Okay this is truly the last time that I will shop at Hancock fabric in my community. Again I went in the store on Sunday afternoon to look for sewing needles, muslin and fabric.
When I got there the store looked empty like they were selling out. I ask the sales lady were all the fabric on the round table had gone. She stated that the floors had been cleaned the night before and they were getting the product back out. So I hung around for little while waiting on the young lady to get them out.
She pittled around and never brought out the fabric. Plus they did not have the sewing machine needles that I needed. Mind you this is not the first time the customer service in this store was bad. I finally just left. I understand the floor thing. I use to work retail myself. When the floors were done we would come in a little earlier and put things back out before opening the store. I guess they are not concerned with making a sale. I did send an email to customer service. We'll see how far that goes.
Totally disgusted!!!!!!

Did you get the girls name? Who knows you just might get something free, keeping my fingers crossed.

I was told by a previous owner of a Hancock's Faric store that all Hancock's Fabric stores are owned and operated by individuals. The owner has a contract to stock only Hancock's merchandise. Hancock's main office doesn't care how the store is managed only that the store orders and pays for their inventory.

Ummmmmmmm,

It's hard to make a sale without the merchandise being out on the floor :roll: It makes you wonder why the owner doesn't want to make money...

contact management of the store not hancock company. we don't have hancock any more in Orlando...they got a little trashy makes sense if they are individually owned

My hancocks always I mean always sells out of stuff when they have their notions wall sale. But I am very friendly with them, they tell me when the sales are coming, and i get there the day the sale starts at the opening of the day. They arent well stocked but I just get there when the sale starts. The customer service isnt great but you cant beat the sales.

I couldn't agree more about the service at Hancocks. At best, it's hit or miss when I do shop there. Locally, they do stock a variety of apparel fabric, costume and home dec. materials. They are really short on quilting fabrics. The store remodeled last year with the promise that there would be more, but that hasn't happened. They also seem to focus on decorating accent pieces, lamps etc.
My one love for fabric stores is Hancock's of Paducah. (Completely different from local Hancock's stores). If they don't have it, you don't need it! That store is 6 hours away from me, but I manage to get there at least twice a year. They have wonderful online service too. In fact, when you do go, it appears that the store is packed with customers, but at second glance, you'll see they're all employees filling orders! They must ship a ton of stuff every week. They have a wonderful catalogue too. I buy enough to get mine free, but I think they charge a small fee for the catalogue only. Take a look online. It's fun.

The Hancock's where I shop has very lousy customer service also. Everytime I have been in there, there is only one salesperson who cuts the fabric and then goes and checks the person out. Then back to cutting. I saw one lady at the checkout who wasn't getting fabric wait for 15 minutes to check out. I will not be going back.

Same with mine here. I have given up on hancocks and joanns. Neither are good in my area... luckily I have a great quilt store across the road.. they are a little bit more expensive but the quality is great and the customer service is EXCELLENT so its worth it to me.

Ours closed here a few years ago, they were the same way! Very few people working, so you had to wait forever! ours had nice gals, felt bad when they closed, but it was no wonder!

Our Hancocks is great! The women are very helpful. It is frustrating that they offer coupons for 40% off regular price and everything is already less off so you can't use it but that seems to be true with JoAnns. I greatly dislike the JoAnns closest to me. I won't even get started on them.

The Hancocks where I live remodeled a couple of years ago and it is so much better. It used to be that all the home dec was in the front and all the quilting fabric was way in the back almost like a step child. Now it is just the opposite. Now the quilting fabric and quilting notions are up front. I think they got the message.

My Hancock Fabric is wonderful. They know me and my family and direct me to new fabs that have come in they know I like. I love it there. You can tell they are individually own. My owner and staff are great.

My Hancock Fabric is decent on sales help. There has been a time or two where they have had only one person working the cut table and checking out. Mostly there are 2-3 people working. They did remodel and organized everything in an orderly manner. I do agree they need more quilting fabrics and supplies. We just had a new Joanns open up back in February and there store is beautiful......lots of everything. I have only been in there once...so I can't comment on the customer service yet. I stopped by to get their pamplets for upcoming classes. Hopefully, there service will be as appealing as their store.

