Jo-Anns / Wal-Mart: Any Good?

Question:

I’m still on a quest for decent x-stitch stores in Massachusetts. I was in Burlington today, and saw a Jo-Anns Fabric store. I didn’t have time to stop, and don’t want to drive 20 miles unless there’s potential. So: who has the dirt on Jo-Ann’s? Lemme know. Also: rumor has it that Wal-Mart’s on the way to Waltham, Mass. That’s only a hop, skip, and a jump from my apartment in Watertown. How’s their x-stitch department? -Lucy (Soon to form a chapter of Shoppers Anonymous…) — | L u c y A n d e r s o n |

Response:

: I’m still on a quest for decent x-stitch stores in Massachusetts. I was : in Burlington today, and saw a Jo-Anns Fabric store. I didn’t have time : to stop, and don’t want to drive 20 miles unless there’s potential. So: : who has the dirt on Jo-Ann’s? Lemme know. good floss supply when they are on sale; not much else. have a few patterns, a few kits, the usual aida, cna charles craft packaged fabrics. also have bobbins, needles, etc. i would say it is only worth the drive if they ahve a good sale running and you need something (lsat fri. i drove 20 minutes to them to get floss at .16 each.) : Also: rumor has it that Wal-Mart’s on the way to Waltham, Mass. That’s : only a hop, skip, and a jump from my apartment in Watertown. How’s their : x-stitch department? again, same thing as joann’s…good floss supply, but at least where i live, tehy are at .29/sekin and never on sale. (amherst, ma). they have more patterns, but less-no, make that no kits. good prices on charles craft aida and linen if you need it and like that brand, in the tubes. prices, etc, vary from area to area, but i think they woudld not vary too much between boston and springfield/holyoke. happy shopping! : -Lucy (Soon to form a chapter of Shoppers Anonymous…) i’ll join! : — : | L u c y A n d e r s o n | — Jodi L. Wittlin Dept. of Physics and Astronomy UMass, Amherst The opinions expressed in this post are not necessarily those of UMass or the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

Response:

Well, it’s not quite my local, but it’s my beloved (and local to what will always be home, even when I’m not living there). I spent over $150 there this weekend! Eep! And got lots of cool loots — a bag of the 30 new DMC colors, some more Piecemakers needles (_love_ them — anyone else?), some beading needles and thread, and 6 pattern books (the newer version of the Beatrix Potter Peter Rabbit illustrations [with the text added underneath], and 5, _5_, five! Barbara & Cheryl’s [local Charleston patterns -- GORGEOUS!]). Oh, yeah, and an Elan lap frame. *grin* Whee!

Doy! And two sizes of Q-snaps! Piglet, checking the bag again to make sure she didn’t overlook anything

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Support your local needlework shop.

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– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text -Being open late one night a week is a great idea. My favorite store (yeah, Louise’s Needlework again) is open ’til 8:30 on Tuesday nights. Sometimes they have classes, but most times it’s just open stitching. There are 3 tables in different rooms, and we all bring our current projects. I usually end up doing more looking than stitching, at other people’s work and at new items in the shop. It’s great to have a roomful of experts waiting when you have a problem project. and since I’m the only one who reads r.c.t.n, I always have interesting tidbits to share! (Like railroading, which our expert/judge says isn’t worth the time it takes, IHHO.) Lisa %%%%% We don’t care. We have each other, on the Internet. -Dave Barry %%%%% Software Quality Assessments 614-442-9850 2229B Hedgerow Road Scientific Writing/Editing 614-451-5860 fax Columbus, OH 43220

My local shop use to be open until 8pm on Thursdays. I went whizing down there last week to turn in my wish list on Thur. night and they were closed! Went back on Friday (during the day) and it turned out they monitored the amount of customers and found out hardly anyone showed up on Thur. nights. So now they aren’t open any nights although one of the owners once to be open at leaast one Thur. night a month. And strangely enough, once I got there and talked to them, my wish list grew a little longer and included a stand!! Can’t wait until it gets here, hopefully next week. Darcy

Response:

