:x My Quot is The Super Center is Stupid for not having FABRICS!!!!!!BJR

What's the www for thisnthatfabrics??? BJR

:x Oh Yea,Ol Sam is rolling over as we speak! Sam was the best!!! Some of the guys round here went Hunting with him!! BJR

www.this-n-thatfabrics.com

OK, folks, here's the deal with WalMart and the fall-out from all the other "big-box" stores. Americans vote with their dollars. Over the last 30 years, Americans have voted for the "big box" stores. Americans have voted the local merchant out of business because it's easier, quicker, and cheaper,to go to the mega super market, the mega department store, and the mega pet shop rather than support the local Main Street merchants. However, as many Americans have painfully discovered, easier, quicker, and cheaper isn't necessarily the ultimate outcome of a landscape dotted with "big box" stores.

I wholeheartedly agree that WalMart is a curse and a big contributor to the blight on the economic landscape of regions, towns, and neighborhoods. WalMart has been a major contributor to the decline and death of innumerable local shopping areas (downtown, uptowns, whatever one wants to call them). It doesn't matter if those areas are small farm towns in the Midwest or "suburban sprawl" areas in metropolitan regions.

Local politicians court and sell out to companies like WalMart. These elected officials want as many of the "big box" stores as possible because they contribute a significant amount of commercial and real estate tax dollars, ostensibly for the "good of the community". Well, we know how well that plan works for the "good of the community".

In the 1950's and early 1960's my Father-in-law was part owner of a locally-owned, thriving, honest-to-goodness "downtown" department store that carried everything from ladies' lingerie to microwaves and TVs. That store was a part of the thriving and growing downtown in a large Central Illinois community. In 1964, he knew the end of local downtowns was a matter of time when he saw that K-Mart could sell a TV at a lower price, retail, than what it cost him to purchase the same TV at wholesale. By 1968, my Father in Law's store was in the process of closing. It was gone by 1970.

The trend continued in that Midwestern town throughout the '70's. Downtown died. All major commercial activity went to the suburbs...and the steady tide of "big box" / "big parking lot" stores continues to this day.

As a "hometown" girl, it would almost break my heart to visit my family and see what had happened to the downtown of my childhood. Familiar business and favorite stores had become parking lots or were closed. I never could figure the parking lot thing since so much of the commercial business had gone to the big box shopping centers at the edge of town. Obviously, the downtown parking lots were empty and the mega-stores' lots were packed. So much for the wisdom of local policiticans. Oh, and the tax money that these gargantuan monuments to commercialism generate...in this case, it's going to a different town, ajacent to my hometown.

I live in the San Francisco Bay Area...population is in the millions. I moved here to a "bedroom community" 25 years ago. At that time, my family could buy well-made clothes, shoes, toys, groceries, Rx, automobiles and applicances from local merchants. Many were the hours I wandered the globe while browsing through the travel section of our locally-owned book stores. If I remember correctly, there were 2 or 3 very good fabric shops. I could get Pendelton yard goods easily. I had little to no reason to leave town to shop. I knew the merchants and they knew me.

Today, I can't buy a pair of well-made anything in my local community. It's all at the "big box" stores...with employee turn-over at obscene rates.
Between San Jose and and Hayward, CA, along I-880 on the east side of the bay, there is a Wal-Mart and / or a Home Depot in San Jose, Milpitas, Fremont, Union City, Hayward. You don't want to know how many other redundancies of other "big box" store clog that corridor. What I've described is a distance of about 40 miles -- through traffic and world-class traffic.

I'm completely sympathetic --and just as angry / frustrated -- with the plight of my fellow quilters and the angst of fabric stores' closing. Those fabric stores are to us what "Cheers" was to Frazer, Cliff, Norm, and all the others. "Everyone knows your name" -- or what colors we like for our quilting projects.

When I had what turned out to be minor sugery a few years ago, after I had talked with my family, guess who I called to give them the news. Yep...my friends at the quilt shop, all of whom had been praying for me and my family. Unfortunately, that store has closed...because the owner retired.

