
Editor’s Note: We have replaced the AI-generated image that was used to illustrate this story with this photo taken by Abby Glassenberg at JOANN in Natick, Massachusetts on Monday. We are currently drafting an AI image use policy and value your feedback on this issue.
Many in the sewing world will remember entrepreneur Elizabeth Caven, founder of UpCraft Club and an early pioneer in the world of projector sewing. Over the last few years, Elizabeth has become a venture capital investor. When the news of JOANN’s second bankruptcy broke, she published this article on her website and LinkedIn page and granted Craft Industry Alliance permission to print it here.
What happens when a company’s leadership is completely removed from the experience of the customer? Joann Fabrics just found out and it isn’t pretty. It’s bankruptcy.
And it’s not the first time that the company has gone through bankruptcy, it’s the second time in a year. Anyone who was listening to the company’s earnings calls over the last few quarters they spent as a public company could see the writing on the wall the first time. In the short span of about 2 years, the company went from IPO to obliterating its market cap (losing over 98%) and then being taken private to restructure its debt and try to salvage what was left.
The CEO departed almost a year before the first bankruptcy filing and the board did not identify a definitive leader to move the company forward (who thought co-interim-CEOs for 12 months in a troubled business would work out?).
The explanations on missed revenue and adjusted forecasts failed to inspire confidence at every turn.
Now, as a private company, the debacle has continued, leading once again to a Chapter 11 filing.
I’ve watched the company with intense interest for many years, first from the perspective of a customer…then as the founder of a craft-related startup…and most recently as someone who invented an award-winning product Joann now sells. I have wanted them to be successful but all signs have pointed to their unfortunate unraveling.
How did this happen?
Allow me to offer an opinion based on my unique experience and perspective, which illuminates the underlying problems lurking within this company.
In 2015 I tried, unsuccessfully, to connect with someone about a digital breakthrough in sewing. When my emails and calls went unanswered I drove to the company’s headquarters in Hudson, Ohio, and tried to get an in-person meeting. A security guard took pity on me and made calls internally to see if someone would talk with me but was told, “We don’t do anything digital so we don’t know who to have her talk to.” To which I said, “I know you haven’t gone digital, THAT’S WHY I’M HERE.” Did it work? No. I was escorted out of the building that day.
I worked hard to become entrenched in the industry, meeting with the executive teams of just about every sewing and crafting-related company you could think of. One thing they all had in common was that they were all vendors to Joann, which seemed to be truly the hub for the entire industry. So, I kept trying to find an “in” at the retailer.
A year after my expulsion from their headquarters, I was introduced to the “head of sewing” at Joann. Back to Ohio I went, filled with excitement and hope that the timing was better for the most powerful sewing-related retailer in the US to embrace the digital future. Those hopes were dashed within the first 10 seconds of our meeting when the department leader made it clear they had never even seen a sewing pattern out of the package and had no idea how one worked. I spent 30 minutes teaching, the leader of the sewing category, how the Joann customer uses the sewing products found in their stores…the very products this individual was in charge of buying to put on the shelves.
Are you seeing a problem here?
Sadly, that’s not the only time I had to educate people within Joann. The higher the level of the executive, the less they understood about what the customer did once purchasing the products the company carried. The board prioritized executives with Wall Street experience over crafting industry know-how or even curiosity about what the customers do with the company’s merchandise.
Am I saying that all executives of a company have to be hyper-users of that company’s products…no. But can you imagine a CEO like Jensen Huang of Nvidia only talking about the numbers and supply chain factors of the semiconductor business without being genuinely curious about what his products would empower customers to create?? When you build a business around selling an input material (like semiconductors…or craft supplies, in Joann’s case) It’s key to the success of the business to have an understanding of the point of view of the customer.
Before going private (again), the co-interim CEOs emphasized their “read and react” strategy. With sales falling, and falling, it’s clear that they couldn’t read what was happening or react quickly enough.
Where was the effort to anticipate customer’s needs? Innovate?
I’ve been left countless times to wonder if they even like their customers. Or their employees, for that matter. In past earnings calls the front-line associates have been called “store labor.” (Insert eye roll here)
Contrast this with other retailers, like Target, where customers are called “guests” in their earnings calls and they use words like “team” to describe employees both in the corporate office and the front line in stores. Brian Cornell, CEO of Target had this to say in a past call, “Whether a guest knows exactly what they’re looking for or needs a bit of inspiration, we want to make the trip joyful, easy, and welcoming.” Imagine how different the experience at Joann would be as a customer if from the top-down the company was oriented to make the shopping experience pleasant instead of the “bad garage sale-like environment” of a Joann store.



I took the photos above on a recent trip to Joann and was appalled at the condition of the aisles and the lack of merchandising. Is it any wonder the company is troubled when its default experience is so poor?
Now that Joann has declared bankruptcy (again), maybe a buyer will step up with a mix of customer-centric thinking coupled with savvy financial engineers to successfully right the ship. But unless the North Star of the company becomes the delight of the customer, aligning success to fulfilling the crafting wishes of the makers who seek inspiration and the tools to bring their visions to life, no amount of financial acumen or new money coming in to snatch up the flailing retailer will turn this company around.
What a tragedy for the tens of millions of creative and crafty people in the US.
Please note: I would be remiss if I didn’t mention one gem of a human I met on the executive team at Joann. He left the company several years ago and was a bright spot of ambition, passion, and care for the customer that was missed, as performance went downhill quickly after he departed. I’m sure there were, and are, many well-intentioned, good people at Joann and I’m truly sorry they’ve had to experience the gross mismanagement of this company.
I smell an opportunity for someone in the industry to sweep in and become the de facto leader in the space, although, in all likelihood, I predict the business will be sliced and diced. If that’s the case, I’d love to see the Ditto assets land somewhere like Amazon…or maybe Adobe or Canva. I can even see a play for Ditto at Meta because the IP (the patents I wrote) would pair in a really interesting way with their tech. Time will tell and I’m rooting for the one that can put the digital and crafty tools into the hands of the customer, enabling them to be astoundingly creative.

Elizabeth Caven
Contributor
Outstanding assessment, Elizabeth. Leadership with a “Back of a shampoo bottle” mantra does not work during times of change.
Your visits to Hudson, Ohio, are commendable. You’ve filled in the blanks on what was happening behind the scenes.
I’ve wanted to go there myself and offer free guidance on selecting fabric patterns and colorways. They get it right about 20 to 25% of the time, but sale prices don’t remove the ugly from the rest of the fabrics.
