Was in Walmart fabric department today---goodness!
 

Took a trip to Walmart today. I was looking for a lightweight interfacing for masks for grandboys for school (in Nebraska), thread and a double sided fusible--wow! Walmart's fabric department (which I had not seen one since early April) had 2 spools of white thread--everything else was wild colors (and not much of those), no machine needles, patterns were sparse, elastic no- where to be seen, interfacings and fusibles pretty sparse, and fabric! Wow! almost none--the shelves literally were empty even with the precut packages. that aisle was completely bare on one side. There were no sewing machines period. I really thought the run on sewing machines/fabrics/notions may have subsided, doesn't look like it!

The two Walmarts near me are the same way. And our Joann's are almost as bad. One salesperson told me it's not getting off the boats. Have you tried to order kids' fabrics on line? They are few and far between.

I'm in NY and during the worst of pandemic/closure/Quarentine our Wal-Mart was the same. Between crafters crafting, mask making and prioritization of food over craft shipments...well - I was reaching into the stash more than ever! Good thing too. My anxiety was hard to manage then. Some days the only thing I could do was just reach for the sewing machine. Because I could control.

Things are still skinny but improving here (both supplies and my mental). But we all know that is not true everywhere.

The Wal-marts in my area had already phased out their sewing section. Forget about JA, not much inventory. Thank goodness for my stash. That is what I'm working out of. What I didn't have stocked up was thread! Can't sew without it! Mostly, I order online. Sometimes, though, I do need to feel the fabric,

Most of the WalMart stores are like this apparently and I've heard some, even in larger cities, don't even have a fabric dept any more. I was told--total rumor--that it was Mrs. Sam Walton who insisted the fabric depts would remain in the stores but, after her passing, the "boys" didn't understand the needs of women and I think we can all attest that the fabric stock changed. I noticed that blenders and the white on white/ecru on ecru were gone. I am seeing a lot of focus fabric and the quality has become more craft than what we have seen in the past. Now they've gone to the precuts. Let's face it, you can't make even lounge pants out of 1 yd cuts! Whomever is going their buying doesn't understand the needs of those of us who are sewing. We need to make some noise to managers and corporate if we want that dept to remain in the stores.
I remember our local WM when there were several aisles of nice fabrics and offerings, always with shoppers there. Now the dept is dismal and hardly ever anyone, even an associate, present. What they are offering is not what we're looking to buy.

If you're an amazon Prime member,you can get your sewing supplies really quick.,and not have to go out shopping for them.But ,if you're not a Prime member, it will take longer.I am a big fan of the Prime for almost all my sewing stuff anymore.

The local Walmart here doesn't have as much as before but still has shelves of fabric, a new shipment of machines, and plenty of the regular notions. The fabric dept employee said she didn't think C&C thread would be sold there anymore but a replacement thread should be stocked. Also I noticed the batting section was full again. I live close to a main distribution center so maybe it's easier to get supplies.

I haven't been in Walmart for about a month, but it was pretty bare in the fabric section (forgot what I was there for, but yeah I checked!). Our Joann stores are pretty bare. Our LQS, most of those were closed for at least some months and aren't so badly stocked for fabric, but their stock of thread and such is also down.

Still don't see packages of elastic anywhere. Notions are low. What stuff that comes in goes out pretty quickly, and they typically don't have any idea right now of what is coming or when. There are Containers of things filled with holiday (Memorial Day/4th) materials that are sitting/floating around and the fall stuff which should be stocked now hasn't come yet.

Most of the basics are pretty well stocked now, don't have quite the empty shelves and much fewer "limit one" buys, but when we go out it is "I hope to get whatever it is I want".

As for Sam and Mrs Sam, I don't think what Walmart is now is quite the vision of the Walmart he was building.

I used to buy a lot of my fabrics at Walmart. As you say, they had wonderful blenders and even some hand-dyes and batiks. And I could sneak fabric into the house without DH seeing a credit charge for JA or LQS. No more. Most of what they have now fell off the ugly tree and hit every branch on the way down.

Add Joann's to the list
 

I ordered a roll of Warm & natural, which Joann stopped stocking in their stores over a year ago.....I placed the order, they charged my card , sent a shipping and arrival date, then turned around and sent a email telling me they don't have it!
Ridiculous.....W&N is still working and shipping, so where is Joann's inventory issue?