MistyMarie,

I've never ordered from Hancock's of Paducah myself, but I can think of a couple of ways that a fabric can appear to be "in stock" on a website, but actually out of stock.

First... most websites are not synchronized, in real time, with what's actually in inventory. It's typical for the website inventory to be updated once a day (probably at night). If a webstore also has walk-in customers, or takes orders by phone, then as soon as they make a walk-in or phone sale, then they're going to have less inventory than what their website thinks they do.

Also... we all know that sadly, you can have a brand new, full bolt of fabric, and when you start to unroll it, there's a repeating flaw that goes through several yards, and guess what that does to your inventory amount? Since you're not going to sell those flawed yards, you actually have fewer yards available than what you thought. So you have to adjust the quantity on hand to reflect what is actually salable (sellable?) but that's not going to happen instantaneously.

My guess is that for whatever reason, Hancocks of Paducah came up short on the fabric, went to reorder it, and then found out much later that the fabric wasn't available. Most likely the manufacturer decided not to reprint it. And the manufacturers don't communicate well with their customers and/or distributors, in that if they run out of a fabric, they don't bother to take the time to tell their customer or distributor that the fabric isn't going to be coming after all, they just don't ship it. And so the quilt shop doesn't have a clue that this fabric they've been patiently waiting for is unavailable, until the order becomes overdue and they wind up nagging their supplier about it. We spend several hours a week doing this nagging process, so that we can let our customers know ASAP if a fabric turns out to be unavailable. Any of us wearing this "nagging" hat get the job title Procurement Expedition SpecialisT. PEST, for short.

Hope these insights are of some help. I'm sure that Hancocks didn't intend for it to turn out the way it did.

Oh - and by the way - a quilt shop doesn't know that a fabric has gone out of print until they try to order more... and can't get it! The best a shop can do is make a guess, as to whether a fabric is from a collection that's old enough that it's unlikely there's more available. It's still a guess, though, as sometimes a fabric will be already all sold out by the time the manufacturer receives it from the overseas mill.

Thank you for giving me that explanation. I have never had to be a purchaser for a retail business, so now I have a much better understanding.

My LQS at the time was just getting started out and she often ordered fabric from discontinued lines because they were cheaper. I didn't know this when I purchased several yards of the coordinating fabric to the line. That is when I started searching for it. I was thrilled to find it on the web, but because it was an older line, I bet that is why so many places sold out and did not restock.

Next time, if I find that the fabric I want is back-ordered, I will try to get it wherever I can and then cancel the back-order. Thanks!

(I believe wholeheartedly in "the squeaky wheel gets the grease" so keep squeaking away and being a PEST! Your customers will thank you.)

I have ordered from them, and never had a problem. I have a friend that uses them all the time, depending on availability and when they post - sometimes we receive our parcels within the week. Can't complain about that. :-D

I ordered from them one time and it was the worst online ordering experience of my life. They sent the wrong fabric, and initially offered to have UPS pick it up or for me to buy it at 30% discount. Then before I had even read that e-mail, they sent another e-mail recanting their offer and saying that I had simply ordered the wrong fabric. Which I found rather stunning, since it's obvious from looking at what they sent that it was not what I ordered. They finally did say that I could return it, but it would have to be on my dime. Which I did. I would never, ever, ever, ever, ever order from them again.

I have never ordered from them.

I have never ordered from HOP, but if you are looking for batiks, go to Mary Jo's Cloth Store. They have a HUGE selection and all are a little over $6 a yard. I have found their fabric to be of excellant quality.

I ordered 2 bolts of their nice Muslin from them. They sent the wrong stuff. So I called & they arranged to have it picked up at their expense & the right Muslin mailed to me. Within a few days I recieved 3 bolts of the right Muslin but I had only ordered 2 and in 2 diff. widths. I called them and they wanted me to send the one bolt back at my expense. We chatted & finally they said to just keep the bolt. I did. Since then I have ordered once and they got my order correct but I was very leery. I prefer to order elsewhere actually.

The best thing about them is the catalog you get. WOW can you drool over it for hours.
I like them very much and have had no problems with orders.
But most of my shopping is at http://quiltinaday.com
They have an extensive area called fabric frensy with alot of 3 dollar a yard good fabric.

I have purchased from them several times and I am very very happy.

I ordered 3 yds. of backing on Feb. 12. It is on back order and can "take as long as 30 days" for them to get it. Web specials are NOT back ordered if they are unavailable, but this was not a web special, so I am counting on getting it. It's the final piece of the puzzle, which means that I have all the other fabrics that I need to make my yummy French Braid quilt.

This is my first HofP order and will determine if I order from them again or not.