There are some other quilt shops in the area, but I'm having to travel further and further. As my friend from the now-closed quilt shop told me, "You could go for 10 years and never buy another piece of yardage." Well, yeah, she was right, but... :wink:

The convenience of a one-stop shopping "big box" store does enable an economy of scale, i.e. lower prices (sometimes), but at what price? That's where the choice of how and where we spend those "left over" dollars comes into play. "Left over" dollars = what's left after all the assotred taxes levied on us by those who are so concerned about the "good of the community", allowing us to attempt to acquire some of the necessities of life.

In the context of those who are so concerned about the "good of the community", I'm reminded of a bumper sticker I saw recently. "Your Village Called, Looking for You. They Want Their Idiot Back."

There is one thing that even the frustation of "big boxes" can't take away from quilters. They can't take away the fun and satisfaction of our creativity. Continue on, friends.

I refuse to shop at walmart for anything!I realize that some people might not have a choice but to shop there,but if you do, go elsewhere! they are not all that.And if you really look online you can find fabrics starting at 3-4 dollars a yard.the reason Walmart are closing their fabric depts and it is stated on another thread is because it is not cost effective, too labor intensive,they would have to have someone available to measure and cut fabric and it costs them money to do that, they want everything ready to pick up and go.

I agree that it's sad what is happening to small downtown America. It's disappearing so fast sometimes I want to cry.

However, I cannot afford to shop at those stores. I don't have any "left over" dollars. Hubby and I are living on less than $35K a year, just over 1/3 of what we were making 2 years ago. The bills have gone up...electricity, gas for the car, the cost of food...but our income has crashed. The mortgage company doesn't care if we eat or not as long as the payment comes in. If we don't pay the electricity, it gets shut off.

The one place I can afford to pinch a little is by shopping at a "big box" store. It enables me to buy a decent sugar substitute for my husband so I can make him muffins (no, I don't buy them, I make them from scratch...store made costs too much!) once a week or so as a treat. I can even splurge on a carton of sugar-free ice cream once in a while.

I feel like a deserter sometimes but the way that the economy is going I can't see only eating once a day so we can patronize the local grocery, which carries 2 sugar substitutes on a good day and no sugar-free ice cream at all...and as for low carb stuff, forget it...only the basics there.

I make my own bread. I make my own muffins and a lot of other baked goods, mostly for cost but also because decent-tasting diabetic-friendly baked goods simply aren't available. I cook from scratch. I don't buy mixes or pre-cooked foods. We have chickens for eggs and occasionally some meat. I have to make sure my husband eats 3 meals and a snack daily to regulate his blood sugar and that we both get all our medications and even with union insurance we're still putting out almost $100 a month for that.

When I was working we shopped at Schnuck's or Dierberg's or wherever...but I can't do it now. They are further away and therefore not only am I paying more for food, but more for gas as well. When you have $3 left to get through the week after the bills are paid and you've bought groceries and put gas in the car to get to work and back, choosing to shop at a smaller store further away that costs more simply isn't a choice.

As for the local quilt shops...I don't go in there any more. I can't stand to see all that pretty stuff and know I can't buy it. I look for the labels at WalMart that tell me that the fabric is overstocked major designer stuff and I get it there, or on ebay, or on sale on the Internet. I just can't do the $8-9.50 a yard these days.

We don't eat out. We don't go to movies. We drive a 2000 minivan with no A/C and 133,000+ miles on it. We have one TV, one computer, no blackberries or ipods or laptops. I sew on a Kenmore and I got a Janome on sale right before I got sick. I made our curtains and our shower curtain. I make Christmas and birthday gifts.

We don't waste a penny. I have to replace hubby's jeans this summer somehow because the patches are wearing thin. I'm serious. This isn't a convenience thing for me or a cheapskate thing. This is what we can afford, like it or not, and there are a lot of people in our community in the same situation we're in. This is a lower-middle-class rural community being eaten up from the edges by the yuppie crackerbox "neighborhoods" and we're fighting tooth and nail to keep what we have.

Trisha in MO

:x I say we Get out of the BOX and Quick! We Quilt out of the box so yes lets shop out of the box if we can and when my wm goes out of Fabrics I'm out of the Box except and only if I need something I can't find elsewhere,and I will do my darnds't to stay out of wm!! BJR

Hi!
Just a bit of a clarification.

