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Originally Posted by charmpacksplus
I should have been buying stock instead of fabric :cry:
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Originally Posted by granny6x13542
Look for more Chinese-made merchandise as that is the fastest way to make more money.
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OK...so how will that effect my gift certificate that DH just got me for Christmas....perhaps I should go down right after Christmas. If they get c**p in, I will only be able to get pins and needles. I can hope for the best. Oh, and Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night. fmd36 in NH
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Thank you for your insightful post, Fabric Whisperer. As a long time sewer and now quilter I have frequented fabric stores for many years and can appreciate the hard work you have invested in making this an enjoyable hobby for many.
Welcome to the board - I hope this will be a fun place for you and look forward to learning from you as well! BTW - is that a Bearded Dragon I see in your Avatar? ...my ten year old granddaughter wants one of those...her mama isn't so sure however :) |
Originally Posted by akrogirl
Sorry, but that was not my quote, lol. However, I do agree that we have major, major problems ahead if we don't restore our manufacturing base.
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fmd, from what I read, the earliest the deal could be finalized is mid-February, so probably no rush on that gift certificate.
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Originally Posted by granny6x13542
My experience with corporate buy-outs has not been positive. The new owners are only interested in quick return on their investment and frequently don't manage the company to ensure it continues as a viable business. Look for more Chinese-made merchandise as that is the fastest way to make more money.
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Originally Posted by Midwestmary
BTW - is that a Bearded Dragon I see in your Avatar? ...my ten year old granddaughter wants one of those...her mama isn't so sure however :)
I have been lurking here for awhile, I look forward to being a good contributing member here too. Merry Christmas / Mele Kalikimaka |
Hope they keep a store in our area
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Well my husband said its just a bunch of inverstors and most likely nothing will change. Who knows. Just have to wait and watch.
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Originally Posted by katier825
Companies: Jo-Ann Stores (JAS) said Thursday it was being acquired by private-equity firm Leonard Green & Partners for $1.6 billion, or $61 per share in cash. The stock surged by 33% in early trading.
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Originally Posted by C.Cal Quilt Girl
Wow that's very interesting... may have some good results.
Hopefully will help with the whole, so much on sale can't use the coupon. Are generally profitable retailers, all we can do is watch and see. I think the buy-out might be a good/stimulating thing - will have to wait and see. Happy Holidays everyone. Marysewfun |
I looked it up. LGP investments own the following: Whole Foods, Petco, Tourneau watches, Sports Authority, Rite Aid, Neman Marcus, Equinox, DelTaco, David's Bridal and The Container Store. Good Grief. They have $9 billion in equity capital.
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Great- the last time we had a fabric store in town that was owned by someone on the west coast, we couldn't get anything other than cottons. no flannel, etc.
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Leonard Green & Partners is a private equity firm specializing in leveraged buyout transactions, particularly of middle market companies. As of 2010, the firm had with approximately $9 billion in assets under management.
The firm, which was founded in 1989 has approximately 22 employees based in its Los Angeles, California offices. As of 2010, Leonard Green had completed investments in 52 companies with aggregate value of $44 billion, since its founding in 1989. Among the firm's historical investments are the following: Rite Aid, 1999[4] Big 5 Sporting Goods, 1992 Petco, (2000, 2006) Leonard Green and TPG Capital invested $200 million to acquire the pet supplies retailer as part of a $600 million buyout. Within two years they sold most of it in a public offering that valued the company at $1 billion. Petco’s market value more than doubled by the end of 2004 and the firms would ultimately realize a gain of $1.2 billion. Then, in 2006, the private equity firms took Petco private again for $1.68 billion.[5][6] Sports Authority, February 2003[7][8] Varsity Brands Inc., April 2003.[9] FTD Group, Inc., October 2003. Leonard Green announced a $445.4 million going private acquisition of FTD in which the firm invested $179.0 million. On February 8, 2005, FTD completed an initial public offering.[10] David's Bridal, November 2006[11] Priscilla of Boston, April 2007[12] The Container Store, July 2007[13] Whole Foods Market, November 2008[14] In Dec 2010, besides JoAnn's, Green also bought J. Crew. This seems to be a trend in the last decade - with Wilbur Ross and other equity firms, domestic and foreign, buying up every automotive supplier they can put their hands on. Now, spread that over into every other industry, and you can see why some people are so alarmed. But that's probably more than you wanted to know. I suspect JoAnn's will keep right on running, with less emphasis on quality than ever before. |
I guess I will take a wait and see position. I just placed an order earlier today.....I hope it works out.