My local shop use to be open until 8pm on Thursdays. I went whizing down there last week to turn in my wish list on Thur. night and they were closed! Darcy

I feel blessed that my local shop is open late on Thursday night (til 9) because although I don’t work outside the home I like to go on Thursday night and stitch with a wonderful group of ladies. The shopowner lets us sit at the long table where classes are offered and stitch from 7-9pm. This is good business for her because we all buy from her (execpt floss, I confess-she just can’t even come close to Wal-mart) and show each other things and encourage each other to try new things. So she not only gets the working crowd business by being open late, she gets to laugh and have a good time with the group-her most devoted customers! Keep on stitching, Carol

Response:

– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – There are a number of good cross stitch stores in Massachusetts, please try to support them instead of supporting the Big Guys. Thanks to their cut-throat pricing they are putting the small, well versed shops out of business…… Peace, Jennifer W. Owen "Don’t squirt silly string into the wind" I support the well versed shops whenever I can, but often the "when" is as important as the price. The smaller shops often force their customers to look for alternatives (my alternative is catalogs) because of their hours. My local shop has the same business hours as my regular work schedule. Unless I take off early from work, or take a long lunch hour, I have to wait from Saturday to Saturday to get the supplies I need. I realize it wouldn’t pay them to stay open at nite – just in case – I happen to need some floss, but I don’t see my buying the floss elsewhere as anything else than making the best use of my time. Phyllis Maurer

Perhaps you should mention this to the shop owner. If the owner heard from enough (maybe one’s enough?) people that she is losing business and because store hours are not convenient with her buyers, she might make some changes. Perhaps the schedule could be rearranged so that one night a week the shop were open later–compensating by opening late on that same day (ex: noon to 9, instead of 9 to 5). Martha Beth

Response:

Being open late one night a week is a great idea. My favorite store (yeah, Louise’s Needlework again) is open ’til 8:30 on Tuesday nights. Sometimes they have classes, but most times it’s just open stitching. There are 3 tables in different rooms, and we all bring our current projects. I usually end up doing more looking than stitching, at other people’s work and at new items in the shop. It’s great to have a roomful of experts waiting when you have a problem project. and since I’m the only one who reads r.c.t.n, I always have interesting tidbits to share! (Like railroading, which our expert/judge says isn’t worth the time it takes, IHHO.) Lisa %%%%% We don’t care. We have each other, on the Internet. -Dave Barry %%%%% Software Quality Assessments 614-442-9850 2229B Hedgerow Road Scientific Writing/Editing 614-451-5860 fax Columbus, OH 43220

Response:

There are a number of good cross stitch stores in Massachusetts, please try to support them instead of supporting the Big Guys. Thanks to their cut-throat pricing they are putting the small, well versed shops out of business…… Peace, Jennifer W. Owen "Don’t squirt silly string into the wind"

I completely agree with Jennifer’s statement to support your local needlework shop, and goodness knows, I try to single-handedly keep my local shop in business, because I would be just devastated if they were to close. This does not mean that I won’t go to JoAnn’s or Wal-Mart’s for a really good sale on DMC floss, but for almost everything I purchase, The Stitching Post gets my total devotion and lots of $$$. If you don’t have a good shop near by, then you may not know what valuable services you are missing that *cannot* be found at the big chains, such as personal knowledge/experience of fabrics or fibers, classes for specialty techniques, "trunk shows" that exhibit a designer, and the friendships with the owner and salespeople. Support your local needlework shop. _____/ / ) _) …and everywhere the lamb went, __)_/ Mary was sure to go. / /

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Perhaps the schedule could be rearranged so that one night a week the shop were open later–compensating by opening late on that same day (ex: noon to 9, instead of 9 to 5).