"Left-over" dollars are not the dollars we have after we have scrambled to pay for food, shelter, clothing, heating, transportation, electricity, Rx and other things we need to survive.

All of us have earned dollars in return for our time and work. Look at the check given for that work...how much of that check is "skimmed" right off the top to pay for myriad taxes? Those dollars that remain are the "left overs." That's what we get for our time and work. Those other dollars have been taken from you and me and "re-distributed". From those remaining left-overs we have to find ways to exchange those for food, shelter, clothing, and Rx, for example. Folks find ways to stretch those dollars and to be creative in how we do that. It's time-consuming, it's hard, and it hurts. That's all compounded if we have kids at home or are on a fixed income.

Anything that may remain is "discretionary dollars" to buy those nice, but not necessary things...and many of us don't have lot's, if any, of those dollars these days. This of discretionary dollars as the "left overs from the left overs".

Oops! a typo!
Should have read, "Think of discretionary dollars as the "left-overs from the left-overs."
Thanks! :lol:

BTW, I drive a 1989 Oldsmobile with 220,000 miles on it...and my husband drives a 1999 BMW with about 120,000 miles on it. Fortunately, he works from home and I have only an 11-mile commute each way.

But, quilters are creative, gracious, and always just a bit "spunky". Keep up the good work, everyone.

I'm so glad to hear that I'm not the only one against Wal-Mart these days. I don't know what else to say here tonite, I'm still in shock I think. I just got home from the hospital. I've been there since 10 this morning. My husband had a heart attack today. They put in a stint cuz 1 artery was completely blocked. He has 3 more blocked: 1 is 30%, 1 is 50% and another is 75% blocked. They are treating those with massive doses of plavix and some other stuff I don't know what it's for. And his diabettes which I'm sure caused the heart attack in the first place. I wish someone was here with me right now cuz I'm so scared and I don't want to be alone. I so afraid he's going to die. They made me leave and go home. About 5:00 his BP went down to 57/34 and his pulse was about 35. They actly quickly and got it back up some. At 10:00 they said he was stable again and that I should go home. I was hysterical and didn't want to go but they made me. I'm not going to be able to sleep tonite. I half to stay awake in case they call. So dear dear friends of mine please say a prayer for my husband. We've been married 34 years and I don't know what I'd do if he dies. Thank you all and bless you.

You are in my prayers, Debbie. I'm asking God to surround you with ministering angels and with peace and to bring you comfort right now. I am also praying you can get some sleep.

Trisha in MO

Debbie,
I was so sorry to hear about the crisis you're facing today. Words just don't seem sufficient comfort now. Stay on-line as long as you can this evening...and I'm sure folks will be there to "talk" with you.

Prayers for you, your husband, and the medical staff's wisdom. You mentioned Plavix and "something else". It may be coumadin, a blood thinner.

The good news is that your husband is in exactly the right place for him now...the hospital. Please take comfort in that.

I'm on the other side of the continent, but my thoughts and prayers are with you. Please, if you can, keep us posted on how things progress.

Hugs,
m.

Thank you Trisha and MCH and bless you.

We too are on the other side of the continent, but our hearts are with you and your husband! I wish I could drive over there right now!

Here's hugs and love coming to you from California!

Debbie,
DOn't know what to say except that you are in my thoughts and prayers.
Hang in there and take care of you so you will be able to take care of your husband when he comes home.
Put your feet up and close your eyes. Even if you don't sleep you will at least rest a bit.
We're thinking of you!
Yvonne

Debbie, I know from personal experience how terrified you must be. My husband went in for wht he thought was a cold 7 years ago and was transported by ambulance to the hospital. We were very lucky. He had blockages but did not suffer a heart attack. It is the most awful feeling for your life to be in someone else's hands. Take courage and comfort form knowing we are all praying with you and for God to work his healing touch on your husband.
My husband made it through. He was a 2-3 pack a day smoker then. He doesn't smoke anymore, thank goodness, but he has gained a lot of weight so I worry about the extra work his heart has to do.
I will be thinking of you and praying for you. Wilmington has a really good hospital, so take comfort in knowing that.

