I was in my local Wally World (aka Walmart) and in the sewing dept. they have brought in many machines. Sewing, Serging, Embroidery, lots. And the fabric is way stocked. They could not even put it all out. There are new rulers, needles and all sorts of things. Now this Walmart is basicly new (2 years new) but they have really changed the fabric dept. I have a feeling that they might have decided they made an error in judgement. Not only by all the correspondence which we know helped, but also by the sewing and quilting indrustry. It is big now to make your own clothes, Go green and more. There are a couple of more Wally World's I am going to check out. How about yours?

Donna, I suspect this store has done a good business in the fabrics department and the decision to keep it has been made. Good for all the customers who support their fabric department.

One of the 2 Wal-Mart where I shop has also brought in new machines and their notions wall was re-set a couple of weeks ago. That was good to see. But they have two tables full of big bolts of fabric that is not selling, even for $1. a yard. It appears to be something that has been stored in a warehouse for about 40 years. Double knits and other weird stuff. Great piles of stuff I wonder if they will ever sell.

This one particular store is to be enlarged and made into a super center, with the idea that fabrics would no longer be sold. Now I wonder what is going to happen. The manager freely talks about what she knows and discusses it with customers. I find that is a helpful attitude.

For those who have lost Wal-Mart in your area, there are not many places left to buy inexpensive fabrics, except....Ben Franklin. Check their web site to see if they have a store in your area. I stopped at one off the Interstate yesterday and found about 2 dozen bolts of fabric, rolled on cardboard and fastened with a rubber band. Their broadcloth sells for $1.99 while their ad indicates they have some fabrics for $1. a yard. That would be the stores that are designated as Craft stores. Find one....if you can. This is a trip back about 40 years, but you will find it fun to visit. I found some fabric that I was needing for a border and another that I wanted for a quilt. I found 2 pieces of fabric I could use...7 yards in all.

Visited our Walmart's fabric department just the other day. It was really small. There wasn't alot of fabric at all. The notions wall wasn't bad, but wasn't the best I've seen. I was wondering what stores were left to buy inexpensive fabrics since all the Rag Shops around here have closed.

well nothing has changed at our wal mart we got a new super 2 years ago and they took out the fabric and havent put one back in our old walmart has fabric but they got rid of all there needle and thread the sales lady said just a few weeks ago they sold them all for a dime a piece ((( i missed that sell ))last week we had another super walmart open up and there are no fabrics in that one so i guess the fabric departments are not coming back here and that is so sad

I was just thinking, I have never seen anything about Wally World on the news about this. Gives me an idea. The topic is so big about going green now and the stores that don't carry the fabric is not helping the community go green. Plain and simple. It would be hard for me to get the news here to do something because I have four Wally Worlds I can get to ( some driveing distance, but not bad) and they all have and kept their fabric. But those of you that don't have the fabric might benifit by getting in touch with the news. They love stories of this kind. Try it!!

There are 2 WalMart stores in Valdosta,GA. Where I shop. Both have emptyed their shelves of material. They do have a lot more craft stuff. and some batting. They do have a notions but forget material.
Bill'sBonBon

The store near me got a lot of kits from other stores that received the new kits stuff. Apparently they did not sale. So some went to this store all reduced for cheap. Things that were marked for 10.98 or so are now 2.50 I even bout some that has the inner fuse in it, because the inner fuse was cheaper that way, and I got a pattern for a purse and some bowls also. Can't beat that, but it shows you who evers Idea it was for the kit crap was not using their full deck of cards :!:

All the Wallys in my area are still carrying fabric.
The Joanns moved the quilting area closer to the front of the store because it sells the most.
I wonder if Walmart watchs areas with high or low volumn fabric sales and closes the ones that dont sell as much.
I live in the west side of Phoenix, AZ

I think here in Lubbock there are 2 that do carry fabric and 2 that don't. I'm not a big WalMart shopper, so I don't know what kind of stuff they have. I'll have to go check the one closest to me and see what their fabric dept. looks like.