Being the only real game in crafts and sewing, one would think deep pockets would see the value of the market position and the real estate. Amazon could elevate the retail experience by offering locker pick-up and easy returns, never mind promoting tech-based creation, offering more tiers of fabric quality available, and maintaining inventory with precision.
Amazon used to sell fabric when they owned Fabric.com. The eliminated that division when they attempted to sell only precut fabric in 1 and 3 yard cuts. Neither the customers nor the vendors were having any part of that and one day the website had a message that it was no longer operating.
If someone steps up to take over this train wreck, my hope is that they will take the craft supplies and yarn out of the equation; other companies supply these categories and do it successfully. Just be a fabric/sewing store. Sell quality fabrics and notions. Bring back a button selection.
I realize this will fall on deaf ears.
As the travelling educator for Ditto Patterns circa 2023-24, I truly loved my job, and I can’t say enough about how awesome and truly revolutionary the product is. I was shocked by how many Joann team members would visit the Ditto booth, and ask for training- the training their managers were brought to HQ to obtain, yet never passed on to employees. And this was straight from Joann workers. I did inform my management team on this. JoAnn’s could have sold a lot more units had they trained staff, or had an educator specialist given a class on it at stores. I was visiting JoAnn’s allover the USA on my travels, and would inform managers that I would love to schedule an event. Deaf ears. Oh well. We tried.
Going forward, though, please, please, to any possible buyer…focus, focus, focus! Stop trying to be everything to everyone! Sewing is not dead! I have full beginning sewing courses all the time! And even though we have a JoAnn’s in our town….good luck finding anything, anyone to help that KNOWS about sewing and fabric, or navigating the store safely.
Please remember that many rural people have nothing else. We have no other craft stores, no other fabric stores, often nothing within an hour’s drive or more. “Other companies” don’t exist in rural areas.
Other options don’t even necessarily exist in urban areas. I can buy a few kinds of fabrics at Michael’s but the selection is pathetic. I can buy on Etsy and pay shipping on each individual piece. My local sewing machine repair shop closed. They did have a few odd bolts of quilting fabric – that’s it. And I’m the Seattle area.
Please visit Seamwork.com if you’re looking for sewing fabric in that area. They have lists of apparel sewing stores all over the world, but I know they’ve got several in the Seatle area.
I’ve been a Joann’s customer for 30 years. I understand maybe eliminating wood and paper crafts, home goods as well, but not yarn. Other stores do not sell the variety and amount of yarn . Believe me, I’ve looked. Ordering online isn’t ideal because, like with fabric, I like to touch it and match colors. I sew, too. A Joann visit for me is fabric and yarn. I completely disagree with making it strictly sewing. Quilters or sewers aren’t the only ones who are devastated by the possibility of closing. We’re all crafters and will feel the loss greatly.
Perfectly stated. I could not have said this better myself. For years I was dismayed at Joann’s foray into crafts and yarn and lack of focus on quality fabric and sewing supplies. Here’s hoping the next buyer will impanel a group of sewing customers for input while moving forward.
I have no problem with the yarn, it’s the crappy holiday stuff and toys that don’t belong there. For Pete’s sake there are enough places to get crappy holiday stuff and toys. Focus on quality creative supplies!
It’s interesting that a business with basically no competition has failed. There’s a post on YouTube called “forgotten businesses” (4 hrs) that traces the history of retail in the US. Almost every store or chain failed because consumer needs changed or new stores came along that were more interesting and offered better products. Joann’s has more purchasing power for fabrics than any other business so I don’t accept any of their excuses.
Since I am from Europe, it is difficult for me to assess the service level and product categories. However, a few years ago, during some research, I looked at Joann’s cost of goods sold (COGS) ratio, and it was immediately clear to me that this wouldn’t end well. The ratio was simply too high to run a profitable business. In my humble opinion, the business was already heading for disaster the moment private equity, without any passion for fabrics and DIY, took over and left Joann saddled with 2 billion in debt.
I was a long time customer of fabric dot com. Amazon killed it within four years of taking over – and tried to get us to buy fabric with a “business account” when they killed the fabric dot com website. It was impossible to find what you were looking for at that point and that’s when I gave up. Joann is where I get my interfacing since their bulk pricing is less than buying it wholesale elsewhere. I really hope someone picks up the Joann mantle and fixes this mess because I will close my business before I buy a thread of anything at hobby lobby
For years the shopping experience at Joann has been awful. Long lines, lack of knowledgeable staff, dwindling stock. Even online shopping became problematic. Very sad to see this downfall as some friends & family worked in their heyday.
And I don’t know about your store, but at the nearest store in my area, vandals would come in and unwind thread, open and unwind yarn, throw stuff around, walk through the store yelling and laughing and it felt like a very unsafe vibe, there was dim lighting, no store employees on the floor and people wandering through the store causing damage.
I Agree with all of your points. It’s very frustrating when the chains don’t understand or try to know the products they sell. It just seems like common sense, that the more informed the sales reps (corporate on down) are the better they could sell products. I think more respect for customers, vendors, and designers is needed. Great article!
As a lifetime marketeer, first in cable tv (when it was cool!), then for the last 15 years managing a sewing machine vendor store inside one of JoAnn’s biggest maker markets, I just hate what I’ve seen. It’s always been somewhat dysfunctional from an operating and HR perspective. Elizabeth is spot on with her observations of the poor, poor missed opportunities with regard to priducts and consumer needs. They just don’t understand it at all. And now many will pay the price of their failure. SVP’s 130 stores, located inside JoAnn are one. They never understood that Quilting alone in the US has been measured as a $6billion busuness in the US alone! They are clueless. It’s difficult (and sad) to think that there mught be any “white night interested in taking on what in invariably looked down as a non-cosmetics “woman’s product… business. All I see are “vulture capitalists” waiting for the remains… Great story, unfortunately all truth!
having worked at Joann’s for a few years and leaving the store just a year ago, I am not surprised at the article at all. The manager I had was not very good, but she also was treated with little care from the higher-ups. When I started, in 2018, I enjoyed my job and the customers. When I left, it was a completely different atmosphere. It was like the customers were not important to the company, and neither were the employees. I hope SOMEONE can save this company.
They need to get involved with their customers and LISEN to the things they are told ! We need fabric shops in our small towns and people working who can help customers find what there looking for and answers to their questions , someone to teach quilting and basic sewing skills !
