WalMart fabric departments

13 years ago

I have 3 Walmarts and hour away in 3 different directions. 2 closed their fabric departments and the other has limited fabrics. I had read in the news that they lost a lot of revenue when they closed the fabric departments and other items. One that we would shop at for groceries had very expensive organic vegetables, we live in farm country so that doesn't work well here. So now they think they made a big mistake and are bring back the fabric departments to some stores. I haven't been to Wally World in a long time. Is your getting back the fabric??????

Rosa

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Comments (11)

Carol_from_ny
13 years ago
Ours never lost it.
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vacuumfreak
13 years ago
I just called my Wal-mart (the one across the street)... they closed their fabric department several months ago... they told me that they will not be getting it back, so I wonder how to determine which stores will and which won't. I know in the past quilters have generally snubbed Wal-mart fabric as being inferior quality, but I really appreciated the convenience. The nearest Joanns is 25 minutes away, and the wait at the cutting table is about 30 minutes at least!
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It doesn't surprise me they raised the price. I always thought their prices were on the lower end anyways and that's when I'd buy fabric. If you look, they really do have some nice regular and seasonal fabric. This past summer I found the most beautiful bird fabric with green leaves all over and a matching large panel with birds. I think it's the most beautiful fabric I'd ever seen and that's one reason I bought it. It surprised me I got it at Walmart. The gal was telling me one lady came in and ordered 18 "bolts" of it. Yeah, even if they raised it 50 cents, I still think it's nice fabric at a good price. Sal
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"...I want a Woolworth Five & Dime!!!!Sure do miss some of the old stuff!! Jan..." Then you'll like this. Here in Vermont there are only FOUR WalMarts in the entire state! One is in Bennington about 12 miles from us. When they wanted to come to VT they were told they could NOT build in a field outside of town. They HAD to locate in town and there was a vacant WOOLWORTHS store they could have. But they were not allowed to expand the building by one foot. They had to stay inside this 40,000 sq ft store. This was not easy for WalMart since the average store at that time was 112,000 sq ft. But they located inside the building and it's the smallest store in the chain. And then a funny thing happened. The surrounding businesses didn't close, but had MORE business! They LOVE WalMart! Simply by putting the store near downtown, everybody benefited. But everybody misses the Woolworths lunch counter!
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I can't buy the notion that they're phasing out name brands in favor of store brands only. I don't think anyone on this forum (nor kids, or grandkids) will ever live to see the day that you can't buy Tide, Dawn, Skippy, Hostess, Crest, Folgers, Snickers, Charmin, Bayer, Kleenex and that's just to name a few brands that I'd venture to guess will maintain a permanent shelf tag in Walmart and other stores. They'll carry what sells. It's common sense business-wise. Dilly_dally makes a good point about the companion purchases. And if you didn't know it, the computers record all the purchases (ah, the computer age and all the benefits it reaps!) and the information is analyzed statistically. I don't understand it completely but they have various formulas and algorithms that they look at whereby they can determine that the purchase of "x" square yards of fabric will yield an accompanying purchase of $___ in groceries, $___ in H&B, etc. But I have to believe a lot of it is like guessing which stocks to purchase! Which is why you'll occasionally see them bring back something they used to carry (though not often). Retail is a tough, kill or be killed business and a bad mix or one very bad move can drive many nails in their business coffins. I feel for the people who desire the fabric and craft items. I'm sure it's very frustrating to lose a source. I think it's fair to guess that most lean toward the more frugal and more environmentally conscious (repair rather than replace) sides, which probably hurts their chances of being catered to rather than helps since the sales volumes are probably lower than the "replace it" folks. The leasing of space is a great idea. I'm just not sure there's many places who could afford to pay the cost of the floor/shelf space and make it profitable, again, since Walmart's space would command a premium rent. What would be a good alternative is to get a small shop in a stripmall next to the Walmart. Again, rent would go up being next to it but likely far less than inside. I don't mind progress, but there's a lot about the older days I really miss. "It's a dog eat dog world and I'm wearing Milkbone underwear." -Norm Peterson (Cheers)
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Comments (8)
I don't shop this facility but did have occasion where I was in one a few weeks ago. They've never gotten rid of their fabric department but when they moved where the departments are located, I noticed they certainly trimmed it to a shadow of its former self. Big box stores (regardless of what kind of boxes they are) would be better to regard that each area in which they sink a store has some unique needs and I think all boxes need to be more sensitive to address them and provide the inventory and services unique to that location. But their marketing presence allows them that prerogative, and they use it at both ends not only with the customers, but with the vendors. ;-) As far as I'm concerned they might as well forget about material at all and just concentrate on the ancillary products with predictable inventory skus and costs like battings, tools and threads and that seems to be what they decided too. It's all about reducing labour costs.....it's the variable over which they have the most control and that not only means goods from offshore sources, but their own staffing. Cutting bolts of cloth is like custom cutting venetian blinds or meat. It's a lot more cost effective to prepackage and make their own decisions as to what you want than to let you do it yourself. Now tell me honestly........for things you normally buy in your household don't you often get rankled by what is offered in your local area and end up just purchasing what they have rather than what you want? It works, so the practise is perpetuated. That's why I am so thankful for the internet as a marketing too and I use it often. It may be the salvation of smaller, independant businesses.
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geezerfolks_SharonG_FL
13 years ago
Our non-super Walmart never closed their fabric dept and I've seen some very nice fabric there.

