Mary Jo's Cloth Store in Gastonia, NC. The largest fabric store on the east coast.
www.maryjos.com If you've never been there before prepare to be ovewhelmed by the massive number of choices. You need a couple hours just to look at all she has, take a break for lunch to let it sink in and then go back to make decisions. The place has thousands and thousands of bolts of every fabric you can possibly think of.
The first time I went there I overheard the cutting lady telling someone the following story. She had helped a woman the day before who had come from Italy. She was on vacation in Italy, lying on the beach talking to a local. When she learned the woman was from America she said "OH! Do you know Mary Jo's cloth store? I order from her all the time!" She explained many of the Italian design houses would mail order from Mary Jo's and her store was famous in Italy.
The woman had never heard of it before, but before she flew home to California, she changed her flight to include a 2 day stop in Charlotte, just to go to Mary Jo's.
In business 60 years, "Mary Jo’s Cloth Store" started in the back of her Daddy’s Barber Shop on her 19th birthday in Dallas, N.C. You've never seen a fabric store like Mary Jo's.