I recently went to joanns in tulsa, ok and it was a mess. Didn’t even want to shop there because it was a disaster. With fabric thrown on the racks, etc. I wanted to buy white flannel. An easy fabric right? They did didn’t have any so I asked an associate and was told they don’t sell it around the holidays. Really. What a dumb answer
I am (sadly) enjoying this article and THANK YOU from the crafters and sewers out there. It’s SPOT ON!! Those pictures look like MY Joann’s in NC. Except there wasn’t one of the PILES of fleece stacked on top of the drapery roll shelves (note law suit in the making with the way the shelves teeter) I have been a shopper at my local Joann’s since they poured the foundation and it has been HARD to watch what has slid so far downhill. Crossing my fingers something can be fixed and the company can stabilize again.
We need Martha Stewart to buy this company
I remember that Michaels worked with Martha Steward some years ago. Evidently it didn’t work out.
Both Joanns in Wichita look like the pictures too. Boxes and boxes full of merchandise. Nothing on the shelves. All the employees are depressed. They deserve to go out of business.
This! I used to love going to Joann and felt inspired and always bought something there, even if it wasn’t what I intended to buy. Now when I go, I hate being in there and want to get out as quickly as possible, often I am empty-handed. My store also has boxes everywhere, things not on the shelves, and most hauntingly of all, no music on in the store. It is basically empty, usually there is only one or two employees working, which makes getting fabric cut difficult and makes checking out difficult. It’s really sad to see. I agree that they don’t seem to care about the customers at all. Luckily I live in a large city where craft stores, including small businesses, abound, but I hate that for many, Joann has been their only in-person place to go and they won’t have that anymore. When I worked in a local fabric shop, I sewed samples for the store, recommended patterns and fabric, and was always up to date with the latest designers and fabric lines. It’s sad to hear Joann did not prioritize employees, especially high up, that knew anything about the industry. It’s hard to have a successful craft business if you do not craft or know the craft trends.
I began to become disillusioned when JoAnne’s focused more on fleece than a balanced selection of all types of fabrics. Hate that the minute they put out product for a particular season they immediately mark it down. Leading one to think it’s a great sale. However, when you look at the retail price it’s twice what you’d pay at any other store. It’s a shame they’ve allowed themselves to become a shell of what they once were. For towns without a quilt shop this will be devastating.
I’d like to point out that the writer did NOT invent paperless sewing or projector cutting.
I agree with writer that listening to customers and reacting accordingly would have and should have been a guiding principle at Joann… and Ditto.
I was very intrigued with the hardware of the ditto, its size and ease of set up and calibration. What did not work for me at all was the original price, the proprietary software that did not allow for advanced pattern fit adjustments and the subscription model.
Had Ditto taken into consideration what was ALREADY happening in the projector sewing world by early pioneers, they might have dovetailed that product to meet the needs of people wishing to start down that path. The number one question asked by anyone wishing to get into paperless patterns is “what projector should I buy? followed by “how do I set it up and calibrate it?”. Ditto really only needed to answer those two questions well, but they kneecapped themselves with the software and the subscription.
I’m bummed about Joann, but we don’t have one in all of NYC so I haven’t been a regular shopper there in years. I hope that the Design Group will be open to selling patterns through smaller stores on a scale that works for smaller businesses.
Ditto was doomed to failure because its use is limited. Only Ditto patterns work with it. The idea was great but the available patterns working with it were very boring.
Perfectly written, thank you!
My word, could you just IMAGINE a world where Target buys JoAnn’s (they are always in the same shopping center anyways) and applies their brand of marketing tact and taste to the craft store experience? I would cheerfully spend far too much money for an experience like that!
I dread going to Joann, it is now full of “stuff” at the expense of sewing and crafting supplies, sp trying to find craft/sewing related products that you are looking for turns into an excercise in frustration. There are very few staff members to help (dont get me started on cashing out!) but occasionally you find one, usually young and a keen sewer or crafter a total ray of sunshine In a gloomy world.
I wonder if the solution is Home Depot. They sell materials and equipment, just like Joanns and their customers are builders and makers. Plus, I’m not seeing signs they are a failing business. Not that Home Depot couldn’t make some improvements in their business model that appeal to women, but that seems easy enough.
Home Depot doesn’t hire people because of their knowledge, so the problem would be the same. The guy you ask about your plants knows nothing about plants and probably worked in the paint department yesterday
Excellent article. I too worked on the sewing industry and Joann for many years. I saw the decline over the years with upper management completely in the dark about what their customer wants, needs and desires. Over the years the buyers in fabric who were passionate either left on their own or were let go. The industry is in disarray run by people who only care about their stock
Options and the botttom
Line and haven’t a clue what the customer needs. After leaving the sewing and pattern world not teaching sewing and embroidery- there is a real desire out there for these crafts and my students- of all ages want more sewing classes, better fabrics, better patterns and people in
The stores who can actually help them. The customer is out there and being ignored.
If you want good quality, coupled with knowledgeable customer service, shop independent stores. That’s the case with fabric, yarn, lumber, plants and appliances. When is the last time Home Depot or Jo-Ann or target sponsored a little league team or donated to a local fundraiser? We need to support our neighbors.
If you’re in a city, that’s great. Rural folks, like myself, have to travel well over an hour, sometimes two, to get to anything resembling an “independent store” for (non-quilting) fabric or crafts. JoAnns is literally our only option, and that’s about to go bye-bye. Yet another way rural folks get the short end of the stick.
Precisely, Dawn. Indy stores are owned and staffed by our neighbors. They are part of our community.
And outside of New York or LA are people supposed to purchase clothing fabric from “independent stores?” Supporting neighbors is nice, but I’m not sure how to do that in a town under 10,000 people.
Not sure why the hostility, but I live in a town with 2500 people and I shop local when I can. You do you.
I live near LA and even our quilt stores are few and far. I have two within a 30 minute drive and all others are an hour or more away due to distance and traffic. They have limited hours, 10 am – 4 pm, and are usually closed on Sundays and Mondays. Also, price is a consideration. I would love to support the indy quilt stores but at $13 per yard it is difficult.
Joann’s is but another in a long line of bankrupted companies. Private equity and the billionaires in the country are looking to make fast money on turn arounds. Much like the 90s were. Private equity is taking over everything from veterinary clinics to apartment complexes to retail stores. They are all treated as spread sheets which can be mined and manipulated to increase sales and reduce costs.
It is also happening at large corporations outside of private equity, just look at Boeing. All the fashion houses are run by marketing people not designers.
Hear, Hear Susan! This is exactly what was missing from the article! It’s not just that they don’t know or understand the business; if they cared they could hire someone with the knowledge and passion to run it. But NO! That would take some $$ away from the looting of the equity, which is the first priority of these “private equity” vultures.
Did you know that Joann’s is 600+ million dollars in debt? I’d guess they didn’t get that way by buying inventory /sarc. No, the newly wealthy “investors” from Silicon Valley and similar places arranged the buy-ins, then floated the debt to pay themselves off.
