Walmart Sticker Shock
 

Well, I'm very glad that they've brought back the fabric, but last night I experienced sticker shock - most fabrics were just under $8/yard! Maybe they think they've turned into an LQS? Sorry, Walmart. Not at those prices.

Not that I disagree, but with LQS selling between $11-14/yard, WM is probably at the same discount prior to the recent fabric price increases.

I visited a WalMart in Green Bay, WI this past weekend. They didn't have a fabric department, but in the Crafts section they had prepackaged fat quarters for 97 cents each, and sets of 8 batik fat quarters for $10. I really don't understand WalMart's policy on fabrics at all. My local WalMart has none, other WalMarts have the prepackaged fabrics, and yet others have expensive fabrics like you found.

We don't have a fabric dept at our WM, but a bunch of precut fabric packages. They are all over the place in price. Clearance stickers with the price marked out, one price then another. I don't even bother to see what the actual price is, if they can't take the time to make up their mind then I am not going to take the time to figure it out myself.

I have gotten batik jelly rolls at a very good price on clearance. Otherwise, i avoid wmart fabric.

I paid 5.97/yard at Walmart yesterday. The cutter was really busy - I was 3rd in line. A JoAnn's just opened, and HobbyLobby opened before Christmas. Walmart has a lot of competition right now in the area. Before Christmas their only competition was a few LQS's - so Walmart had the least expensive game in town. And getting help in the fabric department was the pits - backup was from the electronic department! It will be interesting over the next year.

Our WM prices have gone up but so has the quality

Our Wal Mart does NOT have fabrics that expensive. I have lots of fabrics there, Joanns has some identical fabric as Wal Mart and just costs more. Buyer Beware!!!!!!!!!!

My Walmart does not have fabric, wish they did.

I was told by one Walmart fabric dept manager that it is up to the store manager how much floor space to allow the fabric dept and up to the fabric dept manager what to order for the dept. That's why each Walmart fabric dept is different. One Walmart close to me the fabric dept manager is a quilter. She has everything available for her to order there, her dept never lost the fabric dept, she just kept ordering and the truck kept bringing it. She will retire soon and she is afraid the dept will go down hill with someone that doesn't know a fig about fabric or sewing being in charge.

Newer fabrics that are now coming in at Walmart go for 7.97. The older bolts are still 4.97, 5.97, but I think until they are running out.

There's no doubt, that the quality is not what it could be, especially for that price.

Mine keeps telling me they are bringing it back. This is the month they said, but still no fabric.

Nothing priced that high in my WM fabric dept.

Fabric that has been on the shelves from before Christmas will be less than any brought into the stores now. At $5.25 to over $7 a yard wholesale, not counting the shipping costs to the stores, a lot of shops will be charging more, I'm afraid. Maybe I need to re-think downsizing :)

Our wally world has a few fabrics that are of better quality that are over 7 a yard. I plan to buy some later in the year. They also carry some fabrics that I wouldn't buy if it were 50 cents a yard. Our LQS prices range from 10 and up. I buy from her also at least $20 a month.

I do not know why you'd pay that much for Wal-Mart fabric when you can get top manufacturer quality fabric for less than $5 bucks a yard at Thousandsofbolts.com.

If you email Sharon at Marshall's Dry Goods she will put you on the email list and send you all the special bolt fabric buys. Many are less then $3 a yard. You don't need a tax number or be a shop owner to buy the bolt specials the quilt shops buy.

Sharon: mdgsharon at swbell.net

Yes, I had to one yard of an olive color and I was shocked 7.97 a yard.

I was in the fabric department at our Walmart today and we do not have fabric over $5.95 a yard and there is very little at that price. Most of ours is much lower.

They have 2 fabric collections for 7.97 in our walmart. They are gorgeous,one is a modern collection, new prints and colors, and the other is more shabby chic, lots of roses.I am planning to buy some this weekend when I am off work.

I personally think our walmart carries cheaper fabric, so cheap I am not interested.

The backing fabric for my last two quilts have come from Walmart. They were in the clearance aisle for $1.50 a yard! And the best thing is that the colors were right for my quilts. Last weekend I bought one fat quarter for 99 cents & a pack of 5 fat quarters (all in cordinating colors) for $7.98. I have bought some regular priced fabrics and they ran between $5 to $6 a yd. I haven't noticed the $8 a yd fabrics. I'll keep my eye out for it.

Was in Wal Mart the other day and fabric was from $1.50 up over $5.00 a yard. Lots of new bolts there.

My Walmart does not have fabric at all. Other stores I have seen have fabric, but of a very low quality and as before mentioned, the quality is all over the place. I feel bad for beginning quilters who don't realize that it is poor quality and put all of the work into a quilt...only to have it fall apart.

Our Walmart carries mostly very low quality fabric. When I'm not buying fabric for a particular quilt I add to my stash by always checking for the sale fabric at any LQS I go to. They usually have a good selection at most shops I've been to and the price is about $4/yd and sometimes less. Even if you only pick out one piece each time it can add up. I have so much beautiful fabric that I have been able to pull from my stash that I have paid the same as you would for lower quality fabric. I also shop at the online stores that offer daily deals such as Missouri Star and Beverly's. At Beverly's daily deal with the shipping it comes to about $4.95/yard. I just want the best fabric I can buy for the least amount of money!

I tried I really did.....

I went to one local Walmart and as one writer noted the shelves were poorly maintained and stocked. I picked up a few things then put them back because I would not subject myself to shopping in such a mess.

I went to another Walmart and the cutting table so small she had a time measuring and cutting. She was actually wedged between an aisle behind a post. I talked to her about the fabric department. She told me Walmart just doesn't get it. It's trying to minimally deal with the customer complaints rather than provide a customer-based department.

