Walmarts are getting their fabric sections back!

[snarlingcoyote]

The Walmart in my town was one of the first built without a fabric section - always just a pitifully small wall of jemjaws and doodads. But we're getting a fabric section! The Walmart in my hometown phased out its fabric section as did every other Walmart I know of, a few years ago. But now they're all putting the fabric sections back in!

I know in some places this may run some small non-specialty fabric stores out of business, but in some small towns, no one has filled the gap (my mom has had to drive 45 minutes for fabric!) so we're in total W00T! mode. (And I don't even sew, not really. But I do put my own buttons on things and know how to hem and sew up pillows and such.)

 

[Antonia]

They must know that we are all going to have to start sewing our own clothes! My family's going to look terrible.

 

[Bungle]

Our walmart is closing theirs. Picked up a lot of good clearance deals the other day.

 

[BellePrincessBelle]

I wish mine would come back! They had the best selection around in my price range. I couldn't afford to shop the small stores with the $15/yd fabric.

 

[Jennasis]

Ours has always had a fabric section.

 

[Disneefun]

Ours went away when they remodeled the store. But then the PTA, teachers, parents and other people in town got together and made a huge stink about it. There is no other place here to get fabric or sewing supplies. You have to drive about an hour.

They argued that since this stuff was needed for the schools (for plays, for home ec projects, for other projects, etc.) and that a lot of people here (fairly rural area) make their own clothes, that Walmart should bring it back. They won and the fabric section came back. I thought that was pretty cool of them to fight for it and to win.

 

[Andtototoo]

Ours never went away. Store has been remodeled and the fabric selection is still there.

We have two quilt shops in town (used to have three). But of course, quilting fabric is much higher quality and much higher priced than Walmart fabric and the selection is different. If you need fleece for your sewing class project, the quilt shop isn't going to serve your needs.

I do think it's helpful for people who have trouble getting outside of town. Although the mall with a JoAnn's is 8 minutes away, I know plenty of older folks who don't like driving out of town and teens whose parents won't drive them anywhere (there is no public transportation), so for those people, Walmart fabric is their only option.

 

[Coconut36]

Mine had a decent size one (it was a Super Walmart if it matters) then it disappeared for a long time and I just noticed a couple weeks ago it was back although smaller than it was originally.

Honestly I live in a huge city and I can think of one store (JoAnns) that has fabrics. For those that sew I have no idea how they find any fabrics at all! We used to have sewing shops and other fabric specialty stores but they shut down years and years ago.

 

[spacemountainmom]

My nearest Wal-Mart was remodeled recently to become a Super Wal-Mart. The fabric section was dropped during the remodel. I wish they'd bring it back.

 

[HunnyPots]

Ours went away a few years ago but one in a nearby town has brought theirs back. It's smaller than it was previiously and they don't get new fabrics very often, but it's better than nothing. Otherwise, I have to drive 45 minutes to the nearest Joann's and pay a lot more for their fabric. I do love Joann's though, and I'll shop there for a sale or if I have a coupon.

 

[Avalon_toon]

That's great news! There is only one fabric store in my town, so if they don't have what I'm looking for, there has been no where else to look since Walmart took out their fabric section a couple of years ago. I really, really hope we get it back here too!

 

[PrincessShmoo]

Ours has always had a fabric section.

Where I live, I'm able to use 3 different WalMarts. They all have fabric, always have.

 

[EmJay2001]

My nearest Wal-Mart was remodeled recently to become a Super Wal-Mart. The fabric section was dropped during the remodel. I wish they'd bring it back.

Same here, we lost our years ago. I was so sad, I made the best Snow White Costume for cheap from ours .

Yay for you!

 

[pixiewings71]

I will have to check into this.....ours went away and I have to drive half an hour to the closest fabric store.....

 

[NotUrsula]

My local store rather embarassingly finished clearancing theirs out in the middle of a remodel; one week before the company announced that they were planning to restore the fabric depts. in most stores.

So, two weeks after the final clearance they had to restock the whole thing.

I seldom buy fabric at WallyWorld unless it's just cotton for sundresses for DD, but I prefer to buy ordinary notions there, because they are much less expensive than at the fabric stores. I don't quilt, and most of what I make these days is either costumes or homegoods, and they don't have much of a selection of that type of fabric.

 

[DisneyLoverUSA]

Our Walmart brought back a small fabric section and although the fabric is $6, 7-$8 a yard (cheaper than most fabric stores) it is thin, crappy fabric. You get what you pay for when it comes to fabric.

I do sew and I do buy fabric but not from Walmart.

 

[charming23]

Ours went away a few years ago. We are lucky though and have a JoAnn Fabrics just a few blocks away from the Walmart. I do hope that they will come back to our walmart. They always had great prices and a great selection. We will see when they finish remodeling (they are turning ours into a superwalmart)

 

[CurlyJo224]

They should be putting them back in most of the stores. The company made a big mistake forgetting that crafters tend to run in groups. Locally, we knew of quilt guilds and other groups that were calling the home office every day.

We were fortunate. My store never lost our fabric. And it looks like things are going to get interesting soon with the renewed enthusiasm for the fabric departments.

Plus, we just got in a whole bunch of new Disney prints earlier this week. I was SO excited!