This pattern is now endemic in our industries, and the only way to stop it is for consumers to refuse to patronize these wolves in sheep’s clothing.
L Murphy, you are exactly right. It’s impossible to live in this world with integrity, when the charlatans run the show!
Completely agree . Whenever a private equity firm takes over a brand, it uses pump and dump strategy where the whatever profits are there to be had are squeezed and the company is driven out of business . There is no innovation or expertise that the makers can expect from Joann. As a beginner sewist and a knitter save my budget and buy all my supplies from small companies and bring them from overseas . Craft stores in Japan for example are exceptional and one feels honored to be a maker by just entering them.
Thank you for this inside look at Joann’s. I go there pretty often. Their fabric prices for the upper end quilting cotton is higher than quilt shops and quite often the quality is not there. I have been buying fabric for over 50 years, so I have a pretty good eye for quality fabric. I think their lower end fabrics are what is known as “greige” fabric. The fabric used to run the first prints of a pattern to try it out and make adjustments. When you hold it up to the light, you can see clearly the weave of the fabric with light shining through, a step up from cheesecloth.
I have to say that the employees I talk to at Joann’s are always friendly, but the folks at the registers are frazzled. In spite of long lines, there are never enough cashiers to help.
Thus experience isn’t peculiar only to Joanne stores. In my travels, I have met yarn manufacturing top managers who have no idea what yarns are used for! One of such I met at a trade show who said plainly, I know nothing about the uses of these craft tools I sell. Yes, the right producer, seller, manufacturer that can give crafters inspiration, support, products plus community will always remain a go to place for US crafters. I am so sorry about Joanne stores! Abby spoke about them in the newsletter as well. Hoping some craft experienced executive bring in the money and inspiration to getting the business going! Great Article!
YES to all of this. I’ve been watching this collapse happen at my local store and been absolutely baffled how a major chain devoted to two things that became red hot during Covid — sewing and crafts — could have taken such a dramatic nose dive. Mismanagement, I thought to myself? Turns out yes, even beyond what I feared.
JoAnns has become (yet another) a poster child for late stage capitalism destroying perfectly good companies, and the arrogance of Wall Street who think they’re all brilliant geniuses who can simply shovel junk into a pipeline, treat their employees like crap, and ignore the customer experience, but still somehow make fistfulls of cash at the end of the day. Ugh. And these dingdongs will make 50 times more money than I ever will, and fail upwards. It’s infuriating.
Something else that’s infuriating is that when JoAnns is gone, my small rural community will have nothing to replace it. Our nearest Michaels is over an hour away, and the Ben Franklin closed several years ago. So if we want to trot down to a fabric store for some thread or a specialty costume fabric, my whole community is about to be out of luck.
Buying online is always dicey — I just got some striped fabric and thought the stripes were a completely different size — I couldn’t check it in person before the cut was made, and now there’s no returning over 4 yards of fabric. As usual, the greedy idiots win, and the customer loses.
I used to teach crafts classes at JoAnn, mostly beadwork. The unfortunate thing I found was most of the people who were in upper management had no understanding of the craft or any of the tools and supplies I needed for the class. I would do a fieldtrip before class so the students cound purchase needed materials because the kits they put together where wholy inadequate. in the end the students got what they wanted and needed and in many cases ended up buying more item they wanted for the class because of what I showed them. at one store, a new manager told me not to do that even after I told them why I did it. so for that 1 class I had to use their poorly designed kits. The next time that manager was gone and I went back to doing what I had done and everyone was happier. The management are bean counters not crafters and know little about the materials they sell. I think thats half the problem and its sad. JoAnn ha been a staple supply store for me and many other crafters for many years and to think it may be gone soon, leaving little competition and one store I will not shop at is a shame for the crafting community.
I feel like CEO’s and upper Management should have a huge red X on their resume indicating they have ruined a company already and should not be allowed to do it to another company.
I really hope we won’t be seeing more AI art in this newsletter. I can see that the author provided it, but it is just awful and it’s an insult to the creatives we have in our community.
Thank you for saying this!!
I saw this years ago in the early 2000’s. I was working for a company in China to design the products for these craft companies. The buyers from other chains were organized and knew what they wanted but the buyers from Joann’s, even then. did not know who was to buy for which category and then didn’t buy because they thought it was another buyer’s decision (with that buyer not being there). They were just so unorganized in their buying. In their next buying trips, all the buyers would be changed so no continuity.
The photo taken of the unpacked boxes and Un supplied shelves was likely taken at JoAnn’s in my town. I stopped in before Christmas for some trim and to look for Christmas fabric. Trims? Nope. Ribbons? Nope. But towering stacks of fleece were stacked on the floor, teetering in front of the “fancy” tulles and fancy fabrics of questionable fiber content. This is central Texas where, even if you wanted to “sew” a fleece blanket to go over your entire house, no one here would need this much fleece. As our IQS are shuttering – it’s online shopping for fabric, indie patterns, notions and inspiration, I go!
Same situation at my Joann’s in Fairfax, Virginia. Too much fleece, unopened boxes upon boxes in aisles, and bare shelves.
I agree. Privately owned quilt shops teach, have excellent product, and get to know their customers.
I was just at the Fairfax, VA Joann’s last weekend after not having been there for a few years and was SHOCKED at how empty the shelves were.
BTW, since you’re in the area: The Joann’s in Sterling is still pretty decent. I can’t speak for the fabric side but the yarn was at least very well stocked. A lot of boxes around but the limited staff seems to be doing the best they can getting the stock out. (They have a sign on the door that they close at 6 pm most nights though; not sure about weekends.)
Same here in New Mexico and been that way for years. Plus what gives with stores themselves being so poorly maintained? No restrooms, I think even employees have to go to another business for a bathroom break. They are running four large noisy air compressors in my local store because something wrong with HVAC and now local store has been closed for 10 days because they have no heat. I’ve read comments on youtube where many stores across the country have similar problems. What kind of bad dealings are between JoAnn and property owners that the properties are in such bad shape?
Precisely, Dawn. Indy stores are owned and staffed by our neighbors. They are part of our community.
As a small craft supply shop owner, ( I sell fabric, yarns, craft supplies, etc 39 years) I still have the occasion (alot) to go to Joann.s for supplies I don’t carry. On more than one occasion, i have stood at the cuttin table helping their customers figure out yardage from a pattern, backing yardage for quilts, put color combos together for an afghan for THIER customers.
