Pictured above, Beehive Craft Studio in Austin showcases a carefully curated selection of fabrics and sewing supplies. Shops like Parker Avenue Knits in Detroit and Swanson’s Fabrics in Turners Falls offer unique alternatives for crafters seeking community, sustainability, and locally sourced materials.

The closure of all Joann stores is a huge loss for the American craft community. Thousands of employees will lose their jobs. Many Joann shoppers will lose a trusted local resource they’ve relied on for years if not decades, especially as the chain’s expansive growth often led to competitors out of business.

It’s clear that after the stores close, many areas will no longer have a craft store nearby (if you’re looking for a local fabric store, this map created by the /sewing subreddit may help) and for those that do have options, not everyone will have a local store that aligns with their values. If you’re in either camp, there are other alternatives: estate sales, craft swaps, thrift stores, shopping online, revisiting your own stash.

Shoppers spent billions of dollars a year at Joann. Where will those shoppers (and dollars) go now?

All around the country, there are thousands of local brick-and-mortar craft stores, many of which offer opportunities to create community too. Shopping local also means the money spent stays local. Will they offer all those coupons like Joann? Probably not. Will the stores be as large? Sometimes. Will their prices and inventory be different? Almost certainly yes. It’s a definite change for many. And it’s also an opportunity.

With that in mind, I spoke to three shop owners about how they’re viewing the closures and preparing for possible new customers. While they each expressed sadness about the news, they also had ideas for fellow craft store owners and tips for shoppers. 

Beehive Craft Studio in Austin offers a thoughtfully curated selection of fabrics and sewing supplies, continuously evolving to meet the needs of its creative community.

Pivoting and Googling with Beehive Craft Studio

Kim Place, the owner of Beehive Craft Studio (and upcoming owner of Over the Top Quilting Studio) in Austin, Texas, started her business as a small shop that taught kids’ sewing classes and held “just enough” inventory to support those students. When the pandemic hit and she could no longer hold in-person classes, Kim put her inventory online, a move whose organic success grew her fabric stock. When the shop opened back up to customers, Kim didn’t have room to teach and sell fabric at the same time, so she expanded into the space next door when it opened up.

Throughout these pivots, she notes that the shop is “always making changes as we get to know our customers and figuring out what they prefer [and] what they need.”

Her advice for store owners thinking about their own pivots is to begin with adding items that you find yourself frequently telling customers to buy at Joann. You can then test out those items to see how they do. Kim says Beehive has “a lot of customers that don’t want to buy from Joann or buy something on Amazon, so I’m always like writing down the things that they’re asking me for, so I make sure the next time they come in I have those items.”

For any crafters worried about not having a Joann nearby, she adds a reminder to double-check online to see if there are local options you might not know about. Kim says that even after having her shop for three years, she still hears from customers “I never knew you were here.” How did those new customers find the shop? “They had just happened to Google “fabric store” that day, and they found a new store.“ To that end, she notes how important it is for local shop owners to ensure their businesses are added to sites like Google and Yelp so that new customers searching for nearby shops can easily find them. (It’s worthwhile to take a few moments to optimize your Google Business Profile.)

Parker Avenue Knits in Detroit is a welcoming local yarn shop dedicated to inclusivity, community, and offering a diverse range of yarns for all knitters.

Leaning Into Marketing and Welcoming New Customers with Parker Avenue Knits

I also spoke with Sally Moore, the owner of Detroit, Michigan’s first black-woman-owned local yarn shop, Parker Avenue Knits, and a Craft Industry Alliance member. Sally says she opened Parker Avenue Knits “as a local yarn shop dedicated to positively impacting socioeconomic and racial diversity.” The goal was to build community, a goal she says has been met to tremendous success. The shop also exists as a third place for knitters, a community space apart from home or work.

To welcome interested Joann’s customers, Sally plans to focus on marketing. She’s also expanding the hours where she holds a free sit and stitch. Her advice for other shop owners is to recognize having new customers in their shops, “there is value there, and letting people know that they are of value, whether they’re a $200 customer or a $20 customer, it goes a long way.” To ensure the shop meets the needs of a range of knitters, Sally keeps Parker Avenue Knits stocked with yarns of varying origin, fiber and price point.

Sally also sees an opportunity in the situation.

“We have to continue to grow the craft, and it’s on such an amazing trajectory right now that there’s no downside to bringing more people into the fold. So I would say to myself and to other shop owners, reach out. It doesn’t have to be fancy, it doesn’t have to be big.”

At the end of our conversation, Sally also offered gratitude toward Joann, “I say thank you to them for marketing and being out there in a way that [with] our little dollars reaching people that we never could. But now we owe a debt of gratitude, and we have a responsibility to pick up that mantle and figure out a way to carry it forward.”

Creating Connections with Crafty Donations at Swanson’s Fabrics

I also spoke with Kathryn Swanson, the owner of the creative reuse store Swanson’s Fabrics in Turners Falls, Massachusetts. Kathryn calls the shop “a thrift store of the fiber arts that caters to the home sewer.” Swanson’s sells fabric, yarn, and other craft items that have been donated by people who no longer need them.

They’re flat-priced fabric sells for $6/yard. Kathryn notes that creative reuse buyers are “more often going to be surprised by how nice it is what you got because it’s old and it was made better than something new.” She adds that many of their fabrics were the yards “that were so nice that [sewists] could never cut into them.”

The shop has been able to expand, which Kathryn attributes to “really listening to customers, following community, and saying yes whenever we can, and just trying to do one thing at a time so that it can all build sustainably.” Like Sally, Kathryn mentions the importance of creating a third space for customers.

For apparel sewists looking for new places to source fabrics, Kathryn recommends checking out Radha Weaver’s Thrift Your Fabric map as well as Facebook Marketplace, Craigslist and people selling their own fabric stashes.

“I really do believe that while we’re all having a collective sort of gasping moment of being afraid that we’re not going to be able to get the things we need. I am just here to tell you from the trash-rich trash heap, that there is enough to go around, and if you just go looking, you’re actually going to find it. You’re going to make connections with other people who are into the same kind of thing you’re into, and it’s gonna cost less. So, go for it.”

So, yes, changes are on the way. However, for shop owners, there are many more local customers out there looking for new places to shop! And, for the crafters, there are places ready to welcome you in, show off what they have to offer, and provide a space to shop, connect and create.