I try to avoid Walmart for all the good reasons -- the way it treats its employees, the way it squeezes its suppliers, and the way it has changed the landscapes of our towns and villages and helped to create the suburban mall sprawl. It is also a very depressing place to shop -- aisles piled with cheap goods from China and customers who are living on the downside of the American dream.But today I had to buy a lot of patterns, fabric and notions to costume a huge show. Do you have any idea how much patterns sell for these days? They are in the range of $15 - $20 per pattern. Walmart sells them for half price. They can be found for similar rates online, but then you add in shipping and handling and the cost goes back up.
For the sake of my low budget theatre productions, I have continued to enter Walmart to buy patterns and to look over their dollar a yard fabric table as well. Today I found long lines of shoppers in the fabric store snapping up fabric by the bolt -- everything was 25% off. The clerks told us that Walmart is going through a big change which includes eliminating the sewing department. Except for four stores, the closest of which will be in Canton -- ack! I don't want to drive to Canton for patterns and fabric, but if I go to JoAnne's I'll be stuck paying the high prices. So I invested in a lot of patterns today! Some will be used on this show and some in future shows, I'm sure.
By the way, you can get vintage patterns like the one pictured above online. A pattern originally sold for 35 cents is now going for $22. Check your attics -- vintage patterns are apparently as collectable and expensive as comic books!
