling. So for now, I'll stick to the LQS.

yippeee! how happy you must be.

Still waiting! One of these days it will come back to my neighborhood WM

I'm loving it to~ we have both bolts and pre-cuts :)

Happy to hear this! They should ALL have fabric departments!

The Walmart stores in my area have added beautiful fabric sections and are specializing in quilting fabrics. I did some research on Monday and learned that the fabrics are made by Spring Mills. They are creating collections for spring that are gorgeous. And, if you time your visits right, they have a project sheet of a quilt with each collection. I am in the process of making a quilt with Walmart fabric only to see if I notice any difference in the quality of the finished product.

Ours took fabric out; renovated the store; did not bring back bolts or precuts.

Maybe one needs to talk to the local store managers.

One of our three Wal-Marts has had fabric all along, and they recently added more. Unfortunately, they mainly added fleece, as near as I can tell, and everything else is just unorganized, making it difficult to find stuff. They have, however, hired more help, and at least there is always someone there to cut fabric now. I managed to find two fabrics I was looking for there today. :)

Dina

After 7+ years of promise they are finally building our Wal Mart! So far they have three sides of the building erected and it will be a Super! They claim all the stores will bring back the fabric so I'm hoping for a HUGE supply of fabrics. This store will only be 6 miles from us. All others (with or without fabric) are minimum of 23 miles away. Any other fabric stores such as Joannes are at least 25 miles away. I have made quite a few quilts of all Wal Mart and they have held up great. No probs. Just have to watch what you buy.

We have a very good Walmart fabric area. Wonderful clerk who has been there for years. When she's not there, we have to get someone from electronics......but so far i've lucked out, she's been there. Wonder why the difference in stores. Manager? Area? Who knows?

Our closest WalMart has been getting in some beautiful fabrics over the last six months. During February they got in so much fabric, the had to put their flannel on sale for $1.50 and $2.50 per yard to make room for all the new fabric. They got rid of the scrapbooking supplies and then the toy department took over that selving unit.

I was in our Walmart & gasp, the fabric dept had doubled!! I even checked for thinness & surprise, it was amazingly thick. It may be because this Walmart has a Hobby Lobby right across the road & a Joanne's in the next shopping center plus a local quilt store a mile away.

WalMart Fabric Department
 

Don't get too excited about WalMart bringing back the fabric department. Ours re-opened about 4 months ago - but they put no on in the department to staff it! If we need something cut, we have to go to the photo department and ask for help, and then we have to wait for that person to finish what she needs to do in photos before coming over to fabrics. I waited one day for 1/2 hour and finally decided it was easier to go to Hobby Lobby where the service is so much quicker (and friendlier). In fact, I found what I wanted (stabilizer) less expensive at Hobby Lobby. I guess the days that we all loved buying fabric at WalMart are gone. When the "photo" girl came over to fabrics, she had no clue about fabric, or selvages, or straight cuts, or patterns.

Walmart Fabric Department
 

We never lost the fabric department at my local Wally but they did take away a considerable amout of fabric. When the community learned that Walmart intended to eliminate the fabric department ladies began complaining to management. We were advised to write letters to corporate. Walmart even posted a small sign in the fabric department with the information where the letters should be sent. It took a year or more but they finally got the message and we now have a larger fabric department with a better quality fabric.

I think the ladies united and Walmart listened. Give it a try and make sure you spread the word in your community.

Our WalMart's fabric dept. is a shell of it's former self. Few bolts and never anyone working in it. I don't even bother going into it any more.

I was excited when I learned our local Walmart was bringing back fabric-BUT the restored fabric dept is small, dark, crowded & with just a few exceptions very poor quality. Even the cutting table is a fraction of the former size, very difficult for employees to cut fabrics.
A brand new Walmart just opend about 30 min. away-it does have a fabric dept-bright, well stocked & functional. I was told these are corporate decisions, not the local managers, I don't understand why there is such a difference.

I got an ad in the mail from Walmart last summer that said "the fabric is back"...made my day :)

I think that there are areas where fabric does not sell well. Local Walmart has always had a fabric department and 2 years after they opened our LQS closed, so you would think the WalMart would have expanded, but no! And the service is so poor in that department.

Ours was renovated but they never brought the fabric back as we have to go to town as guess they figured everyone should go to Hancocks.

Our WallyWorld kept the fabric selection. However, there wasn't much selection until just the last few weeks. Now they are getting more selection and better fabric, but you still have to be careful. There is still some crap mixed in. We have a new SMALL Joann's now, but the selection is not very good, a lot of apparel fabric instead of quilting. Our LQS is so rude I refuse to shop there.