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Oh I surely hope it all works out. JoAnn's is opening a new store in Huntsville, AL in February and I am so looking forward to it.
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Hunsville is not to far. Glad to here of another store in AL.
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I did hear this on the news, but other than that... don't know. It will be interesting to see how much the prices go up now.
When I was in my local JoAnn's last week, I was getting some fabric cut and asked the gal if I could get a remnant that was laying on the counter (hadn't been wrapped in their paper yet) She says, I can't sell it to you until my manager checks it to see if it's measured right. They did end up calling the manager to get the okay to let me buy it, but I thought that was a bit extreme - now it makes sense - they were going to take the buy out. |
Originally Posted by charmpacksplus
I should have been buying stock instead of fabric :cry:
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some company I have never heard of bought them out today, dont know what kind of business , it was in the austin, tx
business section of the paper |
Originally Posted by butterflies5518
I just saw on the news feed in our building that Jo Ann's agreed to a buy out? Anyone hear anything further??
Seems they have over 400 in all. I wish us all luck with the new owners ! |
Thanks for the info. I will follow it on the Wall Street Journal if they report any transaction.
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Originally Posted by charmpacksplus
I should have been buying stock instead of fabric :cry:
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I was grumbling about JoAnn's to DH and he said that most likely the equity company may be planning on selling off pieces of the stores or even as a whole. They could cut out expenses (which might include employees) so they can make a better profit off of the sale. They might keep the stores for a year or two before they sell.
I guess time will tell. |
I hate to hear of buy outs, people lose their jobs
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Hope it means good times for JoAnn, and that all the coupon values continue.
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Fabric Whisperer- I am so sorry that you had to give up a job you probably enjoyed for the sake of the bottom line for the higher ups. It seems that it is always the hard workers that end up loosing in the long run.
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Originally Posted by merridancer
Just remember that in any buy-out, the new owners have to have enough profit to pay off the debts that come with the buyout.....
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Tis sad news indeed. Stock up while you can, I don't imagine the great coupons will continue to be available. I hope i am wrong. This is definitely a "wait and see".
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Here's what I found on the Leonard Green Partners web site:
http://www.leonardgreen.com/InvestmentPhilosophy.htm MARKET LEADERS We have a long and successful history of investing in industry leaders. STRONG MANAGEMENT We rely heavily on our management partners to execute the operational and strategic business plan for the companies that we invest in. Therefore, it is critical that we team with the best managements in the industry. TRANSACTION SIZE We have the capability of completing transactions up to $5 billion in enterprise value, with most transactions being between $500 million and $2 billion in enterprise value. GROWTH COMPANIES Our investment philosophy is to target cash flow positive businesses that have the ability to grow by at least 50% over a five-year period. LONG-TERM INVESTOR We are patient investors and have held positions in some of our portfolio companies more than ten years. We have repeatedly demonstrated our ability to successfully originate, negotiate, consummate and realize investments in a variety of different industries and economic environments. In addition to our internal efforts, we work extensively with investment bankers, business brokers and other intermediaries to source investment opportunities. We partner with management to enhance the value of companies through operational improvements, acquisitions, financial engineering and other strategic initiatives. We have had significant success in structuring transactions to meet the needs of all parties involved. Types of investments that we have completed in the past include public-to-private transactions, recapitalizations of privately held businesses, growth capital, equity capital to facilitate acquisitions, turnarounds and restructuring investments and acquisitions of divisions/assets from large corporations. |
We have had a very good JoAnn shop here great employees always friendly and helpful but now I'm worried they wil become like our local Hancocks which is a good place to stay out of the employees act like they are doing us a very big favor by even being there and maybe only one person to cut and run the register so I only hope that won't be the story for JoAnns
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WEll that explains why they went out of business in Grand Junction, CO and haven't come back (we were told that the lease on the space at the mall was too expensive and they were looking for another place). Amazing for sure, who knows, maybe it will be a good thing. Now I drive either to Denver or SLC for my Jo-Ann's or shop online ..
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I am always fascinated by the comments about Walmart...NO ONE shops there, but they are the biggest retailer in the country. Someone is shopping there. We all shop price and that drives the market..China = cheap = price...we all help with that. I notice we all want the coupons and other price lowering tricks. The retailer is in business to make money..don't shop price if you want the small guy to stay around..ask any Mom & Pop store owner....likely except for LQs, most of us shop price...just saying...