Our local Super Walmart still has a limited "craft/fabric section". I always check the fabric section and usually am disappointed. Quilting cottons are very limited. I ocassionally see something I might be interested in. Not interested in cammo or ridiculous panels. In a pinch I bought a couple yards of a calico print for a class. Washed it, dried it and went to iron it --huge defect in the middle of the yardage that I didn't see because I was in a hurry. So quality is an issue as well. Blends are usually piled on 2 discount tables and as another poster pointed out, looks like the dregs of all the ugly, inferior fabric in the world. No wonder they are not making a profit. If it were free would not even want it. Sorry, I don't have anything good to say about Walmart. The rest of the store has gone downhill as well. The most I buy there now is botttled water.

I went to another Walmart on the other side of town today and they also got in a whole lot more items. The manager there told me that one of the big decision makers at corporate got fired recently. So maybe all is good. We can only hope and see. I still would do something with the news if in my area they had done something drastict taking away the fabric. But they have not here and two so far are adding more items to buy and lots more fabric but the prices are higher then they ever were. :D

I have 4 Walmarts within driving distance. Two of them closed up their fabric departments when they remodeled (not supers). The other two kept theirs and the people that run say they haven't heard anything to the contrary. I also noticed the shelves well stocked with fabric and a new area for the machines (including embroidery). Might be a good sign my way too! I hope!

I have 3 Wally Worlds in driving distance and will keep in mind to post when I visit them which is about every other month, unfortunatley...
I don't need much from them and they are not Super stores (groceries)
K

I haven't stepped foot inside a walmart store since 1999. never plan to either.

Ok DonnaRae I'm moving down your way ! We have 2 stores here , one got rid of all fabrics and notions . Last week they had thread and zippers and bias tape . We went Monday , thread and bias tape was gone , only about 3 sizes of zippers to chose from .

The other store has fabric , but not a good selection . They used to have cheap remnants but not now ! They want full price for a scrap . BOO !

Annie

Hopefully it isn't a sign swinging the other way. Maybe they are putting all their inventory out to sell it off without warning??

Here the stores haven't changed recently.

The Wally World near me is building a superstore across the street. The fabric people say they will be keeping the dept, but who knows. I don't buy much there, but the ladies are all so nice and I have always had good service there. (But I like to talk to people and show interest.) The other day a lady asked for embroidery thread and was told they stopped carrying that ages ago. Still had regular thread last time I was there, but will check it out when I go again. I want an embroidery machine, but think I would buy one from a dealer before Wally World. (Asked for one for my B-day in Sept - when I told him how much I thought they were, he gasped - think I will get it?) LOL

I don't think so. The machines are new models especially the embroidery ones. I think they are finishing what they have done so far, then take a brand new look at the situation. Remember a guy at the top of decision making has been fired, so with a big corp like that it will take a while to regroup. They need some peon's like us to show them how. :D

I love Walmart!! I try to support my local walmart as much as possible, because I dread losing that convenient and inexpensive source of fabric and notions. If we do, I will have to drive 24 miles just to buy needles and thread!

Walmart is the closest place I have to by fabric and it 24 miles away :( and at my walmart its not much to chose from

We got a new super Walmart (6 milesaway in the next small town) about 9 months ago and it does not have fabric. Now the Walmart in Gainesville, GA is being remodeled and the fabric is gone. I had went into the store on a Thursday and the fabric was still there and the next Tuesday is was gone. They had still had a good selection. I had gone looking for a specific fabric that I had seen there before for a baby quilt I was making. The clerk told me that they had sold it all. What a bunch of hogwash!!! All that fabric gone in 4 days. I understand eliminating the department is the fabric wasn't selling but to feed us a line about it being all sold in 4 days. Walmart really has us over a barrel. Their prices being so much better than other places. If there was anyplace else to shop....I would be going there.

I wish I could do that. I just can't with the money I live on!! How do you do it?

