Fabric, like anything else marketed to the consumer, is sold to retailers based on the size of their order. You can't buy fabric from a LQS at the same price as a big box store for the same reason that a Ring-Ding costs 99¢ at the gas station and 2/$1 at the grocery store. It's all about volume discounts. Same product, many many different prices depending on store size, store specialty, region, etc. It's all marketing and economics. And don't even get me started on where the product is manufactured...
Ultimately, though, the consumer is still a big factor, and as we've all talked about here, if we (as consumers) can get "it" cheaper somewhere else, that's where our dollars go.
As for WM...they make their own rules in this game of business, and many suppliers will tell you that WM dictates what the supplier will sell their product to WM for, not the other way around. They'll tout their business ethics from here to the moon though (rolleyes).
Last edited by Teeler; 02-01-2013 at 01:26 PM.