When I lived in Chehalis, Wa...I literally had 3 quilt shops within 15-20min drive and WalMart was 10mins.
These quilt shops were varied in what they carried (which made for a great selection), all were friendly and had resonable prices. Even WalMart was a great place for cheapy fabric finds and had nice clerks.
Now I live in Tacoma and I have a small quilt shop about 5 mins away, another 10 mins away and a couple over 35mins away. These people are somewhat friendly, selection isn't the greatest, classes arent advertised readily...so I am somewhat dissapointed.
I thought when I moved to a big city my quilting/emb/scrapbooking options might be greater. Boy, am I dissapointed. Still have JoAnns (have you seen some of their new lines).
I am going to try to shop more online (can you believe it)...
Kirsten