Another good idea is to hold a stitcher’s night once a week and have the shop open late that night. Usually a girl who works at the shop can work (and stitch!) one night a week, saving the shop owner from being there. I’ve seen a couple of shops that do this. We got a 10% discount on supplies bought on stitch night, too. She made a *lot* of money off of us on Thursday nights! –Di

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: Perhaps you should mention this to the shop owner. If the owner heard : from enough (maybe one’s enough?) people that she is losing business and : because store hours are not convenient with her buyers, she might make : some changes. And I keep telling myself that I’m *sooo* lucky. I talked with my local shop owner, who also happened to be a new owner (last July to be exact). She not only keeps longer hours, but she has extended into two evenings a week. On Tuesday and Thursday nights, she is open until 9:00 p.m. Since she has to be open, in order to keep it worth her while, she also runs her classes then. So people are in there doing tole painting, knitting, tatting, crocheting, or xs’s, depending on the class. Since people taking classes often seem to have the urge to *spend*, she wins that way as well. Possibly something that people could pass along to their local shops? Patty — Patty Andersen My opinions are my own Head/Information Services why would the State of Devereaux Library, SDSM&T South Dakota want them?

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I support the well versed shops whenever I can, but often the "when" is as important as the price. The smaller shops often force their customers to look for alternatives (my alternative is catalogs) because of their hours. My local shop has the same business hours as my regular work schedule. Unless I take off early from work, or take a long lunch hour, I have to wait from Saturday to Saturday to get the supplies I need. I realize it wouldn’t pay them to stay open at nite – just in case – I happen to need some floss, but I don’t see my buying the floss elsewhere as anything else than making the best use of my time. Phyllis Maurer

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Brava, Jennifer! The small, well-versed shop is where a stitcher gets her guidance and information and help in addition to her DMC. Jo-ann’s and Wal-Mart have their place. They have DMC and Leisure Arts charts and Charles Craft in tubes. But, they can’t give you that wonderful "direction" and experience and that "well, this is how I did it when that same thing happened to me!" When I ask if they have Piecemakers, or overdyes, their eyes glaze over, so to speak. Small shop owners are fighting for survival, most of them, and I’m doing my bit (well, actually, it’s more than a "bit" <G) to ensure that they do. In stitches, Kay

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The small, well-versed shop is where a stitcher gets her

(…and as we’ve seen in this news group, his also) guidance and information and help in addition to…DMC. Small shop owners are fighting for survival, most of them, and I’m doing my bit. In stitches, Kay

Here, Here. I think we learned from Katrina’s survey that that’s the way most of us feel. Those bigs stores are fin when they have sales on DMC…but there’s no substitute for the knowledge and inventory in a locally owned craft store, not to mention the friendly atmosphere. We all have to do our part to keep these "friends" in business. Mary W. Cohn Raleigh, NC

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Hi Lucy! Hoops & Needles in Walpole MA – about 30-45 minutes from Watertown depending on how fast you drive – is a small but complete cross-stitch shop! They also frame and will do special orders for you! It might be worth the drive if you wanted strictly X-stitch… Good luck! Patty

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Personal opinions on JoAnn and WalMart Neither one replaces the small specialty store insofar as variety of patterns and cloth are concerned. I’ve been to Joann stores with more patterns than the one in the town where I currently live (Charlottesville, VA), so you might get lucky. JoAnn is pretty good on cloth and has GREAT sales on floss (one just ended, I have the new colors to prove it)_ Walmart is also good for floss especially on sale. I’ve also had a lot of luck with their closeout table — they have some amazing bargains if you happen to have the right interests (I just got a Jewish holiday decoration kit for $3 — my guess is that the relatively restricted number of Jewish crafters in Ch’ville does not lurk at the WalMart). Hope this helps. Elsa

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Personally, I like both places, although in my area, the Jo-Anns carries much more cross stitch stock than Walmart. Walmart here can be a trifle lower on prices, but Jo-Anns sales here are about as good as things get and that is significantly lower priced than Michaels. I just posted the JoAnns sale flyer. Check it out and happy shopping!! Barbara

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Lucy, there is a small but great shop on mass ave in Arlington (close to the cambridge line) called cross stitch unlimited. I’m still on a quest for decent x-stitch stores in Massachusetts. I was in Burlington today, and saw a Jo-Anns Fabric store. I didn’t have time to stop, and don’t want to drive 20 miles unless there’s potential. So: who has the dirt on Jo-Ann’s? Lemme know.

These opinions are mine alone and do not reflect my employeer in any way.

Response:

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