I love our Hancocks, if I need something they will have it there the next shipment which is usually every 3 or 4 days. I was looking for a certain Burgundy fabric and the Manager told me that since we could not figure the colors of the line I was inquiring about she order the entire line for me so I would have the right color.

Plus they send a lot of work my way so there is another reason I like them so much. I say get in good terms with the manager and everything will be good.

Billy

the one in AR is trashy too

I really enjoy going to my local Hancock's. They are very nice and know what they are doing when you ask a question. The manager is very quick to give you additional sale percentages off when she can. You gotta love that in a manager ... LOL!

The management sets the tone for the store. Ours here used to be a bit unpleasant - not much variety and sales items out of stock.

Then, a while back, it got a new manager, and it is like a spot of sunshine! They actually remember projects I'm working on, and celebrate with me when I get great bargains on the $1.99 table.

I just don't have any money, and we don't have a hancock fabric here. So sorry you had bad customer service. I hope you get something resolved. God bless. Penny

I have to agree with the "office doesn't care" statement. I had a horrible experience (actually 2!) at my local Hancock's, and even though I sent e-mail after e-mail to the corporate office, NO ONE bothered to even acknowledge that the e-mails were received. They have HORRIBLE customer service at many of their stores, and they don't do a thing about it.

We hardly shop there any more. None of us, and I have several quilters close friends included in that "us".

i had a fabulous experience at my Hancock's just last evening.

i live an hour away and happened to be nearby for work. there was a particular item going on sale today that i really wanted. i explained how far i had to travel and that i couldn't come back today. they let me buy the item last evening for today's sale price.

i just might drive back up on saturday to see what's left.

Thanks for all the input. I think what has happened is that the management has changed. The lady in charge now has a terrible personality. I was told in the past that the home office regulates what they can stock.

Sorry to hear that happened. The Handcocks in Toledo is really nice, but the JO-ANNS is getting a lil trashy. Now that I moved, the Handcocks has closed and the JO-ANNS here is ssooooooo awesome! They even have the super stores here.I would rather support a local quilt shop for what they want for fabric now! Its crazy what JO-ANNS charge for their calico wall. Shop in the red tag area, I have found alot of really cool stuff in there.

Our closest Hancocks is very helpful; they just remodeled and got rid of all the home furnishings and increased the fabric space, and have a huge table for cutting in the center of the store. They are always willing to help in any way they can.

While in Indianapolis during the holidays, my DIL took me to Joann's there. Wanted me to see it and new I would probably grow roots there. I swear, it must have covered 1/4 of a square block. She said it was the largest in the US. Ohooooooo, did I have fun. Couldn't buy too much because of extra luggage on the plane. It was a blast while it lasted.

i'm in kansas city and i can tell you our store is the same , you wait forever and maybe you get help, the store is always a mess, and they are always......short handed, i like the idea of a smaller store and quite frankly they have more of the fabric i like , however i have made my last 5 or 6 purches at JoAnne because of this very thing.

A friend recently went to purchase the Bamboo batting on sale at Hancocks. They didn't have any large size in the package so she asked if they could cut off the roll. The answer was yes, she had 2 pieces cut, one for her, one for me, but at the checkout was told the register wouldn't accept the sale price. The manager was called, she refused to honor the sale price saying it was packaged batts only, which the flyer did not state. Long story short, she declined to purchase the cut batts, (after a 40 miles round trip!) and emailed the Hancock headquarters with this story. A couple of hours later her phone rang, the store agreed to the sale and held the batts for her next trip in town. Sometimes it's worth the extra effort to seek a solution. But I agree that not all Hancock's are equal.

The internet is a wonderful thing. It's not just to air complaints to those of us that will lend a sympathetic ear but also can be used to tell someone that can actually DO something about it. Contact corporate headquarters and tell them! They can't improve the store if they don't know how badly it's being managed. That's the first thing I do if I have an ongoing problem. (Walmart Corporation should have my email address memorized by now) I also tell headquarters of stores when I've had exceptionally good service.