I am from a small rural community. My local Wally put everything on clearance last week. There are a few reminment left for sale. Originally we were told there would be pre-cut yardage and notions etc. The other day I was told no pre cuts, no thread, no needles...there will be some spools of ribbons. NO NEEDLES and NO THREAD?? Wally has lost its mind. There is a quilt shop in town but it is so much more expensive!!! The next closest store to buy sewing thread and needles or other sewing basics is 30 minutes one direction or 45 minutes another direction. :(

We have a new Super Walmart (Massena) about 25 miles from my home, and they have a horribly small fabric area, :cry: but the regular Walmart (Ogdenburg) @ 18 miles away has a pretty decent one. We are getting a new Super Walmart (Potsdam) @10 miles away, hopefully they have a better center than Massena. We do have a Joann's Fabric Store (Ogdensburg) but it would be nice if Potsdam got a nice fabric section in the Walmart. Also want to add that the material at Walmart is not much cheaper than the less expensive material at Joann's. Walmart $3.44/yd. regular price, andJoann $3.99/yd. regular price, and then it was 30% off.

Well, yesterday I heard a horror story that the super walmart a little ways from me was closing and marking down it's fabric department. I was just there a couple of weeks ago and it was well stocked and looking like it was there to stay. Needless to say, I went there today to see for myself. Indeed all the fabric but the ones with major yuck factor were gone, as was most everything. Not much left. I passed a store manager in the aisle and spoke with him about it. He said that walmart has been doing research on the subject of keeping the fabric department for the last two years and when it's time to remodle the stores they are gone and are being replaced with other crafts.......much like Michaels and other specialty craft stores. I told him that I had noticed this and if the higher ups that made that decision had been paying attention to the message boards on the internet that deal with quilting they would have made a differnt decision, I am sure. He said he was sorry about it and thanks for shopping at walmart..............true story.

I told him the specialty crafts they are offering are in the same price range as the specialty stores. I told him I pay attention to those sort of things as I used to be a merchandiser. He said I needed to come work for Walmart.........roflmao.........I told him sorry I am retired........and a quilter! He said once all the stores are remodled and stocked they will do price comparrisons.........geeeeeeeeez

Linda D.

It all confuses me because a brand new Super Walmart was just built about 3 miles from where I live and they put in a large fabric/craft department. So all I can think is they go by sales, demographs or something. I know I did hear at one of the other Walmarts near me that the Northern Stores would all be closing. There are four Walmarts within driving distance and they all have fabric. And the new one put in a fabric/craft even with the other three stores haveing fabric. Now I am in the south, but someone just recently wrote of being in Ga. and they just close the fabric dept. WHO KNOW??????

Both of the Wal-Marts that are closest to were I live upgraded to supercenters 2-3 years ago. They both still have decent fabric departments. I frequent one more than the other because of the SERVICE! I know if I go to the one south of us, my questions will get correctly answered, the associate will gladly walk and talk with me about my sewing issues. They have knowledge. The store north of me, not so. If I go in wanting anything more than just purchasing something off the shelf, forget it.

BACK to my original point. Here in our area of Missouri that 2-3 years ago, older supercenters were being remodeled. Once we got past a certain date, if your Wal-mart was remodeled or new, a fabric department was not included. I even went in to the stores in late June to get embroidery thread for a project and couldn't find a thing. I asked and one fabric dept. worker said they stopped carrying the thread about a year ago. She encouraged me to complain that many folks feel the same way and if enough complain, we may get the item back.

I was at our local store last night - lots of fabric and notions! We saw some neat brown and pink fabric and brown and teal fabric for me to sew into scrubs for my son's fiancee. She is a very fashionable CNA. :lol:

A new Wally just opened north of me, it's been open since March and when it opened it was the biggest Wally they had ever built. There are of course bigger ones open now. Loads and Loads of space, wide isles it's a beautiful store. It does have a "craft department" complete with sewing and embroidery machines. But get this NO FARBIC, not one scrap. Talk about taking advange of where the money is. Luckily the Wally closer to my house has fabric.

