As long as you can tell quality you can shop anywhere. Quality varies everywhere. Joanns just makes it convenient and you never have to pay full price with coupons. I got a whole Christmas quilt backing and all for like 60 bucks so can you find a LQS for that price no. I also do a lot of small projects with joanns. Most big projects come from LQS but I have found lovely fabrics at joanns and their premium legacy muslin can't be beat it is wonderful quality