Crafter's glee @ Big Box supplies

[RMDC]

That's a bummer. But then again, Michaels is very different these days from what I remember as a kid. I have a feeling they're in a "change or die" moment. :/

[double j]

I checked my local WalMart today and they have cross stitch supplies again. Now I can buy things at a cheaper price!!!

[Ally]

I notice some of you are pretty anti Wal Mart. Why is that?

[RMDC]

• They engage in active efforts to shut down smaller competitors.
• They pay their employees in company-owned "debit" cards, not checks, if the employees can't do direct deposit. Walmart adds a fee to every transaction which uses those cards.
• They're notorious for sex discrimination in their hiring and promotion practices.
• They attack local statutes and state legislation in order to remove environmental restrictions, reduce labor protections, and obfuscate corporate transparency.
• ALL the sweatshops.
• They're union busters. And not just Walmart unions - they attack labor organization in general through lobbying and campaign donations.
• They regularly deny paid breaks and overtime pay to their workers, in violation of the law.
• Walmart has special contracts so that they can sell lower-cost versions of national products. This usually means they actually sell a similar but different product which uses cheaper material and may have been made with sweatshop or forced labor. A blender at Walmart is not the same as a blender at Target. (Makes you wonder about their DMC...)
• They shave money off returns using gift receipts. After all, the person with the receipt doesn't necessarily know how much the item is supposed to be.

Add to that: the lighting in Walmart makes my head swim; the stores are obnoxiously packed with people; their organization makes little logical sense; their enormous carts are too ungainly to manage; I greatly dislike their design schema.

[Yurtle]

Ditto everything RMDC said, especially the first point about trying to shut down smaller businesses! I try to support small, local businesses as much as I possibly can but seeing as how I'm not made of money and places like Walmart forces smaller companies to up their prices because they steal customers, they make it difficult for me to continue to do that and then the businesses get in even more trouble! It's a vicious circle with one initiator.

But I wholeheartedly agree with the rest as well!!

[amneufeld]

Disappointed, yet somehow not surprised? The Michaels' around Vancouver have been consistently crap with cross stitch supplies; I stopped buying there as soon as I found a great small shop in Madison WI a year ago+

[Ally]

That sucks! We have 2 supermarket chains constantly one-upping each other meaning all their staff get paid less and drives smaller locally owned stores out of business, but its probably not quite on Wal-Mart's level.

[kuja.girl]

Disappointed, yet somehow not surprised? The Michaels' around Vancouver have been consistently crap with cross stitch supplies; I stopped buying there as soon as I found a great small shop in Madison WI a year ago+

The one near me is also crap - they haven't restocked their DMC in months so I've stopped going there and just go to Joann's (which had also stopped restocking but it was because they were moving, and now that they've moved they have EVERYTHING!). I would not be surprised if Michaels' discontinues DMC altogether.

As for Walmart - I don't like them but since there are THREE of them within about 10 miles of each other in this part of Illinois they are hard to avoid. I don't like their corporate politics or polices (Hobby Lobby too actually) but as I am a poor graduate student they are still the best place to go for some things And having them stock DMC is a good thing even though you may not ever shop at a Walmart as it will keep DMC in business and should, lower prices at all vendors.

[Philpepe]

Checked our Walmart yesterday and after searching quite extensively I managed to find one pack of counted cross stitch needles...

Looks like Hobboy Lobby is still my go to for now.

[BooChocoBoom]

I had been wondering if anyone would post about this. I depise Walmart as a rule (mostly for the reasons posted above) but also shop there (again for the reasons others have posted above) for staple items and ran across a brand spanking new cross stitch section. I gotta tell ya, I am pretty sure if anyone had walked by at that point, they would have laughed at the crazy lady dancing.....or I'd show up on people at Walmart.com. LOL I AM happy to get some different things from there (coasters, pot holders, and towels) at a lower price than, say Joanne (whom I do frequent when I have their 40% coupons).