I had an occassion where I escorted a customer about the fabrics to put together a quilt top………..honestly, I am not surprised at all of this. add to it closing one local well established store and more it two towns over, the fact they put out holiday stuff on sale immediately, their employees don’t know what to do with the merchandise they sell, and the stores all look like a bad ad for fluffy yarn.
I hope they pull out of this, but I doubt they will. I heard and interesting rumor in the $$ world that the company who wants to purchase them is just doing so to shut them down. I hope not, Micheals and Hobby Lobby aren’t much better. time to get back to crafting basics and not ready made junk.
So *that’s* what’s been happening! I didn’t know. I just knew that my experience, both online and in-person, has gotten progressively worse over the last few years. Alternatives like Michaels aren’t much better.
Regarding Amazon- I’m not happy that it’s gotten to be the be all/end/one stop shop all in our lives. There’s no real option. I wish there was an alternative. Lack of competition is never a good thing. I’m trying to purchase directly from vendors/individuals rather that reflexively going to Amazon.
Unfortunately, this is another sad tale illustrating the harmful effects of private equity. Private equity firms are responsible for dismantling companies like Joann’s, destroying jobs, and harming consumers. The Private Equity Stakeholders Project has documented many cases and their harms.
I love my Joann’s and its employees, it’s a clean, well-organized store, with plenty of available merchandise. I will be so sad if they close their doors! However, if they do, I cannot say I’d be surprised as this seems to be the way, in the last few years, of so many large and plentiful stores who carry target specific items, such as crafts/fabric. After years of mismanagement, buyouts/selloffs etc, they implode without proper care. And then there’s the ‘online selling factor’ – many bypass stores in their cities for the ease of shopping online with deep discounts at times. Even though Joann’s has an online presence I don’t feel crafters go there as a first-choice option. I think it goes without saying which online retailer is the ‘go-to’ for many crafters/hobbyists and has been for years. My city has 3 of the ‘big’ players in the crafts/hobby market: Joann’s, Hobby Lobby & Michaels – too many really for the small customer base here. I wouldn’t be surprised if Michaels were next to go.
If only we could go back to the days when one would walk into a fabric store and pick out garment fabric and every notion that one could possibly need to construct the garment would be available. No need to search for the right color of thread, lining ,seam tape and etc.
I have never understood the vast amount of flannel and fleece in stock. Especially in stores located in tropical weather locations. I guess there must be a template for which items will be stocked regardless of location.
I realize I am living the past but these stores did exist at one time.
Does anyone remember Fabric Warehouse? I wonder why it is super difficult to organize things at fabric stores, but not at bookstores or other businesses? What is going on with all of this? In some ways crafters are artists and artists have always gotten the short end of the stick. Evil likes to go after artists in so many different ways. However, evil loves the art–artists produce. I mean look at adolf hitler–he went after the art–the supposed artist evil. Maybe that has something to do with all of this and why these craft stores can’t get their act together. Invisible evil likes to search and destroy artists/crafters–freedom of speech, unity, I count sort of thing. Obviously, the private company didn’t and doesn’t know how to handle the craft business. When it goes private–I don’t think the stats of the business are as open as when a company is public. If someone actually cared about Joann’s they would have to get rid of most of whomever likes to pass the hot potato around and just there for benefits and paycheck and not cause any waves of “true change” because it would rock their boat. Then if something happens to the company usually some other company “really” will hire the loser executive and mess up the next company slowly but surely. That is why Ms. Caven couldn’t get “in”. She would have seen the stupidity from top to bottom. “They” don’t want people like that around. The employees at the supposed bottom are the ones who deal with the customers and are important. When you have a weirdo thinking differently–that says everything. The book on how a business goes belly up. A company needs a strong CEO who has the power to get rid of the useless padding and hire people like Caven to help out in putting the pieces back together and create new things from top to bottom. However, due to AI or whatever someone wants to call it–evil really is at work in some way shape or form in wanting to take retail, artists, crafters and other industries down. And the nuts are in there at poor JOANN’s. And they don’t like Caven or someone like me. And so sad because there are so many great artists at Creative Bug that is owned by Joann’s. However, there are so many good eggs still at Joann’s and thank you so much for knowing how the job should be done and continuing with it. Best.
So sad and completely expected! As the former owner of independent craft and fabric shops I, too, visited Joann occasionally for things I did not sell and would feel for the bell ringers at the cutting table waiting for long periods of time. Back in business school we studied market research – learning to find who the customer is and what they want. Finance and accounting classes went along with this, not instead of. Attending a trade show a few years back I was approached by one of the gentlemen on the floor in regards to their product. I got a pitch about it’s features and benefits as he used the provided samples as examples. I asked which ones he did, which quickly was met with a “none. I don’t stitch or sew”. I wouldn’t by a car from someone who doesn’t drive so I won’t buy a product from someone who has no interest in even trying their product. My best sales reps could look me in the eye and say have used the products. Walk the walk, Wall Street people – even a little bit. If someone had used the Ditto – and other innovative products – they might have a line out the door waiting for the newest releases, not crickets in the aisles.
As a crafter with a small business the closing of Joann stores would truly be catastrophic for me. One area I see that is a drawback for Joann is almost everything is on sale all the time. The customer relies on this and isn’t willing to pay more for items. I wait for the 70% or even 80% deals and never pay close to full-price. How can they make a profit if they’re losing money on almost every item sold?
Also, my store Del Amo in Torrance, California is supposed to be a flagship but it is mess, as pictured above, with empty shelves and boxes blocking aisles. The staff is harried and overwhelmed. I hope corporate management can see their way through this.
Once upon a time, Joann stores were small, scattered throughout communities, and were actually staffed by caring individuals who knew their stuff. They were kept neat and clean and well stocked. Then one day, in the early 2000s, someone got the bright idea to close down all the intimate small Joann stores and open far fewer, great big super stores, miles away from where the customers lived. Ever since, they’ve been mostly staffed by people who don’t even craft or sew, and I swear, if the first question on the employment application was do you have a personality, and you answered no, you were hired on the spot. Prices rose despite the fact that they ordered merchandise in bulk and distributed it throughout their stores. Even with their sale prices and ubiquitous 40% off coupons, most of the said merchandise was still more expensive than at the local mom and pop stores. Many years ago, I was part of the Joann family, and we were a family. I loved my job. When these big changes happened, it became a nightmare. I’m surprised they’ve lasted this long.
