I first heard of Marshall Dry Goods many years ago when my wife got her first torpedo of fabric that she called batting. I thought no more about it than she would me getting something from Rural King.
So time passes, I retire, we move to a sleepy little town south of Springfield, IL. We settle in, we make friends, we host a holiday party. In June she announces that she is going to make a pilgrimage (my words) to Batesville, AR.
We arrived the evening before the shopping event so she could make a quick run through. In my Army days we called that a leader's recon. So I got a chance to spend about 20 minutes looking around a giant warehouse full of fabric.
I can see why they are successful, I can see why they are a resource worth the trip. Of course my favorite part was the savings she expressed she earned by buying a SUV cargo bed of stuff and claimed to be under her self-imposed budget.
As a total aside, I had an even bigger place in my head before going inside. It is about the size of a typical Target (130K Sq.ft). It reminds me of taking my kids to see the Liberty Bell, it was much bigger in my head than it actually is.
There is plenty of parking, a good assortment of reasonable hotels, and some decent food options. She had originally anticipated needing the whole day. Actually, she came back to our hotel by 1330. read more