I would love to be able to buy directly from suppliers instead of being forced to shop at Walmart or Target (or Amazon).

You can. Nearly all of the “off brand” China produced stuff that’s sold at Walmart / Target / Amazon can be purchased online from Ebay, Aliexpress, Temu, etc. The “Name Brand” stuff can often be purchased at the manufacturers website for nearly the same cost as buying it from Amazon or Walmart.