I’ve worked part-time at Joann for about 1.5 years now and in my experience, the problem lies with everyone starting with the store managers and above having their hands tied from the bean counters at the top. After the first bankruptcy, I thought ok great, maybe now they’ll get it together and stop over-buying inappropriate inventory (ie. way too much fleece in an area that rarely gets under 50 degrees). Well, nothing changed and whoever does their buying and puts together the planograms, really have no clue what they’re doing so I’m absolutely not surprised this is where we’re at. Our store manager makes sure we don’t have boxes upon boxes of unpacked product for more than a couple days (we’re not a Dollar General after all), but it’s tough considering she’s also not given the payroll for more than 2-3 people at a time on a shift (it’s usually 2 with the third on an overlap for an hour or two). On top of that, she can’t hire decent employees because the best rate-per-hour she can offer is $3-$5 dollars less than going next door to the shoe store, over to Walmart/Target, or even anywhere else in town (except Michaels, Joann still pays better than Michaels the last I checked). To add, in my experience, I think not offering classes to introduce the world of crafting, is a huge missed opportunity. At least once a shift, I have people ask about classes either for sewing or knitting or whatever craft they read about, and I have to send them elsewhere every time.
Anyway, it’s a really unfortunate situation, there was plenty of opportunity to make a change and succeed, but they lost their focus on the niche and tried too hard to be like everyone else.
Alas, JoAnn’s downfall, while so disappointing, isn’t surprising. I won’t rehash what others have said so well, but here’s another data point. In the days when McCalls was a separate company and published Vogue Sewing Magazine, I used to buy ads with them, and I became friends with the sales director. She told me then that JoAnn used the patterns as a loss leader to draw people into the stores. They would put them on sale for well below their cost, which had two effects: lose money for JoAnn, and, much to McCall’s chagrin, devalue the patterns in the eyes of consumers.
I live in Anchorage, Alaska. Our JoAnn’s moved to an inconvenient (for me) location; their aisles look exactly as pictured above; it’s all about 70% off seasonal merchandise and most other shelves are bare; and only one cashier on most days. In our town, there is no alternative to JoAnn for apparel fabric – we had a wonderful high end apparel fabric store that went out of business years and years ago. WalMart sells fabric here but it smells awful and I was told it’s because they buy the sample fabric that higher end companies use to test their designs – it’s cheap fabric treated with a lot of chemicals to make it take the print the same way a good cotton would – this may be an urban myth :). One of our beloved quilt shops went out of business and there is one or maybe two left. Yes, I can order fabric online, but you have to know something about fabric weights and finishes to buy it without feeling it. I agree that sewing is back; young people are making clothes and designing patterns; who will fill this niche?
I still have a day job at a large hospital and I see the same MBA style thinking here. There is no consideration of employees or our patients. It’s all about numbers and not people, and great staff is constantly leaving. I use this experience as a “what not to do” with my craft business. Customer care is our highest priority and innovation is key to stay alive in business, that vision is paying off handsomely and I’ve never had a business course in my life. Seeing what I’ve seen, I don’t WANT a business degree.
The “new” Joann store in San Marcos, California was touted as the new model for the reinvention of the store. It was supposed to be state of the art. I had loved the Temecula, CA store in my old neighborhood, was fairly happy with the Oceanside, CA store but I was sorely disappointed in this Huge store that was sparsely populated with goods. It just went downhill from there. Less and less things like notions, ric rack, and seam binding, and tons of bolts of fabric on the floor covered in dirt and dust! The woman at the cutting table was incredibly rude. Several times I filled out the after visit survey expressing my concerns, but got no reply. About 4 months ago, the store was 10 times worse! That time someone did respond to my survey answers, apologized for the conditions, and asked me to elaborate. I did elaborate in a separate email but never heard anything else. My daughter and I were again at the San Marcos store. My daughter had never been there before, but she noticed right away that it was a mess. Nothing prepared us for the clearance isle…almost Everything was all over the floor!! It’s so sad to watch a store literally implode more and more each time you visit.
It isn’t just the poor management of JoAnn. It’s the also the poorly run and unethical partners that they’ve chosen to work with. We were approached by West Broadway Publishing in 2013 to sell our publications, Modern Quilts Illustrated, and our patterns in JoAnn stores nationwide. JoAnn outsources the management and inventory of their books and patterns to West Broadway. We thought this was the breakthrough we’d worked decades for. It was the worst experience in our 25 yrs in business. They damaged our goods, mishandled the inventory, refused to answer phone calls or emails about thousands of dollars of missing inventory and took years to pay us. In some cases it has taken 8 to 9 years for us to get paid. We just received last week payment for publications JoAnn sold in 2016! We declined to renew our contract with West Broadway and per our contract asked to have our inventory returned. When it arrived it was so damaged that we had to throw thousands of dollars of publications into the recycling. Box after box was either damaged or stickered, in violation of our agreement. That our small business has basically been forced to give JoAnn’s and West Broadway an interest-free loan for 9 years is outrageous.
Im a loyal customer at the Cheyenne, Wyoming Joanns. It is a really nice store, cheerful staff and a great manager. BUT!! I can see this store will probably go the way of all the others. No one sews, even though it saves a lot of money. There should be classes in elementary sewing techniques, so the folks can make their own instead of buying crappy south asian garments that do not last. Wall Street and the private equity folks have ruined everything, in pursuit of the profit. Their goal is to leave the middle class without a penny to spend, as they remove medical insurance,. tax deductions and community services. But, the tide will turn, it just will be painful. Stay strong!
No one sews? Uh… I don’t know who you’re hanging around with, but millions and millions of people sew, quilt, cosplay, and otherwise use and need fabric from a store where you can see and feel it, as opposed to online stores where you get what you get, no returns.
During the Covid lockdowns, sewing machines were sold out for months because *everyone* was making masks. A lot of those people are still sewing and crafting. “Nobody sews anyway” is an inaccurate and terrible take on this.
Spot on, Willow! I’m tired of hearing “nobody sews”. JoAnn is a horribly managed company and has been for about 10 years. They’re going under because of their business practices, NOT because “nobody sews”.
This is spot on. I worked at Joann for a total of 10 years. In the late 90s early 00s. The district managers and above were men who didn’t know squat about sewing. My last job was as an Operations Team leader at a “superstore” The store team leader had absolutely no clue about anything crafty or sewing and the people she hired reflected that. This has been a long time coming. They have not listened to their employees, customers or vendors in decades. To have not recognized the demand for classes as focused on creating new customers was an epic failure.
I live just outside DC. There are 3 Joanns fairly close to me as well as many Michaels, 2 independent all-purpose fabric stores and a couple of quilt shops and yarn shops. The quilt shops and yarn shops tend to carry only higher price point items. Many beginners don’t want to invest a ton of money into a new hobby and won’t initially visit the specialty stores. Michaels and Joanns provide an entryway into the craft world. Even though I, as an experienced quilter, tend to frequent the quilt shops for the majority of my personal quilting fabrics. I go to JoAnns for fabric for kids’ costumes, batting and thread, rulers, etc.
