Noooo this is the only fabric store around me
this post was submitted on 24 Feb 2025
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Just in time for the Greatest Depression when people will probably have to start mending/making their own clothes again.
Oh now it makes sense...that's the great they want to make America again...the great depression.
You gave me this amazing mental image. I'm tempted to make one more about the Great Chicago Fire or the Great Flood of 1862 lol
I love it. This should be a post of its own.
Another bankruptcy driven by private equity.
More like "another bankruptcy driven by outdated business model". Leonard Green has owned them since 2010. If the idea was to strip it down, wtf took so long?
Their "business model" seemed so shitty because it was after they were obtained by private equity who loaded up the business with debt and stripped them down to bare bones to look better on paper and do an IPO (2021).
This is textbook private equity vulture capitalism. They even gave the CEO a half million dollar bonus the day before they filed for bankruptcy 😂
Their "business model" seemed so shitty because
Their "business model" is so shitty because the Internet exists. There's not really a market for specialty brick and mortar stores anymore. Theyre in a weird grey area between boutique and Walmart and have none of the advantages of either.
I spoke to some crafters this morning after your comment and they strongly disagreed. They said that crafters that use fabric like cosplayers, quilters, sewers, and knitters use in-person retail for crafting supplies because ordering online is a gamble on quality and feel and online retailers don't do returns because fabric is cut to order.
These people must be making a hell of a lot of costumes if they're buying enough supplies to keep a nationwide chain of stores afloat
Looks like they were bought by private equity in 2010. 15 years later and they've sucked it dry, which seems to be happening to a lot of brands these days.
Grrr. That leaves Hobby Lobby for brick and mortar. 🤬
Michael's still exists. But they don't do nearly as much fabric stuff like Joann's does.
Ya unfortunately Joann's really was the big chain for that. We bought my niece a starter sewing machine for Xmas at one last year. Michael's has some stuff, maybe they can fill the gap. Hobby Lobby can burn.
Who knows, maybe Michael's will see the market opportunity and expand into fabrics.
Maybe not for a long while though, building that kind of inventory and supply chain takes a hell of a long time across 1200 individual stores, and the sheer square footage required to have the wide selection of fabrics needed in retail might not work for Michaels. My sample size is small but the Michaels I've been in are significantly smaller than the Jo-Ann's.
I confess to not being in many Michael's... I had wondered if they could buy up what Joann will likely liquidate but of course I imagine they are operating on a similarly strained budget. A smaller footprint would make it totally unrealistic unless they swapped stores.
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It's not a wonderful alternative and way less choice, but Walmarts still have a fabric section.
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Reminder God wants you to shoplift at hobby lobby.
I worked at a hobby lobby briefly and they expect so much more loss than another retail store I've worked at. Also, their refusal to implement digital stock keeping in the 21st century at that scale didn't help.
It really is the most ancient point of sale methodology I've seen in the last fifteen years or so.
This is the way
And Michaels, I suppose.
Mine doesn’t sell fabric. :(
The one near me does but admittedly their selection is kind of crap.
Walmart does also in select locations, with the same problem. (That, and finding someone to help you there is nigh impossible. On balance, you could also just grab the entire skein of whatever you wanted and leg it; it's doubtful anyone there would notice or care.)
"Yep, that's three yards!"
walmart's been trying to kill-off that department for years. stores that still have it have much less than they used to.
Probably because market demand was too low. Check and see what other sources of bulk fabric there are in the area. Definitely check for wholesale places.
If there was a Jo-Ann's down the street, there will be more incentive to offer fabrics now.
I feel like the biggest mistake was moving most of the stores from smaller more manageable spaces in malls to their gigantic department store sized spaces. For brick and mortar smaller retail spaces seems to be the winning strategy these days, especially since it can be supplemented with an online ordering & send to store system for items not kept in stock at the store.
I'll always remember Joann as the only retailer who sent me marketing emails with no unsubscribe button.
I used to do tech support with them as a client. Worst IT team to work with, they were always impatient jerks. I never did figure out if the company hired shitty people in the first place or just treated them like dirt with no outlet for their stress except outside vendors.
Isn't that illegal? lol
Yes. Per the CAN-SPAM act they could be fined $10k per email.
- Can I still use my JOANN gift card?
• All JOANN stores will be accepting gift cards through February 28
So, they can't give a timeline on anything else, and it's all subject to court approval, but they can just cancel all of the gift cards in 4 days? That is bullshit.
Just one of the many reasons why gift cards are terrible and should be avoided whenever possible.
When Toys R Us went bankrupt, my son had just been born. We'd been gifted a bunch of babies r us gift cards for the baby shower. I went the day the bankruptcy was announced and just went ape on diapers and wipes. Didn't have to buy any for like 6 months. They cancelled the gift cards like a month later.
aw, i did like Jo-ann's. So much nice fabric.
And a ton of other craft supplies!
This leaves us with homophobic Hobby Lobby for large craft supply stores.
Joann's saved me from ever having to go to Hobby Lobby and will be missed.
Also Micheals!
Please do not help the Green family further destroy Oklahoma, our democracy, and Biblical history (fun fact - their Museum of the Bible is stocked with artifacts plundered during the Iraq War. Someone else got them with some fake Dead Sea Scrolls - one of them of course with the anti-gay “clobber passage”)
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I’m not one for sewing at all but my wife is crafty and Joann’s was always a fun trip. What a shame, gonna miss that place a lot.
With this, over time at least, competition can return in the shape and form of smaller stores
Maybe something for your wife to start? I heard the market just opened up
Craft stores are uniquely unsuited to this because they have to have thousands of suppliers. Just due to the variety of stuff available at a hobby and craft shop, you need to deal in so many thousands of SKUs but any customer needs 5-10 of them at absolute best. The only craft stores that are still independent are those that are supported by the sales of large equipment and then can also supply the owners (sewing machines, looms, etc)
This is mostly going to suck for costumers, home sewists who do anything other than quilt and machine embroidery, teachers and educators who use it for craft supplies, and probably anyone making home- health aids as a small business since they were a major support of open-cell foam in small quantities.
Cosplay in the US is going to take a hit
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I'm so upset about this. I don't live in a town that has a Joanns .. I go everytime in in the area... Shit sucks.
I enjoy sewing... But I need to feel the fabric first. :(
Gonna miss them.
Unfortunately crafts is a rich persons hobby these days. When people don’t have money they’re not spending much on their hobbies.
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