Mine will be closing the fabric dept sometime this summer but I at least have a Joann's and a Hobby Lobby within a couple of miles.....I feel your pain though - my Walmart has much longer hours than HL or Joann's.

Carolyn

Ours closed 2 years ago. I feel your pain. JoAnn's is 70 miles in 1 direction and Hancock's is 60 in the other direction.
Susan

I look at the fabric in Walmart. I can't remember the last time I purchased any there. The fabric at our stores puts the "ugg" in ugly.

*so far* our WM has kept fabric, tho not as large a selection as they had before the anti-sewing rampage. Our only other option is Hobby Lobby which is more expensive or a quilt shop (local) & one about 15 miles North. The next choices are Tulsa (more traffic than I want to fight and more than 15 mi!) or order by mail. My mother's experience with the latter rules that out. Sure hope our WM keeps fabric even tho it is limited selection & the dept. is horribly laid out.

ours is in the process of getting rid of their fabric

I was told by an employee that all Walmart stores are cutting their fabric departments as they are remodeled which I think is about every seven years. They will have notions (all those little pre-packaged ones only) so that they don't have to have personnel to work the area.

I think Sam Walton would be very upset to know what his family that he made wealthy is doing to his stores.

This situation has made me angry, because they had fabric long enough to put all of the other fabric shops out of business, then they cut it out of their stores. I am 45 minutes from the nearest fabric store except for a small quilt shop that doesn't handle anything I want.

Makes me glad we have a Hancock Fabrics as well as two good independent fabric stores in town!

I feel so lucky so far our wal marts have still got their fabric and craft sections... I have one near me at work and two near me where I live.. I am also lucky I have a Joanns and 2 Hancock fabrics near me.. one near my work and one near me at home.. and Hobby Lobbies near me at work.. I can remember when I use to make the rag rugs we had a outlet factory near where I worked and I could buy the end cuts..that would be the end of an entire roll of fabric.. it may only be 3 inches wide or it could be 1/2 yard wide but it would be about 30 to 40 yards long. so it was great for making rag rugs.. I still have tons of that fabric left and stored away..it is a wonder my son does not send me packing along with my fabrics and yarns and crafts.. God love sons who love their mothers and put up with all their stuff....LOL by the way I have learned that if you make a dog toy out of fleece it last longer then most other fabrics.. my dog can go thru a store bought toy in a day.. the ones I make he is still playing with.. just thought I would throw that in..
Huggy

an alternative to buying fabric is to buy online. the biggest one is fabric.com. then on yahoo, there are several fabric coops run by women out of their home. for a small fee, they cut everyone's fabric, then mail it out. the best or worst, haha, is a yahoo group called fabrics and notions. she sells high quality material. shes been doing it for a long time. she frequently sells linen and other nice clothing fabric. she will sometimes have velvet, silk, laces or satin.

I`m in Canada - and the same thing is happening here - the quilt shops here are too expensive to buy anything from - the average price for quilting cottons is $15.00 - $18.00 per yard....Walmart was less expensive...and they have very little left...I was lucky there after Christmas to get some Christmas coordinates - 4-5 yards each color at 75% Off....that was super....
I usually buy fabrics when I get a chance to drive 1 hour south across the border into Plattsburgh, NY - their WalMart has a huge fabric section still - and they have a great quilt shop, LOOSE THREADS in Plattsburgh - so I get to buy some pieces there...
On line, recently I`ve been buying from CONNECTING THREADS....haven`t received my first of 2 packages yet - this is a trial to see if I like their fabrics..is anyone familar with them.....
Cheers,
Bill

One of our walmarts has only one table of fabric left, now.

Joann's has the Giant Wall 'O Fleece and a bunch of junky stuff, fleece, Pez dispensers, fleece, lawn ornaments, and did I mention fleece? If history repeats itself, Joann's fabric buyers will give its customers more of what they want. (Just a shot in the dark, I'm guessing that many folks buy fleece)

So-Fro tried to hold on to the garment level of fabric, only to be ignored by the public, and go out of business.

I am sorry (Mystified, a little, too, as I only saw stiff, icky junk at our WM) that the source is gone. The last time I needed stiff, uncomfortable fabric to make petticoats out of, WM came to the rescue. But I'm not surprised. The fabric stores in our geographic area, both chains, (Beaconway, So-Fro) and the local stores, were resting in peace before WM turned over the first shovelful of earth in our state. WM did not put a single store out of business. People who chose to spend there rather than at their local merchants did.

As for Sam and descendants...well, WM came out with $4 prescriptions, and many stores followed suit. Now it's three months for $10. I have only major medical that I pay for myself. Three months worth of antidepressants for $10 is literally a lifesaver.

The WM employees who have shares of stock in their profit-sharing plans are looking to retire one day, too. The store needs to be profitable for their sake, as well.

Hundreds of emails isn't what saves a department, or a store. Buying the merchandise is what would have saved the department. I saw not one call to buy fabric from WM, just "send them emails." There is no point in stocking the department for people to look at stuff, but not buy it. Not only that, but many people are, or have already, taken their shopping over to Target, which does not have a fabric department.

I have had great luck shopping online. But it's not as much fun as looking at & feeling the fabric to imagine what one could make with it.

I buy less now, but I suspect that everybody is doing that, with a lot of things.

Our Walmart remodeled a year or so ago and they started out with a big fabric section and a big yarn section. Now the fabric has vanished, along with the choices of threads, just the cheap ones left. The yarn section has been downsized considerably too. If crafting is so popular where is everyone buying their fabric and yarn? I agree the specialty stores are much to expensive.

Our Walmart is now giving our fabric department a slow, horrible death. They have ONE machine on backorder and the current size is maybe 1/8th the size of the department just a few weeks ago.
Check out the fabric stores- the Christmas stuff is sometimes 75% off... Jo Ann Fabrics, IMO, is cheaper with better selections than our WM anyway... if you play your cards right, you can get some fabulous prints for $2.99 or a little more... sometimes less. I am making an Irish Chain Quilt, king size, and the top is only going to cost me, oh, less than $10. :-D (The back and borders are going to be pieced from my stash.)
And there are trades you can do on the internet, just nose around a bit. Best of luck.