As a consumer, I feel Joanns corporate deliberately understaffs their stores to cut salary costs. They don’t train the employees to have a broad knowledge of all departments and a specific knowledge of a particular area. What I truly find frustrating is that their website prices do not match their store prices. I have also found that just because the website says there are a certain number of yards at a particular location, this is not always true. Several times I have looked online where it indicated there were 11 yards of xyz fabric and when I got to the store within half an hour, there was none and it hadn’t suddenly been sold.
Yes, thank you! It’s not that people don’t sew. It’s that the company was focused on squeezing every dime out of it instead of providing customers with a clean store and quality fabrics. I worked there, and was told that cleaning and cleaning supplies are not in the budget. Only two people – a cashier and cutter – were allowed to be scheduled for each shift, so the manager was giving breaks and filling on-line orders. This made for long lines and very cranky customers. It only takes one look at any review site to see how many people they’ve ripped off through their website. Homeless people messed up the bathroom, and shoplifting was rampant. The warehouse was always crammed full with stock that didn’t get set out until well after the season, at 75% off. The fabric was cheap, and the in-house brands of materials and supplies even cheaper. But I love to sew, and loved those employee discounts! When they stopped matching our 401K, I left for a local fabric store that is doing quite well, and the difference is amazing.
I know I’m late to the discussion here, but I have lived in several cities around the country and in every one I have shopped at Joann’s. When I talk to the people cutting my fabric they all tell me the same thing. They make minimum wage. Really??? $7.25 an hour? No wonder they can’t get knowledgeable people to work there. It’s pathetic. What a way to devalue their workers and make them feel as if they had been kicked in the teeth. I wonder how much the big boys are making? What’s the pay ratio between the front line workers and the executives?
I fear that Michaels Stores is heading down the same path
These responses are spot on! I also saw it coming for years. I have filled out countless surveys for them without ever seeing any positive change. Many will really miss JoAnns and I hope that someone come in and drastically restructures the business. Bring in a CEO who knows how to sew and craft! Hire people who also have these skills. Offer classes to encourage new sewists and crafters. That would increase sales. Purchase quality fabrics, notions and craft materials. There are tons of people who sew! I am teaching my 10 year old granddaughter and she loves it! Closing JoAnns will be a Loos unless someone comes in, tosses all the fleece and stops the phoney sales and coupons. Sewing and crafting is not a cheap way to go. It is a way to make something wonderful and personal. Keep my fingers crossed!
After listening to a radio news program today about the dire straits of bees, and learning a Japanese engineer and scientist has created robotic bees for when the bee population is almost gone – his ‘bees’ will be able to fertilize plants so that humans can continue to have food – I’ve decided that all this; the dire straits of JoAnn and other entities which are falling flat on their arses are just not important enough to me to give them any mind space. I hate that my JoAnn may close, it’s a great store with great people, but it is what it is, I accept it if it happens. That we have come to possibly having to use ROBOTIC BEES to continue to have food is just crazy, there are more important things than fabric and crafts sometimes. 🙂
Whenever I purchase fabric at Joann’s the clerk will always ask “what are you making?” The other day I responded with my answer and followed it up with “do you sew?” “do you do crafts?” The answers were NO. Seldom when I ask a how to question, does anyone know. I think it must be difficult to find persons with sewing knowledge. I learned to sew in an electives class in junior high, which sadly has been eliminated.
I would love to sit down with you and chat! As a 19 year employee that was let go in the first round of layoffs, and someone who worked on your new tech for the company, we would have much to discuss! Having an investment partner and then letting consultants “cull” the employees was a big misstep. Passionate crafters who happened to also work at corporate were let go.
The ignorance in top leadership in the crafting industry is wide spread. I was a business manager for a line of sewing machines that is now defunct because the male GM and his male brand designer had never sewed, didn’t understand how things work, what would be important to sewists, etc. I tried to bring the brand into the modern age but fought against boring, ugly, poor decisions made by the GM. Would love to work in the craft industry for a feisty company that wants to adopt new digital business practices
AJ, I just have to ask – was it Spiegel? I wonder because I did a machine survey for Vogue Patterns Magazine, where 5 manufacturers sent me machines to evaluate. One was Spiegel. It was actually a good little machine, and a bargain by comparison. But man, was it UGLY. It looked like it came from the set of a bad 1970s TV show. And I don’t think they are manufactured any more. Pity, it could have been a great entry level option.
Ha! No, but I had to look up those machines. The machines I worked with may have just been coming on to the market about that time.
The machines I worked with were a sister company to a main brand whose machines start at $5k. During Covid we couldn’t get stock and there was poor management leading the parent company above me. I think they may be letting the brand go because the cost of entry to market for lower priced machines is so high for entry level machines with the competition having been on the market for so long.
It is disheartening that Joanne’s may close all their stores. A lot of us make and sew items for fun and family/friends. Not all of us can afford the quilt store fabrics plus we like to see and feel before purchasing. The big problem is staffing, they do not hire enough people to cover the store. One person cutting and one person at the register. A couple weeks ago I was at a Joann store and there was only one person working, cutting and then running to the register when someone rang the bell. I felt so bad for her Another issue I’ve had is looking online for items and the website says these items are in stock,68 Lepard’s of one particular item I was looking for. Get to the store and there was 2 yards. The manager searched but was not able to find it. After I got my 2 yards there was still 66 yds available in store. It wasn’t just this one Joann, there are 2 within 30 miles that we shop so something is either no or updating as items are purchased or there is so much inventory throughout the stores they can’t find it. They need to stick to sewing, yarn and crafts and forget about all this decor stuff they sell now. That would be a start. I prey someone purchases the company and it does not go into liquidation
I think I could write a book about how much I love to sew (and knit). When I was a very little girl I had my own child’s sewing machine. My grandmother taught me to sew (she was an excellent sewist, could make anything, often without a pattern). And as I became a teenager my mom would encourage me to take sewing classes in the Summer at the local Singer Sewing machine store. I’m 80 years old now, and still love to take sewing classes. I live in a large midwestern city. When I moved here almost 40 years ago we had two very fine, up-scale fabric shops where one could buy excellent fabric for garments and home decor. Sadly, both are long gone. We also had Northwest Fabrics, which, although not necessarily up-scale, did carry fabrics in a wide range of quality. But it has closed, also. Now, we’re left with JoAnn, Hobby Lobby, and Michaels. Not a one of which would be my first, second, or third choice when shopping for fabric. We have many options for quilting, but virtually nothing for garments. So, now to satisfy my sewing wishes I just make small quilt-like projects, but it isn’t nearly as satisfying as making something to wear. Local yarn stores have become almost non-existent in this metropolitan area. The very best one, which I & the members of my knitting club dearly loved, closed >10 years ago and nothing has been opened to take its place. Even at my age I still have the desire to “create.” But I don’t like to use poor-quality fabric or yarn. I echo all the comments here about the fall, and likely demise, of JoAnn Fabrics. I sincerely hope someone with the right qualifications will take on the job of bringing back decent standards for it.
