While shopping at JoAnn fabric today I notice the sign was down and a banner with "JoAnn's was on the front. I had been told they were remodeling. When I asked my fabric lady about the sign being down she said they had been sold. Does anyone know who bought them? We only have a couple of privately owned quilt shops and Joann's to get our fabric and I'm kind of worried.

oh wow! We have a fairly new one about a half hour away but, the one we go to most often is closing because of the owners refusal to renew their lease agreement.

Private equity firm (also own or have big stakes in Petco and Whole Foods).

at one time I heard Sam Walton's wife own's it but this could definitely just be a rumor.

http://soundstitches.wordpress.com/2...-fabrics-sold/
Here is an article that explains it. crafty_linda_b

It will be interesting to see what happens here. Iowa City has a JoAnn's, with a few smaller quilt shops in surrounding communities (mine included). I personally did not care for the IC JoAnn's (long before I even had a shop), but I know a lot of quilters frequented them often to get the necessities. One wonders how the quality of items will fare, if at all, since the new corporation has its fingers in so many non-quilting ventures.

Christine

Wow! do not know. We do not have one here. Time to do some research.

All we have is JoAnne's I hope it gets better!

That happened back in January though.