Too bad you all aren't closer to Champaign, Illinois. Our Hancocks, Joanns, Hobby Lobby and LQS's are wonderful! The sales staff are always helpful and accomodating. Only one time have I ever had a problem and that was in Joann's----new person--didn't last long.

I loved my Hancock's. It was literally on the corner in my neighborhood. I could go there without crossing any major streets! The staff were all very friendly and accommodating. When it closed, I lost the convenience of a close store-- then the 2 close Joann's closed also. I have to travel 10 miles to find a fabric store! The closest one is now my LQS which is great for quilting but not for other sewing needs.
The one plus when Hancock's closed is that I purchased a TON of fabrics as the prices dropped.
I do love Connecting Threads and buy a lot of fabric thru them on-line.

I've been to that Hancock's in Winston Salem when I was working in the area. I came away being very thankful that it's not where I have to shop for fabric - not impressive at all. Hancock's in Greensboro is better, and I like our JoAnn's.

I worked at Hancocks until they closed because they didn't make enough sales. They use employees in the store based on sales. When sales are down, the employees hours are down. If you run across a bad employee, report it immediately. (There is a form the manager keeps that you can request that can be sent to the District Office. You can complain on it or brag about the store and the store manager will be contacted.) Also, let the manager know that you are interested in more quilting fabric, sometimes they can accomodate you and order a line of quilting fabric and see how it sells. I worked in the district that goes from St. Louis, Missouri to Champaigne, Illinois. The district manager took any any bad comments to the store manager. Any good comments were also passed forward.

Most of the Hancock's here in the Houston area closed a few years ago ... no surprise there

Our local one was always poorly staffed, poorly stocked, very disorganized and so out of date (esp. for quilting items) that it was just total frustration to even set foot in there ...

Hi charlene, most likely you will be loosing your Hancock's in the near future. They took ours out. The store was always full. Bad decision of their part as Hancock's tends to carry different types of fabric than JoAnn's. I hope I am wrong.

Get in touch with the home office.

The ones in the St. Louis area were just remodeled. I have checked out two of the three nearest me, and I have been impressed. They have fat quarters and quilting stuff toward the ront of the store. Good decision. They had not fully restocked, but seemed to be concentrating on quilting stuff first.

I'm glad to hear that others have had disappointing trips to Hancocks. I avoid them whenever possible. They are the closest fabric shop to our home but I'd rather drive another 25-30 minutes to go to JoAnns. Besides, they lack personality!

I went with a friend a long time ago to Hancock's to return some fabric she had purchased for a mystery quilt to be held at our local quilt shop. She went to the "clearance" table and got 4 different polka dot fabrics...3 all cotton, 1 with rayon or something in it. When ironed the one with rayon shrunk...she took the small pieces back to the temporary manager....and, I was surprised at this, but she got better fabric (not clearance) to replace the unfortunate mistake...the friend blamed the clerk for her buying the wrong fabric. I never did understand this, and was shocked to see it come about in front of my own eyes, or I wouldn't have believed it. Can you really blame a clerk for you picking out and purchasing the wrong fabric? Can they be held responsible for your mistake?

In reading the comments on here I had to laugh. So many of you say "I'd rather drive 30 minutes to go to ....." or saying things about the stores being in your neighborhood.
The LQS's, Joanns, Hobby Lobby and Hancocks that I refered to earlier and call 'local' are all at least 30-40 minutes away. I only refer to it as a "road trip to the fabric store" if I go to a store an hour or so away. I live in a little rural town where you can't even buy a needle or spool of thread. LOL

I absolutely hate the Hancock's in Katy, TX. It is the worst store. Not only is the manager snotty, but the fabric is always a mess and they NEVER take the coupons (there's always some excuse that they make up). So, I vowed never to go into the store and I don't! I also told all my quilting friends about it too and they don't patonize them either.