Thank you Vicki

Debbie, we are all praying!!! They can do amazing things now adays with the heart!! I'm sure he is in great hands. Brings back thoughts of when my son had brain surgery to remove cancer, it was like a sword had pierced my heart when he cried out for "help" as they wheeled him out of the operating room, he was cut from ear to ear, I felt so helpless, wanting to hold him in my arms, but I wasn't allowed to touch him yet. His cry of Help haunted me, what was going on in his thoughts, was he feeling his
life slipping away?.....he is fine for right now..God has answered our prayers..he'll hear and answer yours!!! May our Lords peace surround you and your husband!!!

i have 4 walmarts available to me within 20 min. of me . i sure would hate for any of them to close their fab. dept. down. but i've all ready emailed them and let them know about alot of unhappy quilters they would have.

Debbie, as the wife of a diabetic, my heart goes out to you. I totally understand your current crisis and the stress you are undergoing. Please know you and your hubby are in my thoughts and prayers.

Debbie so sorry to hear about your husbands illness! I too will include you both in my prayers. Hope he's better by now.

I thought for a minute that our Walmart might be keeping some fabric because they had received new stock but, not any more I so relate to all of the situations you've all described. We do not even own a kitchen stove. We bought a $200.00 grill at Walmart, The same thing would have been $400.00 at Home Depot. We own the house but it needs so much work. Thank God My husband is a carpenter. However even with the free scrap materials he picks up from job sites we haven't been able to afford the electrician, electrical supplies or appliances yet to redo the kitchen on our current Income. I am job hunting as we speak. I would totally boycott Wallyworld (and other big box stores) If we could afford to pay $4.00 for a jar of mayo. I do already go elsewhere for meat just because WM Is not competing adequately with Albertsons , Rosaurs or Safeway in price or quality in this area.

I am looking for fabric more often at yard sales and thrift stores. I just bought around 30 yards of a variety of denim and light wgt. cotton for $5.00 at a yard sale. I was jazzed about that!:)

HolyMoly! I haven't been on here much, lately. Seems like a lot has happened. Our wal-mart is keeping its fabric for 5 years, until they remodel again. I don't even know if I'm happy about that anymore bc they don't care about the customers anymore.
Debbie: I hope you and DH are doing fine. You are in my thoughts.
I don't even know where to start on the subject of being poor. Things have actually improved for us over the past few years. (THANK GOODNESS!) BUT...it isn't about what kind of car we drive or how old it is...I mean...sometimes the old ones are the best! :D
I remember buying everything generic/cheaper so I'd have enough money left over to get an extra thing I needed. I still have to do that sometimes.
I remember when my DH worked AT LEAST 40 hours a week, and his paycheck was 167.23 each week after taxes! Those were rough times. I drove an 83 chevy truck after I had quit my job and sold my 85 Ford Escort! I didn't need a vehicle so much after I had no job! Thankfully gas wasn't priced so high then, but I only went out once or twice a week to my Mom's...mostly I'd ride out in the morning with DH, and he'd pick me up that evening. I did laundry at my Mom's bc we didn't have a washer/dryer! We had well water at the time that was really nasty orange with tons of iron, so just as well. We didn't even have a house phone! He had a bag phone (way back in the day), that we paid about $20/month for...we got an adapter that converted the cigarette lighter plug into electric and put an antenna on top of the trailer....as long as we watched our minutes, we were fine. We were under contract and couldn't afford a house phone and the cell.
We ate food mostly canned from our garden and deer meat that I canned. DH's Dad gave us eggs from his chickens.
I've been dirt poor. I was raised poor. I know how to make it, though, and I wouldn't trade that raising for anything. BUT...I also know that things can get better.
So, hang in there!

I consider it almost a hobby of mine to see how cheap I can get something I like! (Well, It IS a Hobby actually) Of course I do have my standards in certain areas i.e. the Great Value brand is mostly OFF my list no matter how cheap because In my opinion most of the stuff they package is just trash (usually were it lands after one or two bites. Of course this could become a diet strategy to just buy Great Value; I could fatten up my wallet and skinny down my belly at the same time :twisted: ) If Last Comic Standing ever comes to Missoula My act will be ready! :D

I live on the east side of Tucson, AZ and they have assured me that the fabric dept. is not closing. Sure hope not, I find my best selection of fabrics there and in fact in the 8 months I have been quilting I have purchased the material for all my quilts there. They always have what I want and the prices are so much better than Jo anns.

