Yesterday at lunch time I treated myself to a fabric store field trip. It'd been a while since I'd been there, so I was looking forward to seeing the spring/summer fabrics and checking out the sales. (I love buying fabric on sale, don't you?) The store near our office is a Fabricland "Decor Centre," which means that in addition to the fashion- and craft-oriented material, it's got a great selection of home decor fabrics and notions. But yesterday the store seemed even more jam-packed than usual – it was difficult just to turn around, let alone shop. But then I overheard a conversation at the cutting table. Turns out that all that fabric and all those sale signs ( so many sale signs!) had nothing to do with a springtime bonanza and everything to do with a closing-out sale. Harrumph! The company surely has its reasons (rumour has it the rent was set to quadruple), but still. This close-out means that there's only one Fabricland in Toronto – and it's kind of a pain to get to if, like me, you don't own a car. I *love* my local independent retailers, but I'm going to miss this Fabricland for all those urgent lunchtime sequin-tape-buying missions. (It happens more often than you might think!) Of course, the more I've thought about it, the more I've realized that living in Toronto, I've become spoiled. In lots of places in Canada, fabric and notions that are a 10-minute walk away would sound like a crazy pipe dream. Back when I lived in semi-rural Nova Scotia, it was an hour's drive to the closest fabric store – definitely not something I could do on a lunch hour. So I'm wondering: Where do you buy your fabric? Is there a chain store where you live? An independent retailer? Do you order online? What would you do if your local fabric store up and moved out?