Our Walmart never took our fabric department out but downsized it looks like this ( l * l ) OK the first (l) is machines and fabrics the * is the middle of the two and it has some fabric, patterns, fleece, Thread and cutting table and the second (l) has yarn, ribbon, and sewing notions. It is so cramped and material is stacked and stacked you have to spend a lot of time looking for what you want. But the up side of this is that we have people in the department and I very seldom have to look for someone to cut for me.

What is sad is that pets is right on the other side and the isles are so wide and all there stuff is spread out nice. What a shame that fabric has to be shoved in such a small area. I was told that fabric isn't a commodity???? So they can't use end caps.??? Ok it sells and when they took it out of the stores they had a flood of people from all over asking to have it brought back. What is there thinking????? Oh well at least I can go 7 miles and get fabric, not like some that have to travel along way to get it.

I heard on NPR yesterday that Walmart had instituted a policy of only stocking those items that are big sellers - how many types of mustard do you need, was their lead. Well, the customers were not pleased, so Walmart is now starting a campaign telling customers that they are bringing back more varieties of products and that includes fabrics! I had noticed that they would have 4 dish towel patterns and stock a huge amount, but little variety. Duh! So fabric should be coming back soon.

Why would you buy such inferior fabric when on line for the same price you can get quality?IS the fading and loss of design worth it?

Our Walmart never lost its fabric dept, about 45 days ago new, better quality and design, fabrics began showing up on the shelves for $7.98, they changed their David and Nathan fabrics priced below $3.00 and raised the prices to $3.97, they still have the $1.50 junk from China which is mostly poly or undetermined fiber, and have added a new line of simple cotton prints for $2.00. They now have something for everyone. Better for the budget minded, not Moda, but not bad for fill ins and something different from JoAnns locally. We only have one quilt shop locally(within 25 miles) and they are Snobby, dont even carry whites or beiges and way overpriced, so I stick to Walmart, JoAnns and a few on line favs.:)

When I lived in MA, the closest Wallymart was 11 miles away and the JoAnn's was 9 miles away. I tried some of the LQS which are few and far between. Now that I am back in CA, I have Wallymarts all over the place and JoAnn's too. We also have many LQS which I love to go look at and buy from them. We only have one Wallymart that sells material which is about 11 miles away. They have a lot of it too but you really have to check it out to see if you really want to buy it. The funny part to me is that even though that is just as far away as the one in MA it seems closer to me. I think it has to do with the fact that the ride in MA was basically residential and trees and country roads, stuff like that where here it is all asphalt jungle with commercial buildings all the way.

Wal Mart Fabric Sales Lady
 

I agree with Breezyquilt! Our Wal Mart in Ukiah, California has a lady working in Fabrics that is always so angry! She never smiles and never talks - just looks at you until you tell her what you want. I don't go there anymore.

I have three Walmarts within reasonable distance. The closest (10 miles) has a decent amount of fabric, and that is where I go most. The next is about 20 miles away, it has quite a bit more than store number one. It is out of the way,, but I will go there before going to JoAnn. The Third has a 'craft' section and I have found no fabric at all. They are in a larger town with JoAnn and quilt shops.

Walmart was not the first to do away with fabric. Sears did away 35 years or so ago. The great mail order company of the USA! Can't remember when I last saw fabric at KMart, but probably in that same time frame. I was so excited when Walmart came to town with fabric!
Phyllis
In the boonies, and thankful for Walmart

Bullhead City, AZ Walmart
 

Our Super Walmart in Bullhead City, AZ. eleminated the entire fabric section. Because Bullhead City, AZ. is directly across the river from Laughlin, Nv. they said the "winners" from the Casinos spend their money on electronics, not fabrics! Now I have to go an hour and a half to Las Vegas to buy fabric. :(

Our WalMart never took the fabric out. I was looking around the other day and noticed a stack of bolts to be put on the shelf so I just looked at the price. $8.00/ yd.! OMG! I hope they don't raise it all. I thought $5.97 was high enough! :(
Guess I better clean up my sewing room so I can see what I have in my stash.

Our WalMart has the same problem. The girl that was there didn't seem to want to help you or there was no one around and you had to have someone call a person. A friend of mine couldn't find anyone and cut her own material and wrote down the material number and price and took it to the cash register. She got some attention then. But if you don't let the store know about it, they will never fix the problem. That is what your store manager is for. If you don't feel comfortable seeing him or her in person send an email to their headquarters. Squeaky wheels get oiled.

wal mart here brought the fabric back but there is never anyone in that dept to cut it