Jane
Tucson, AZ

I talked to our local manager last week after I fired off an email to the company. He told me that the fabric/celebration thing is in a test phase only and that the reactions of the customers and related sales will determine if it flies or falls. He also told me that since they eliminated most of the fabric in a couple stores in this area the fabric sales at our store have gone astronomically higher. Off the record, he says he thinks it's a big mistake, but he doesn't make the decisions.

Trisha in MO

Trisha do you have an email address for them? I don't know how to contact them except through the petition and I did that aleady. I don't mind bugging them. When I move in the next 2 years the only place I will be able to shop is the fabric stores. The closet wal mart has already closed their fabric section. There is a WM in Asheville, NC but I don't know if they have fabric. I am more worried about inexpensive notions than fabric. Matching threads to existing fabric, etc

Vikie:

If you go to http://www.walmart.com/ and go to the bottom of the page there's a "Help" section. Choose "Online Customer Service" and it will take you to a place where you can contact them by phone, email, or snail mail.

Trisha in MO

Thanks. I'll give it a try!
Vicki

I went out to our Walmart after work this morning ( midnite). They are downsizing the fabrics. They had alot on clearance for 50% off. So I stocked up , there were even some new prints that they just got in . They are keeping some of the ugliest fabrics tho. some really loose woven stuff and poly knit stuff. I now have more fabric than Walmart!!
Elaine

i'm pretty close to that, too. :lol:

I emailed them last week and gave them a piece of my mind. Not a very big piece cause mine isn't that big to begin with! I got an auto response thing back, so we'll see what happens.

Our fabric is already gone at our local Wal-Mart. They didn't even have a sale with the remaining fabric, but shipped it to another store. Everything is a mess and they have moved everything, even in the grocery dept. The only things that are where they were is the pharmacy, meat, milk and deli. Every time I go in there, things are in a different place. I forget half of what I was shopping for because it takes so long to find it. Unfortunately, we don't have many shopping alternatives, so I am stuck. Wal-Mart has bankrupted Hills, Ames and is slowly strangling our closest K-Mart. It is a shame.

You really should email them and let them know what you think...they don't know unless we speak up.

Trisha

I just finished my scathing customer commentary on the Walmart site. I let them know that after the fabric is gone, K-mart will be next in line for my shopping $ for ready wear. Albertsons and Safeway already get a larger portion of my Meat business and it still is questionable as to weather or not they will win out for my Toilet paper business. :twisted The last time I went they were still selling some fabric but getting close to the end, I forget what date the girl told me. Then Yea they are not even going to have a sale, but will ship it off to some other outlet. And I meant what I said about less spending at Wallyworld. Really their prices have gone up while quality is down on many things. Unless I can save more than a $1.00 per item on the same product Why bother with the crowds. Are any of you willing or able to boycott Walmart for a time to make a point?

Susan: I emailed them last week and told them exactly the same thing. Also threw in the bit about charity quilts going by the wayside unless inexpensive fabric was to be had and told them that Mr Sam ran things better. I doubt that it made a difference but at least I put my 2 cents in.

I think a massive boycott would be the only way. Even if that would mean more than a drop in the bucket. But seriously this is a company that due to its sheer size moves into a community and forces many smaller concerns out of business and then begins to ignore customer/consumer concerns. The major means of getting the attention of a conglomerate is to hit them in the pocket book. Image may play a part. Maybe we could appeal to K-mart or Target at the same time to begin carrying the goods Walmart now refuses to? I think I will look into contacting those stores and ask them.

We have a brand new super Wal-Mart near us. They have no fabric, but do carry a few zippers, buttons, rotary cutters, ribbon, thread, etc.
We have a Joanns in that town too. The closest quilt shop is approx 35 miles.
Haven't checked the other "local" Wal-Marts, as they are in the 35-60 miles away. If I have to go that far would prefer a quilt shop or Hobby Lobby.

Wally World just stinks now anyway. Have you tried finding a pair of shoes lately? The fabric department in Yreka is still there and the gal working there told me that the complaints helped them keep their fabric section. Keep on complaining and boycotting. We may not get what we want, but neither will they (our money).