Originally Posted by newbiequilter
But I don't understand how this all computes. If the fabric company is raising their price .50/yd to the stores how does that equate to $2-$3 increase/yd to the consumer. I have a friend who works for a fabric company and she verified the cotton situation. It also makes me angry that the stores are raising the prices on all the fabrics - even the ones they have had for a long time. I can see myself spending the next year making UFO's and working with the flannel I bought at JA on Black Friday @ $1.29/yd.
Maybe it depends which store(s) you're talking about? If it's a chain store, then they might be playing games with the prices so that they can issue coupons of greater value. For example, JoAnns has had several 50% off coupons available within the past couple of weeks. Most commonly this year they've had only 40% coupons. So they will mark prices up, to compensate for the value of the coupon.
If it's small independent stores that you are talking about, then it would be common for them to double the wholesale cost to arrive at their retail price: a 50 cent increase on the wholesale level should play out to a $1 increase at retail.
It strikes me as unusual that a shop would mark up "old" fabrics, unless they are from a collection that's running. For instance, everybody knows that Kaufman's Kona cottons have gone up in price. It could be a bit awkward for a store to have some colors at one price and other colors at a different price.