I love the sales at my LQS, a I said earlier, but there are about 5 shops, not all quilting but sell cottons, and I learned quickly which ones were out for a bigger profit. LQS pays about $4.65-4.95/yd from the mfr's so when you see their fabric marked less than that, they are taking a loss to make room for more new fabrics for us to oggle.
When I see fabric at Joanns and Hancocks that is priced the same, or more, as the bolts at the LQS, I go to the LQS. If I do buy fabric for projects at the box stores, I only do it with a coupon, a big coupon.