JOANN Fabrics, the go-to fabric store for many creatives, recently announced that all 800 of their stores will close this year. That includes 18 stores in Texas.
The craft retailer first filed for bankruptcy in March of last year, and in January, JOANN issued a statement announcing their second bankruptcy filing. The announcement of the closure was met with dismay by many sewers, quilters and other crafters who work in fabric arts.
Sarah Vincent, an associate editor at Good Housekeeping, said it’s hard to know exactly why this is happening.
“I do know that there was a big resurgence in crafting over the pandemic, when people were looking for ways to keep themselves busy while they were stuck at home,” Vincent said. “Unfortunately, I don’t think that trend continued after things started reopening. I think some people moved away from some of those crafts …
I know that retail stores everywhere are having a hard time with online shopping, and those factors combined are probably contributing to why the stores can’t stay open any longer.”
Vincent is a frequent JOANN shopper and said she was personally upset to hear the news the company was closing its stores.
“I’ve been a JOANN devotee for over a decade, basically since I learned how to sew. I’ve been shopping at JOANN for everything from quilting, sewing, making Halloween costumes, cross-stitching, crocheting. I mean, you name it, I’ve probably tried it and shopped for it at JOANN,” she said.
“What JOANN was really good at was having a wide variety of fabrics available at a low cost, particularly because they would frequently run sales or coupons of 40 to 50% off, which really let people embrace their creativity without needing to invest too much money into trying to learn something new.”
Fabric is one of those materials that most crafters want to put their hands on before purchasing it for a new project, Vincent said. This makes online alternatives to JOANN less appealing.
“It’s so important to go in person, because when you’re shopping online, you’re just looking at a little picture of the fabric you can’t necessarily feel,” Vincent said.
“Is it soft? Is it going to be stretchy enough? Is it going to fray when you work with it? Does it match your other fabrics? Is it kind of the feel that you’re looking for? What is the fiber content? And that’s something that online shopping really can’t replace that JOANN offered for a lot of crafters.”
The closure of JOANN’s, where you can browse craft supplies in person, will also create a new barrier for those who want to get into new hobbies, Vincent said.
“For myself, I taught myself how to quilt because there was a 70% off fabric sale at JOANN. So I spent only a couple dollars and got some supplies and went home and looked up a YouTube video and taught myself,” she said.
“But I think that’s going to be a lot harder for crafters following me, because they are no longer going to be able to go in and see those fabrics and shop themselves and be able to say, ‘you know what, I really want to try this, and it’s not going to be too difficult because I don’t have to invest a lot of money into it.’”
In terms of in-person JOANN equivalents, Vincent said it depends on where you live.
“For myself, I’ll probably be shopping at Mood Fabrics. I’m lucky to have one nearby and they have some really great selection there. But you could also look for local mom-and-pop shops, like quilting stores that might have high quality fabrics,” she said.
“And you can also look at your local thrift store to see if somebody maybe donated some of their fabric stash that you can use, or even look if there are kind of nontraditional materials you might be able to upcycle to use in your new projects and save them from going to the landfill.”
Of all her memories at JOANN Fabrics, Vincent said the ones she thinks about the most are the times she spent there with her mother.
“We really love to go and look at all the fabrics together and help each other pick out the patterns we love and color-match them and find the matching thread,” she said. “And I think for a lot of people, JOANN really offered that center of community to go with their friends and loved ones, or to meet new friends.
As these stores are closing, I’ve just seen such an outpouring of love for them on social media. So for myself and I think a lot of other people, that’s what I’m really thinking about as these stores close.”