I just bought from Walmart brown with pink and brown with teal to make some purses. Probably the same fabric. LOL

Walmarts in and around Houston area have discontinued their fabrics -- I'm told the ones in SW Louisiana will be going when the stores do their remodel next spring. We do not have a JoAnns -- only a Hancock which always looks like a disaster zone (and run by a group of women who don't have the slightest idea how to sew or what price anything is), and a Hobby Lobby which recently redid their fabric dept which is only a fraction of what it was. I hate buying online, I want to feel the fabric and see what the colors really are.

I use to be a vender at one of the smaller hometown Wal-Mart, they still have a fabric department, which is good because that's the only store in town to buy fabric. There are lots of older women who quilt and it's hard for some of them to drive long distances to buy their fabric. I also have a super store about 20 miles from me, I buy some supplies there. But I've been told that their fabric isn't the best quality for quilting? But that I'm not sure?
Donna

My little local WalMart, "Neighborhood" walmart does not have a fabric store but a huge showing of machines for sale !! MIssed out on the disney machine from last Christmas. even side winders.. surprised me.. right across from the crickets for scrap booking !! weird !

Ellen

The Wal-Mart where I live has a tiny fabric/craft department, which is sad because it was pretty big until they made the switch to a "Super" center.

The best fabric/craft department I have ever seen in a Walmart (super or regular) is in Whitewater, WI. Now I may be a bit biased because I used to work there, but it is the truth. The department manager is sooo nice, she's very smart about everything in that section. She will go out of her way to special order fabric for anyone. I have seen her on the phone for hours with vendors trying to get certain fabrics. Everyone that works in that section is very knowledgeable too. It is always really clean, organized, and well stocked! This fabric/craft department has a large variety of EVERYTHING! $1.00 and $2.00 tables, regular priced fabrics, holiday prints, fleece, upholstery, sheer, nettings. It's really wonderful.

I would definitely recommend this fabric/craft department to anyone coming through south eastern Wisconsin.

Not to get off topic, but I see that Target now sells sewing machines. Maybe they will pick up where Walmart is falling behind.

[quote=Melissa]The Wal-Mart where I live has a tiny fabric/craft department, which is sad because it was pretty big until they made the switch to a "Super" center.

The best fabric/craft department I have ever seen in a Walmart (super or regular) is in Whitewater, WI. Now I may be a bit biased because I used to work there, but it is the truth. The department manager is sooo nice, she's very smart about everything in that section. She will go out of her way to special order fabric for anyone. I have seen her on the phone for hours with vendors trying to get certain fabrics. Everyone that works in that section is very knowledgeable too. It is always really clean, organized, and well stocked! This fabric/craft department has a large variety of EVERYTHING! $1.00 and $2.00 tables, regular priced fabrics, holiday prints, fleece, upholstery, sheer, nettings. It's really wonderful.

You may be right on target. There are four Walmarts that I can drive to (and I live where who would think that, we only have one big mall) two Walmarts that have a lot of faric and everything. The women that work these depts. have a lot of knowledge and are always odering and the same as you said. The other two stores that have fabric but not a lot the people that work there don't even know the difference between cotton and poly. Maybe Walmart is going by stores that have a reputition of not being able to increase sales due to poor fabric management. For there to be four stores with in driveing distance of me and they ALL have fabric with two of them growing in the fabric department must say something! Whatever though, makes me happy :D :D :D :D

I can't wait to get back to Hawaii. There are 4, yes, 4 Walmarts all within a 10-15 mile range of each other and 2 of them are only about 2 miles away from each other. I'm going to bring an empty suitcase for all my fabric shopping. Plus, I can go to my favorite shop...Kaimuki Dry Goods. I LOVE THAT PLACE!! I walk in there and my eyes start doing circles and the light starts to go dim and my body goes all tingly. lol