Most new Walmarts replacing fabric with "Celebrations"

[mom2fussbudgets]

That's wonderful! My mom used to be a realtor, and she always had trouble telling clients no. Therefore, she was working all during the day and night. How do you set limits with your clients?

I love to look at houses, so I wouldn't mind being a realtor at all.

[GeorgiaMom]

I don't give people the chance to make me work when I don't want to. I more or less just tell them when I'm available and they can pick one of those times. A lot of times too, I bring my kids (3 and 5) with me which most people seem to like. I always make sure the client is ok with it though. If they have kids, it keeps them all occupied and keeps them from getting bored. If they don't have kids, it seems to kind of take the pressure off so they don't feel like I'm pushing them into buying something they are unsure of. Either way, this is a career where my kids come first...I wouldn't trade that for anything.

[mom2fussbudgets]

That's wonderful! Thanks for telling me about it.

[notyard]

Originally Posted by GeorgiaMom

Let me start off by saying I am NOT defending Wal-Mart...I worked for Wal-Mart for years....Concerning the merchandise Wal-Mart chooses to carry in their stores..it's a basic business principle to carry items that are going to bring more profit and do away with the items that aren't selling so well. Unfortunately for those of us who enjoy sewing, the fabric department at a lot of Wal-Marts is wasted space for the store. It's been almost 4 years since I left Wal-Mart to begin working for myself(no boss..yay!!). The issue of the fabric departments was being studied back then so it's not a decision they made overnight.

Yes, it's all about "enhancing shareholder value," as we could chant in our workplace by heart, too. So did they take into account that the fabric and yarn department was the only unique thing that differentiated them from Kmart, Target, and many others? I now have to make a 100 mile round trip to the big city to buy fabric and yarn, as they killed off both our local fabric stores years ago (I shopped the local stores right through their going out of business sales--there was no more I could do for them at that point). I'm not wasting gas on a 22 mile round trip to the county seat to Walmart, because anything they carry there now I can pick up at my local IGA, Ace, drugstore or other local stores within four miles of home or on the big monthly trip to the big city. I'm not going to the county seat Walmart Supercenter at all now, due to the lack of unique goods (otherwise known as no reason to go there instead of someplace else!), so the store's sales are reflecting not only the loss of my fabric, craft, and yarn purchases, but also my incidental purchases every time I went in there--milk, bread, fruit, ice cream, plants, power strip, and so forth. You know, the old, "as long as you're going to town, could you pick up..." purchase list from parents, friends, and family...now, it's turning into the, "hey could you see if Hobby Lobby carries...tooling foil, rose pink satin fabric to coordinate with this ribbon, foam ornaments for pinning, " or some other crafting requests

[GeorgiaMom]

Even though you are probably not the only consumer to stop frequenting Wal-Mart, they still don't lose anything by getting rid of a department that was only shopped by a very small percentage of their consumers. The new departments that replace the fabric departments or the expansion of other departments already there make up more than the amount of money they lose when a few people stop shopping their entire establishment. They actually make more money because they bring in products that the majority of their consumers are more likey to buy than just a select few who like to sew. The fabric department in most Wal-Marts became a big loss for them. Most fabric is seasonal..meaning all four seasons bring in new product. New product means previous season's product has to be marked down just to get rid of it (they can't hold on to it until the next year). Since there is such a small percentage of people who shop the fabric department, the department was constantly losing money. Why would any corporation continue to carry a product that was costing them more to sell than it was making?

[mom2fussbudgets]

It's all about Economics, unfortunately! But, Walmart is a business, after all. Bottom line is, they are there to make money.

[Cpogie]

Jude, here you go....thanks for the request. Always nice to hear of a turn around at a store.

[notyard]

After Walmart made good on their plans five years ago to eliminate the yarn and most of the fabric, notions, and everything else along those lines, I shopped at Walmart only once or twice a year at most. It wasn't worth the drive to go there any more once they eliminated the sewing and crafts, because the other items I bought on those trips could be purchased for the same or less at local stores that are much closer to me.

For the first time in over thirteen months, I happened to stop at the Super Walmart in the city closest to us. They have remodeled once again, and low and behold, they have put back in five two-sided aisles and an end aisle of fabric, sewing machines, quilting goods, crochet/knitting yarns & supplies, embroidery/cross stitch floss and supplies, notions, and more! Whether it was an increase in home sewing and crafting supply sales due to the economy, or they saw more of their incidental business than they expected leave after eliminating the sewing and crafting departments, or a decrease in party goods sales due to the economy, I don't know, but something changed their mind big time.

The selection was very good and the prices were excellent, just like it used to be. What a nice, unexpected turnaround! They were immediately rewarded in my case, as I picked up yarn and embroidery transfers that very trip.