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Fabrics retailer Joann files for bankruptcy
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Yes I read a rumor about it last week and my friend down in Orlando says she was told her JoAnne's will close May 1. Her Viking dealer uses that store so now she'll have to tote her machines for cleaning up to Altamonte Springs. She doesn't do well on fast traveling roads. All 3 stores around her are on fast traveling roads so she doesn't know what she'll do. I don't have a JoAnne's near me, the closest is 65 miles away so I haven't used JoAnne's since I moved to Iowa back in 2010. I still have lots of their silky dress fabrics though so I'm lucky there.
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I really like Joann's and there are three relatively close to me. My biggest complaint is that they seem to be haphazard sometimes. They cater to crafts, which means many different items, and tons of confusing sales. None of the stores I go to have an updated look, and just seem old. Unfortunately, they are one of the few "fabric" stores near me, so not many other choices. There are two LQS's nearby, but one is very primitive, and the other one modern. My favorite fabric warehouse is a ways away, and requires a good half day of wandering! Hopefully they can work things out.
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From what I heard today they are $500 million in the red. Would take a lot of reorganizing to stay open.
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https://www.washingtonpost.com/busin...ic-bankruptcy/
this article is a short explanation. |
The nearest Joanns is 45 miles away, but I did have the chance to shop there yesterday and was really disappointed. It was always a nice place to shop and had sufficient inventory of things that were on sale. They had many things on sale at good prices, including 50% off thread, but nothing was marked as being on sale. There wasn't any help in the store or at the checkout, and everything was messy. The floors needed cleaning, and many shelves were nearly empty. To add insult to injury, they couldn't find my tax exempt status in their register so I eneded up paying over $13.00 in sales tax on items that should have been exempt. To be honest, it looked and felt like a store about to close. They had displays of ugly new fabrics that were priced at $15.99-$19.99/yd. which is too rich for my blood and pocketbook, but that is a personal choice. They had a lot of their standard lines of fabric, but it all seemed to me to be of very poor quality. After looking around at the fabric, I am sure that unless it is batting, interfacing, or nationally branded notions, I will not be ordering anything from them even if they accept returns easily. It's too bad, because they used to be a lot different and a whole lot better. Guess it is just a sign of the times.
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I have yet to see a retailer file Chapter 11 and survive; the ones I know about anyway. I have several near me and would be very sad to see the last one close.
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We were talking about Joann's Fabric at our weekly sit and sew. These are some of the things we came up with.
1) Too big of space , store is so spread out. 2) Store is not laid out well. 3) If you are looking for a certain item, heaven forbid you could find someone to ask, or they don't know either. 4) You find the fabric you want, you take 3 or 4 bolts to the cutting counter, and find out you need to take a number like at a deli. You have number 30, and you look to see what possible number is being called. Its number 5. 5) They don't use a rotary cutter, but a scissor, and there isn't enough clerks or even room for them to measure. The Joann's did better when they didn't have the big stores. We had a Joann's out here that had everything you could want, enough friendly help, and was always busy. They closed it when they opened the big box store, and now you have to drive almost 24 miles round trip to shop. We don't do this every day like we did at the smaller store. |
My local Joann's is pretty good. It's a good size store. Many years ago it was a "Cloth World" store. Well stocked, with only a few items not on the shelf. Craft's on one side, sewing on the other side. I've never had trouble getting help to find items. I was just there a few days ago. It will be sad if it closes, as there are no other fabric stores near me. I also do garment sewing, so if there were quilt shops close by, I couldn't get garment fabrics anyway.
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We have one near me that's huge. They just remodeled it about 2 years ago. But it's still messy, no help when you need it, I could go on and on. They can't close fast enough for me.
Years ago I liked it but it changed a lot over the years. |
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