So here I am on my soapbox:

I go to Walmart only when I have to. Since Sam Walton passed, I find the shelves in many departments are a take-it or leave it selection and the prices vs. what you really get are high. Walmart has forced out so many local customer-oriented businesses, it's time to fight back by supporting the local entreprenuers.

Ok I'm done......

We consider ourselves lucky if we can get fabric at $8 a metre at our local Spotlight stores. Otherwise it's the LQS at around $20 or more a metre

I have 2 Walmart stores in a reasonable distance from where I live, one has a craft and fabric department, one doesn't...Go figure!

As usual, there seems to be lots of differences in Walmart experiences. There are two Walmarts not far from us. Only one had fabric for the longest time and that is where I shopped. I had a firm Walmart rule: never pay more than $2.99 a yard and I have to say that I really stocked up over the last couple of years. At this particular Walmart there is almost never anyone at the cutting table and you often have to cut the fabric yourself if you want it.
At the second Walmart they recently brought back the fabric department. I stopped in a couple of weeks ago to pick up some solid black and my husband was browsing around. He brought me bolt after bolt for $1 - $1.50 /yard. It was good quality although not prints that I loved. But at that price, I bought a few bolts to use for backing and also aprons.

Looking forward to Joann's sale this weekend - 50% off the red dot section! At one particular store, I've found lots of nice prints by known names and even some batiks! I'm ready!!!

I think a lot of it has to do with the area you live it. Our Walmart doesn't even carry fabric anymore. I miss that Department.

Our Wal Mart just recenty reopened the fabric dept. We have a full time clerk there, and the fabric is right around $6.00 a yard.

I was with our WalMart fabric department for three years and each year our remodel layout (size of department and where it would be located) was determined by home office. I left fabrics when the department was eliminated two years ago.
I also have been told that cost of merchandise is determined by the area of the country the store is located. I am sure the cost of material is much higher in NY than it would be in Alabama because everything else is more expensive also. IMHO The only thing that costs close to $8 py in our area is the collegiate material and it is still at least $4 py less than the LQS collegiate material.

Four WM stores in my area with no fabric. They do carry sewing machines, yarn and crochet item, buttons and other notions, but no yard goods. A fifth store, within the same driving distance, has a fair selection, albeit small. Their largest section is home decorator fabrics. I haven't gotten any cottons because of the low quality and poor design choices. However, a store I frequent in my travels to WV is loaded with good fabrics - of all kinds. It was a store I enjoyed buying from. Unfortunately, when they remodeled, and moved the department, they also rearranged the fabric grouping. Now, everything is jumbled together by PRICE. Quilting cottons next to rayon, next to denim, and home decor, then another couple of summer cottons. That's fine if you only want to spend $2.50 per yard, but what about the "better" fabrics? I find something I like in the ~$5 a yard, and have to go back to the lower end to see if the companion pieces were in the mark down area. It's a night mare!

Silly her! She'll be replaced by someone in a "New York minute". Why should she care, unless she REALLY likes to also shop there.
Personally I avoid Walmart... esp. since the fabrics are gone. I haven't even been in a new superstore (2-3 years old) nearby... hearing from friends, there is very little on the shelves, nothing stocked, etc. Walmart went downhill years ago in my book. Why don't they call it China-mart?? Tho' most fabric comes from China now, even at JoAnn's and our LQS...read the end labels... caveat emptor!

My good friend had to return Chinese fabric to JoAnn's - they did refund her money - when a section of material was flawed and "missing". Too bad no one saw it when it was being cut.

Good luck to the Retiring Fabric Dept Manager.

I was in Walmart yesterday, noticed some new fabric. There are no fabrics over $5.65. We have fat quarters .97 cents. Looks to me that we are getting new fabric. I am now wondering, if our fabric dept will expand a little further.

I don't shop at Walmart-- for anything-- because of their corporate policies. I would rather pay more money at another store.

You can get lovely REAL LQS shop fabrics online at great clearance prices on many sites. I've been paying $5-6 a yard for them, and that is WITH the shipping factored in...

Our local Walmart has fabric but I haven't been there for awhile so don't know the prices. What is the quality of the higher priced fabric some of you are seeing in WM? Those prices are pretty steep. I don't buy fabric there because I don't want to mix it in with LQS fabric even though the colors/patterns might work.

My Walmart, thankfully, never lost its fabric department. And yes, I've seen the $8.00 per yard fabric. The manager told me ALL of the fabric will be going up soon. She has been getting lots of new fabric, but at those prices, I'm afraid.......the only good thing (for Walmart, that is) is that there are no other fabric stores within 1 hour driving of me...

With the cost of gas, groceries, and everything else, I'll be pinching pennies and spending less!!

Our WM has what they call "discount fabric". They display it out front the day it comes in and then stuff it in the back bins later. I got some really nice red print fabric for my log cabin for $2.00 a yard, but when I went back a few days later, I had to search for the fabric in the back.

Next time you are at WM and have some time to spare check out the prices on the bolts. The discount fabric is blended in.

Check the size of those fat quarters. They are definitely not 18 X 22. I was disappointed to see that they do not have knowledgeable buyers in Bentonville. I was a store manager for WM for several years and the fabric and crafts dept was a real draw in my stores. The cutting table was the busiest service area in the store even before quilting became the staple. You have to be creative and have people working in that area that know fabric, techniques, resources and can talk to people. The walls were covered with projects made by associates and customers. I am not happy with the imported fabrics of such poor quality and mystery content that are available now. The home office determined the sq footage allotted for each of the 40 departments in a store from the demographics of the area of the country where you are located. Every year I would receive a schematic that would give the size of the area allotted. The fabric and crafts area has shrunk and the electronics department has exploded. Such as the times of our lives with technology owning the floor space. Twenty-five yrs of retail allows a lot of hindsight. :)