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Originally Posted by kathidahl
I am always fascinated by the comments about Walmart...NO ONE shops there, but they are the biggest retailer in the country. Someone is shopping there. We all shop price and that drives the market..China = cheap = price...we all help with that. I notice we all want the coupons and other price lowering tricks. The retailer is in business to make money..don't shop price if you want the small guy to stay around..ask any Mom & Pop store owner....likely except for LQs, most of us shop price...just saying...
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Originally Posted by kathidahl
I am always fascinated by the comments about Walmart...NO ONE shops there, but they are the biggest retailer in the country. Someone is shopping there. We all shop price and that drives the market..China = cheap = price...we all help with that. I notice we all want the coupons and other price lowering tricks. The retailer is in business to make money..don't shop price if you want the small guy to stay around..ask any Mom & Pop store owner....likely except for LQs, most of us shop price...just saying...
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UGH!!! I don't know how this will end up but Joann's is the only fabric store we actually have. No fabric at our Walmarts and local quilt shops are 4-5 towns away and I live in the city.
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UGH!!! I don't know how this will end up but Joann's is the only fabric store we actually have. No fabric at our Walmarts and local quilt shops are 4-5 towns away and I live in the city.
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Originally Posted by fabric whisperer
I have been a long-time lurker here, and this one makes me speak up! :)
I was a #2 manager at a local JAS -- I recently left because of the politics. I heard many people mention untrained staff, long lines, fabric quality, overworked staff... I am not allowed to divulge too much, but since I quit, I can finally speak up a little. I am hoping this buyout will really rattle things in a positive way. "Corporate" mandated "making budget" everyday. They wanted us to convince customers to buy more/highercost items... BS your way in if you have to. Sorry, I had morals, and left the company. (I would not toss 5 extra skeins of yarn into that 80-y.o. lady's basket to make her buy more!) Corporate would set a magical $ amount for our store; budget not met daily = employee hour cut to "make budget". What did this mean? Two-man coverage at smaller stores for most of the day, and we were still expected to get stock out, help customers, cut orders, run register, clean the store, setup new plan-o-grams (sectional product layouts), etc. If the standard work didn't get done during our normal shift, we managers would get written up. Nevermind that I didn't get to finish a plan-o-gram because I was busy helping customers -- my philosophy has always been "if I don't help my customer, someone else will -- without happy customers, there is no business". Needless to say, mgmt positions are very stressful at JAS, and if nothing else, I hope this company actually will let the managers have more staff hours to that the stores can be brought back up to par. Please understand, my District Manager chewed me a new one, in front of customers, because my new floral setup didn't get completed... I didn't get it done because we were busy with customers until 5 minutes before close... Needless to say, I chose to help the customers! I agree the fabric quality has declined, many fabrics they are now selling are from China -- thin, damaged bolts upon delivery, I have sewn for over 30 years, and I wouldn't buy them. But they do also have the better quality stuff, you just have to know where to look. They still sell RJR, Hoffman, Springs / VIP, Kona, many great names. I was the merchandising manager and took my job & store very seriously, I was constantly complimented on good selection / well stocked / clean store while I was in charge. I am a scrapbooker, painter, sewer, quilter, crocheter, musician, and 4th generation artist. My store now looks like doodoo since I left, the new merch mgr just wanted the higher paycheck, she doesn't care about aesthetics or what the customer wants. I hope it will be a good thing. Oh, BTW the "no debt thing" -- they got out of debt by making us run medium-sized stores with only 2 employees/shift for a long time. Meanwhile, corporate was building a "workout center" across from HQ for millions... Um, we are working ourselves into heart attacks while you're spending the cash-flow on a new rec center? That just wasn't cool IMHO. I stood at the foot of Wall St NYC with Alan Rosskam (the family who owned the company) when they went public as JAS... I ran most of my stores with a cashier (the store manager) and a cutter (me).... Every thing you state above is the god's honest truth....on 9-13-2001, I had to call my District manager to tell him I was closing the store, whether he liked it or not, because we were receiving bomb threats on the two bridges within miles from us, while we could see and smell the smoke from the twin towers, while we were comforting customers who had escaped the carnage, and he wanted to write me up....(thankfully Mr. Rosskam had some sense and apologized to me) Anything going better than that would be an improvement... |
Originally Posted by Gael
Originally Posted by kathidahl
I am always fascinated by the comments about Walmart...NO ONE shops there, but they are the biggest retailer in the country. Someone is shopping there. We all shop price and that drives the market..China = cheap = price...we all help with that. I notice we all want the coupons and other price lowering tricks. The retailer is in business to make money..don't shop price if you want the small guy to stay around..ask any Mom & Pop store owner....likely except for LQs, most of us shop price...just saying...
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