Elizabeth – I have some serious doubts that Ditto will be offered on Amazon any time in the near future, considering this is now a product of SVP Worldwide. I was unable to find any PFAFF sewing machines on Amazon as of this writing, and the Husqvarna Viking machines are at the lower end of their spectrum. Singer, of course, is generally lower in cost than Viking, and that brand is still struggling to recover their old reputation for a seriously good sewing machine, as they enjoyed back in the 50s & 60s.
The biggest issue I have with Joann’s closing is that this will leave a significant portion of the Florida panhandle with NO source for any fabric of any type, within a reasonable drive time. The closest Joann’s to where I am in the panhandle are at the very least, 90 minutes away! There is a “local” quilt shop – more or less – roughly an hour away.
As of the 2nd bankruptcy filing JoAnn was in debt $615 million. I just did a quick calculation to see how much 33 million (the population of the us is roughly 335 million) ages 15-65, sewists/crafters/knitters etc would need to chip in to get them out of debt > $18.65 each.
Every year millions of people give donations for all kinds of causes. $18.65 is like 3 lattes or boba teas! Wouldn’t this be awesome to bring to fruition for JoAnn? BUT – only if the majority owners would agree to let some people be hired who KNOW what we want from JoAnn in the way of product etc. No more fleece for Florida!
Hello All, I really think Martha Stewart should take this store over. It would be an overnight success. I did send her a message on Facebook. She will probably think I’m nuts, but thats ok.
Let’s hope Amazon doesn’t take this over, as they are taking over everything else! Then we would have yet more mis-labeled craft supplies sold direct from China, the same item sold under 40 different “brand” names; and absolutely zero quality control on anything.
Home Depot’s web-site and is not great, but I get you. There is a Home Depot or a Lowe’s near every town, it seems like. However, not sure they’d give up enough space to it! There is Hobby Lobby, but they do not carry enough brands of yarn for me.
Also, the idea of buying local is a nice one, just like it’s nice to be able to buy hand-dyed yarn when available. However, I would guess that most of us cannot afford that on a regular basis. It will be nice when/if some savvy well-heeled investor taps into the massive market for in-person classes and lower-priced craft supplies on a nationwide scale…in the right way as described above. Oh, that is Martha Stewart! 🙂 We can only hope.
Please no. She’d bring in cookware and bed sheets, slap flowers on everything, and then call it The Martha Stewart Store.
I am pleasantly surprised so many people are so supportive and offer useful ideas for rehabbing Joann Fabrics. I’m sad to see the solo fabric shop struggle, when there is NO competition, as others mentioned. NO Hancock Fabrics etc.
Thank you all for your positive input. You have lifted my spirits in regard to the divisiveness of our country and political world, and shown me there IS hope and sanity left in America. Thank you ALL. R
When I worked for JoAnn’s, the rubber band bracelet craze was happening. We were the last retailer to get product when all around us other stores including drug stores stocked the bracelet supplies/kits. When we did get some in, the craze was about over, and customers were upset with the lack of coupon use on them. In and around the bins were loose rubber bands left over from customers rifling through the packages. The area looked a mess! When we finally started accepting coupons on the supplies, we couldn’t give the kits away. So, we got stuck with inventory that wouldn’t even move in the clearance aisle. Unfortunately, this is only one example of many that showed how out of touch top administration was with their stores and their customers. I’m pretty sure if it wasn’t the only retailer in town or if there weren’t coupons for already cheap good, we probably wouldn’t have had customers at all.
Well, this is upsetting. I have lived in California since the 1980’s, sSuthern California (Los Angeles and San Diego areas) Bay Area (just north of San Francisco and the Central Valley (Fresno, Madera and now Visalia). No one sews? ? ? Over all these years and in all these locations, there were plenty of sewers – quilters, costume makers, mothers making clothes for their children, and me, wearing my “home-made clothes” in my office and to the courts and administrative hearings when I worked as a California state attorney. (I am now retired, but still sewing.) Now in Visalia, I see no loss of interest in sewing although many of us are appprehensive about the ever increasing price of fabric. Especially for beginners, Joann’s definitely offers the oportunity to participate in sewing at a price you can afford. Our local store in Visalia is well run, well stocked, has helpful and friendly employees and great coupon bargains. It appears this is not the case in other locations. We have seven active quilt guilds in the Fresno, Visalia, Porterville areas – most new young members rely on Joann’s for their supplies. Most Independent quilt fabric stores have closed over the past several years. I cannot understand why Joann’s cannot be run properly and prosper. If it ceases to exist, it will be a great loss for all of us sewers.
Please visit Seamwork.com if you’re looking for sewing fabric in that area. They have lists of apparel sewing stores all over the world, but I know they’ve got several in the Seatle area.
I have shopped at Joann’s since it first became a shop in our area – maybe back in the 80’s? Back then, I could shop there for apparel fabric and could actually purchase and use the amount of fabric recommended on the back of my pattern. Slowly over the years, I noticed that whenever I’d purchase fabric for a particular pattern, the fabric was never “on grain”. Now it doesn’t seem to matter what fabric I’m looking at, it’s never on grain. That’s just one of my pet peeves with Joann’s, and the reason I’ve stopped shopping there for anything other than needles, occassional threads (buy most of those online), and something simple for a craft I don’t want to spend a lot of money on. The quality of the fabrics has deteriorated so much that I can’t even buy their muslin to make mockups of my patterns for fitting. Many of you have declined to purchase from online shops, but I have found many shops that are willing to send swatches for a small fee, sometimes even free, to ensure that I am going to be satisfied with my purchase. As to my quilting fabrics, it’s much easier to purchase when you are familiar with the brand – the old Rowan fabrics were like butter to the touch, and I can imagine using some of my older Kaffe Fassett fabrics from Rowan to make apparel items as the fabric has none of the stiffness of most current quilting fabrics. Now I know that Kaffe’s Free Spirit fabrics have a less smooth finish, but they are still high quality. Shopping the brands you know at online venues will ensure that you receive what you’re expecting. But if in doubt, ask for a swatch!