Hello everyone! I'm definitely NOT a fan of Wal-Mart, although I can appreciate the reasons why people shop there. Wal-Mart has extremely low prices, but I am absolutely NOT convinvced their products are of good quality. One of the few things I bought was a garden-hose-spray-nozzle for .99 which broke within a few days. At a yard sale, I got 2 used garden-hose-spray-nozzles for $1 each, which have held up faithfully. 4 years ago, My mom bought a kids' mountain bike for her grandson. What a piece of crap that was. Crappy enough to make a kid not want to ride a bike. Yes, it was very inexpensive, but who cares, if its just junk? I bought my mountain bike on local-ebay, 2nd hand, for a lot less than what it'd cost new. Walmart clothes: decent, but Target is far better. I'm lucky to live in a metropolitan area, where thrift stores are chock-full of good clothes. Nobody does a better job of being thrifty than me: I'm enthusiastic about buying things 2nd hand, at thrift stores, auctions, on craigslist.org, in the local paper, etc. I get a lot of great things, used. Where I live, anything I need can be found for a good price at smaller stores (...every store is smaller than Walmart). And if paying a little more means supporting a smaller and/or local store, I will do so. Smaller stores sometimes have great sales! I believe in supporting small/smaller businesses, because I believe they are healthy for our economy, from which everyone benefits. I wrote a letter to the mayor of Oregon City, thanking her for saying "no" to a Walmart store being built here. (She wrote me back!) Another point: Don't buy anything just because it's dirt cheap. Garbage service costs, and the landfills have enough junk already. How much useless crap could a household possibly need?

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

Way back when I was first learning to cook, thereby having to buy groceries, I made most of my choices of canned or packaged goods by the label. If it was attractive, I reasoned the product would be good; if it was blah, then the product would probably be blah also. I think GV labels are Blah, so I have by passed them. I do shop WM for other things though. MeowMix and Fresh Step are cheaper. I like Carnation Instant Breakfast in the cans, not the packets. Kroger, my fave store, doesn't carry the cans, so I get it at WM. I buy jeans, socks, etc. at WM. This past week I bought a portable mixer there. My other choice for that was KMart and they didn't have any. Anyway, I find the clerks at WMart very helpful, and they usually not only tell you where a certain item is if you ask, but will take you there. I was looking for two items, a weekly pill box and an eye cup. Couldn't find either so a clerk looked and didn't find them, so he went to the Pharmacist and told him what we were looking for and the Pharmacist said they didn't carry them, but to go to either CVS or Riteaid and they should have them. I thought that was really helpful, so I called and Riteaid has the pill box and CVS has the eye cup. I will be in town tomorrow and get them. So there are good points in all stores, as well as bad. For instance, I do not buy meat or produce at WMart. I have gotten good cakes and salads from the Deli though. Sue

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.