Hi all,
Joanns is basically the only game in town where I live. THe prices are going up but they suffer from the same rise in transportation costs as every other business. THey have gotten in a selection of better quality quilting material. I am a hand quilter so I tend to shop by feel as much as color or pattern. I figure I will be touching the fabric up close and personal for a long time. THe two Walmarts nearest to me have both gotten rid of their fabric departments.
I used to work for a Bernina dealer who was inside of our local JoAnns. They gave us the same discount as they did their JoAnn's employees. 15%. What was really nice is that they gave it to us on even the clearance items. I once paid 50 cents for a candy making kit that retailed for $8.95. THat part was nice. The employees restroom was in the storage area. It was always piled to the ceiling with boxes of merchandise from China. I can only imagine how much the stuff cost to produce if they could still sell it so cheaply here in this country. The rise in petroleum products is trickling down to everything including packaging. So many synthetic materials are also petroleum based, "fleece" . That same Bernina dealer, who now has a shop elsewhere told me that the rigid plastic tubes that embroidery stabilizers from OESD came in are going to be a thing of the past. I used one of those coupons at JoAnns this past week to purchase a plastic storage box. I think the price was several dollars more than when I purchased the exact same one a year ago. The coupon might have saved me the difference in the current price.