Originally Posted by
sewbizgirl
Are you talking about Marshalls, by any chance? Remember they sell older closeout lines and are able to buy them for very little because the manufacturer is basically dumping them. The newer lines the LQS carry would cost much more, wholesale.
What galls me is to see those $12-$14 prices on the bolts at JOANNS! And their designer fabrics and batiks are that much...
I go to Mashall's a lot. The bolts in the back are all brand new lines, Jenny Beyer, RJR, Timeless Treasures, Robert Kauffman, South Seas, Kona, every fabric manufacturer but Moda. They have the less quality fabric lines too. Panels, cheater cloth, licensed prints, and muslin. There is a table set up in the back with samples sent from fabric manufactures showing the new lines. I would love to have these samples but they go to shop owners. There are older lines and reproduction fabric lines. Marshall's is now having their own fabric line printed. I like some of it some not so much. Marshall's have more then the one warehouse and you can see the fabric come in on huge rolls and then see how they wrap the fabric on bolts in the warehouse. If you go to the very back to the left warehouse there are hundreds of bolts that have just been wrapped. To the right and left of that is the fabric reps offices. You have to get one of the reps to write your ticket if you are buying the bolt. Being a non shop owner, I've never paid more then $3.98 a yard per bolt for the best fabric. The last bolt I bought was RJR's Jinny Beyer's color pallet in red. One of the reps told me shop owners want the newer lines not the old lines. The older lines are up front to be cut by the yard or single flat folds.