SharonG/FL-IN-MI
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mary_c_gw
13 years ago
Mine threatened to close a few years back, and the fabric was relegated to a few bins, and sold for about $2.00/yd while the store was remodeled.

I got some great fabrics during the remodel. But then they kept the fabric. The newer fabric area is smaller, but the fabrics are a bit higher quality. I was surprised, because there are actually a couple of fabric stores within 5 miles of the Walmart.

I've always had to be careful with Walmart fabric. Some is excellent at a great price. Some is cheap, rough, overly stiff with sizing.

One has to feel the fabric, crush it in your fist, tug on it a bit, to see if it measures up to your standards.
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User
13 years ago
The one close to me on the rural side of the county got rid of all it's fabric when they remodeled, the one in the urban side kept theirs. (Go figure.) As for quality, they do have some fabrics that are good quality and costlier, then there are some on the cheap rack that I wouldn't bother making anything out of. Especially the kind that doesn't state what kind of material it is. But I have found sales of flannel and quilting cotton there that was usable, especially for backings. They also carry the extra wide flannel and muslin for backings. I wish they would bring the fabrics back to my side of woods.
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nannykins
13 years ago
If they would only bring back the notions part of the dept. Driving across town for a spool of thread is not my idea of fun.
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cannahavana
13 years ago
My Walmart got rid of their fabric department and expanded their electronics department, but still has a craft section. It has fat quarters and kits. There is one that is about 45 minutes from me that has an excellent fabric department with lots of nice wide backing fabric for a great price. I stop by when I take my son to camp every summer.
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vicky4x4
13 years ago
We never loss ours. I use very little Walmart fabric, I don't like to go in there and the service is really bad. All that said I have at times bought some very fine fabric there and yes, you really have to check it out before buying.

Vicky
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finchelover
13 years ago
Ours has never closed yet but one lady told me they are going to move the dept over to auto and auto to the fabric dept. It doesn't make since for we have a door that goes right outside from the auto area to where they work on the cars. They say this will happen in August.
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User
13 years ago
I'm between two Walmarts. Chambersburg, PA closed theirs and then re-opened it a few months later. Quality is mixed, some Cranston, and some stuff you can actually see through. Service can be very poor. Often it's staffed by the electronics department personnel next door. So if they're doing a cell phone contract you may never get anything cut.

The Hagerstown, MD store closed their fabric department and didn't re-open it. I was at Harrisburg, PA a couple of weeks ago. I don't know if it had been closed, but it is now open and much better stocked than Chambersburg.
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macbeaner
13 years ago
Amusing is seeing the fabric used in the charm squares in Walmart at Joann's....

Mine has the precuts, but I don't know if we'll get the full fabric department back or not.

I'm hoping we do.
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WalMart fabric departments

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Carol_from_ny

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