Where do you guys buy hardware.

[N80]

Not really relevant to this discussion, but my wife said the same thing about their selection of cloth.

Similar problem though. My wife sews. Quite talented in fact. All the fabric stores have closed up and gone away here. Nothing local. Have to drive 45 minutes to find a real fabric/sewing store. Why? Same as everything else I'd guess. Fewer people who do their own work, Walmart etc put the fabric stores out of business.

 

[Firemanbuck82]

Similar problem though. My wife sews. Quite talented in fact. All the fabric stores have closed up and gone away here. Nothing local. Have to drive 45 minutes to find a real fabric/sewing store. Why? Same as everything else I'd guess. Fewer people who do their own work, Walmart etc put the fabric stores out of business.

As much as I love to bash Walmart, I'm thinking the reason most of the fabric stores are gone is because MOST women (and men) no longer learn, nor use the art of sewing clothes. Without that market of sew-ers, the fabric stores have no one to sell to. It's not like Walmart has a better, more diverse and cheaper selection of fabric.

I learned to sew back in high school from my mother. There used to be a line of make-your-own outdoor gear called Frostline. Kits would come with the cutout fabric pieces. I remember making down booties, a down vest and a rain jacket. A friend of mine made a tent (ok the pointy parts of the tent were a mess of stitching, but it held) and a former girlfriend made me a pair of snow gaiters which I still have 40 years later (the gaiters, not the girlfriend).

 

[N80]

Agreed, but places like Walmart do carry some sewing stuff and so with declining demand and the competition of one stop shopping for cheap Chinese goods, it was likely another nail in the coffin.

 

[two_bit_score]

As much as I love to bash Walmart, I'm thinking the reason most of the fabric stores are gone is because MOST women (and men) no longer learn, nor use the art of sewing clothes. Without that market of sew-ers, the fabric stores have no one to sell to. It's not like Walmart has a better, more diverse and cheaper selection of fabric.

I learned to sew back in high school from my mother. There used to be a line of make-your-own outdoor gear called Frostline. Kits would come with the cutout fabric pieces. I remember making down booties, a down vest and a rain jacket. A friend of mine made a tent (ok the pointy parts of the tent were a mess of stitching, but it held) and a former girlfriend made me a pair of snow gaiters which I still have 40 years later (the gaiters, not the girlfriend).

Agreed, but places like Walmart do carry some sewing stuff and so with declining demand and the competition of one stop shopping for cheap Chinese goods, it was likely another nail in the coffin.

Every country from Albania to Zimbabwe it seems is stitching stuff together to sell in the US. Prices are less for a ready made garment than someone can buy materials and make clothes. And it's still impossible to get a good khaki work shirt.


TBS

 

[N80]

And it's still impossible to get a good khaki work shirt.


TBS

Or Khaki pants or jeans or..........

My wife did not make typical clothes. She mostly made children cloths. She made them then did something called smocking by hand. Had some kind of machine called a surger. (???) Anyway, people offered her hundreds to make these sorts of things but she did it for fun and gave them away. It takes her days to make a child's dress.

 

[Oaktree]

Traveling out west on several occasions, I always marveled at the different chains available for consumers. Only a couple years ago did we get a Costco store in the area in Ma. Krispy Kreme came and went much to my chagrin.

What may be a household name in some areas are simply "a what?" in much of the east. Tractor Supply seems pretty spread out. No such thing as a Menard's or McCoys here.

Try living in northern New England, by comparison you're living in a retail wonderland! Realistically, we have a 2 hour drive to get to anywhere with a decent selection of stores of any sort.
Same thing for restaurants...a couple years ago I remember seeing a ranking of the top/best burger places in the country. Of the list, there was only one (5 Guys) that I'd ever even heard of, and the nearest one to me is probably 90 miles away.
Even supermarkets...it's a long drive if you want to go anywhere other than a Shaws. Used to be a pretty good chain years ago, but they've slipped badly.

OTOH, we do have a Lowes, HD, Tractor Supply and HF all within a half hour drive so all is not lost.

 

[Big Barn]

I have a small pathetic Home Depot 10 minutes and an equally useless Princess Auto 45 minutes away.

No tractor dealers to speak of but 5 Tim Hortons and 7 Starbucks within a mile radius of the farm. Go figure.

Terry

 

[ultrarunner]

^^^Sounds like it will not be a Farm much longer... when the Starbucks start multiplying the end days are near...

 

[Big Barn]

^^^Sounds like it will not be a Farm much longer... when the Starbucks start multiplying the end days are near...

I'm surrounded by housing on two sides. The nearest new subdivision used to be a small dairy farm owned by friends of my parents. The seventeen 5000sq ft serviced **building LOTs ONLY** sold for around $700,000.00 EACH within a few months.

My farm land is in a flood plain and ecologically sensitive area. No buildings or human habitation allowed. Period. I'd be lucky to get $100,000.00 an acre on a good day.

Sorry for the rant. Back to fasteners.....

 

[dragoneggs]

I learned to sew back in high school from my mother. There used to be a line of make-your-own outdoor gear called Frostline. Kits would come with the cutout fabric pieces. I remember making down booties, a down vest and a rain jacket. A friend of mine made a tent (ok the pointy parts of the tent were a mess of stitching, but it held) and a former girlfriend made me a pair of snow gaiters which I still have 40 years later (the gaiters, not the girlfriend).

I have a small pathetic Home Depot 10 minutes and an equally useless Princess Auto 45 minutes away.

No tractor dealers to speak of but 5 Tim Hortons and 7 Starbucks within a mile radius of the farm. Go figure.

Terry

We live in a fast food, instant gratification society now that WE created. Time is money. Most like the convenience and thus the Big Box stores, online retailing, etc. The DIYer is becoming a rarer breed sadly but inevitably so. My son at 28 is just now realizing he should have paid more attention to dad's projects and tools. Now we are an hour apart and the luxuries of teaching and using tools are not at his doorstep.

And now he sees the value. I was always the repair man.