Joann's Fabrics Going Out Of Business

[GoDawgs]

If you do sewing or sewing crafts and have one of these stores near you, it would be a good time to stock up on anything you need. Sewing machines also on sale.

"The new owners are conducting going-out-of-business sales at all remaining store locations starting immediately, with sales also being held on Joann's website. Some sales will begin immediately, and store closure dates will be announced over the company's website and app, according to a FAQ posted by the company."

"Customer gift cards are valid through Feb. 28, Joann noted. Fabrics and yarns, sewing supplies and machines, and home decor are already marked down across Joann's website. "

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/joann-fabr ... ess-sales/

https://www.joann.com/

[karstopography]

I’ve never been in a Joann’s. Evidently, there are several stores in the Houston area. Our little berg has Hobby Lobby as our sole national chain craft and sewing/fabric store. I don’t sew or craft, but Hobby Lobby has great glass seed beads and other materials for fly tying. Hobby Lobby was one store that if my wife was headed there I’d want to tag along. According to the article in the link, Online retailers are proving to be too much to compete against. For many products, I’d much rather order from the comfort of my chair at home than go out and fight traffic, hunt for parking and deal with rude clerks, especially if the price is about the same.

[worth1]

I've never heard of them.
My Mom sewed all the time.
I can't remember a week growing up she wasn't sewing something.
I also remember as a wee child going to Penneys to buy her sewing supplies.
Lots of girls wore sack dresses back then made from flour sacks that had print on them.
Mr's Bagby next door used an old foot pedal sewing machine.
They gave us a sewing kit in the Marines with extra buttons and thread.
My zipper messed up so I turned my cammys into button up trousers.
Button holes and all.
We have a Hobby Lobby in Bastrop.
Probably other sewing stores as well.
Walmart has sewing supplies.
Everyone in those days had a frame on the ceiling to make quilts.
Sad to see people going out of business but if you're not on line you're dieing.

[GoDawgs]

I don't sew per se, just reattaching a button, a quick hand stitching on a tear in an old garden jacket, etc. I have been in a Joann's once many years ago for a piece of black velvet-like material to serve as a backdrop for some figurines I was taking photos of. Lots of stuff in there that could be a candy store for anyone who does sew.

...Hobby Lobby was one store that if my wife was headed there I’d want to tag along. According to the article in the link, Online retailers are proving to be too much to compete against. For many products, I’d much rather order from the comfort of my chair at home than go out and fight traffic, hunt for parking and deal with rude clerks, especially if the price is about the same.

My first visit to Hobby Lobby was this past Christmas to buy small gift bags for cookie presents at 50% off. It was enough to see that one day I really would like to mosey around in there just to see what all they had that I might could use someday. Call it a recon, mentally filing away useful things.

Some things I'll order online, lots that I won't. I will never buy clothing of any kind online. I want to feel the fabric and most importantly try stuff on. There are so many brands that all fit differently even though the item is labeled the same size. I'm not going to waste time playing the "returns" game. Besides, when you're retired you can go shopping during the off hours during the week when a lot of other seniors aren't awake yet and the rest of the world is at work. Just make sure to avoid 11:30am-1pm lunch break time and anytime after 3pm to avoid any shift changes and after schoolers.

[worth1]

Hobby lobby has all manner of stuff.
They have model planes and car airbrushes paint and no telling what all.
I picked up a nice set of art paint brushes there.

[zeuspaul]

Joann's fabrics is where I bought a large piece of felt for my model train table. I am probably part of the problem of why many retailers are going out of business. Now I buy just about everything online including groceries. However most of the groceries come from a local retailer using Instacart. For dry goods some come from Vitacost ( using a 20% off coupon, free shipping for $50 minimum order) and some purchases from Amazon such as Whole Foods organic peanut butter and Ghirardelli chocolate chips. Walmart has free shipping for dry goods but also works with Instacart for perishables. Best price there for Ezekiel bread.

[svalli]

There may be some good deals for supply hoarders like me, but it is sad that so many businesses are now going bankrupt. I think that I have still buttons and stuff purchased at Joann's and I have a lot of fabrics I purchased at some garment manufacturers sale in Milwaukee over 30 years ago. I used to sew clothes for myself as a hobby, but I have not done that for many years.

Last fall a big Scandinavian gardening center closed all stores in Finland and they had a lot of plants and supplies at -70%. I purchased many tomato supports and a mini pallet collar greenhouse with fitting self watering containers. I will build a movable herb garden for our new garage roof terrace. Now I regret that I did not buy more stuff from there, but there was not much left when I went there second time.

[BettyC-5]

I'm going to really miss Joann's, I quilt, sew clothes, knit a few things. Recently ordered some nice flannel with cool mushroom print, another print with owls, that I am going to make into new shirts. Will have to make a trip before it closes for good. Stores in Spokane or Coeur D'Alene are about an hour away for me.

[bower]

I've seen Joann's online, but never shopped there. Our big chain in eastern Canada is Fabricville, and I've been shopping there online since the pandemic. They have fantastic sales and specials all year round, but especially this time of year there's an end of season closeout happening while they're bringing new stock in. Whoever handles the marketing for Fabricville, they're doing a brilliant job. They even do a pop-up sale when Amazon is sucking away business with Prime days or other specials. And they stack on the discounts if they really want to make that sale. They also have very reasonable flat rate shipping based on your order total.

I wonder why Joann's had trouble competing online, because for some retailers it's a bonus.
I know that Etsy changed the picture for some craft supply, because you can open a shop front without the overhead of a physical retail store. The small seller however does not have the advantage of massive discounts for their bulk purchases. One factor on Etsy was that the shift from finished craft to craft supply also opened the door for enterprises half way around the world. If a business in India can retail to you direct, it's going to undercut those bulk supply deals that kept large retail chains competitive.
IDK how much 'fast fashion' has eaten into the home sewing market. It's so much cheaper just to buy some crap product and toss it when it falls apart.
I wonder if fabric sellers have gone through a 'boom/bust' cycle with the pandemic mask making driving up sales, and then dropping out of the picture. These kind of market skewing events can catch you out, if you invest heavily at the wrong moment in that curve.

[GoDawgs]

...I wonder if fabric sellers have gone through a 'boom/bust' cycle with the pandemic mask making driving up sales, and then dropping out of the picture. These kind of market skewing events can catch you out, if you invest heavily at the wrong moment in that curve.

Another article I read about this said that Joann's did see an increase in sales during Covid but the boom decreased as the Covid thing eased off.

[worth1]

...I wonder if fabric sellers have gone through a 'boom/bust' cycle with the pandemic mask making driving up sales, and then dropping out of the picture. These kind of market skewing events can catch you out, if you invest heavily at the wrong moment in that curve.

Another article I read about this said that Joann's did see an increase in sales during Covid but the boom decreased as the Covid thing eased off.

People also got bored and took up hobbies that they may have dropped after they could get out and about.

Speaking of the bottom dropping out the Alaska oil field and pipe line got completed right as the price of oil hit rock bottom.

Anyway it's expensive to have a rental store in some areas like Austin.

[bower]

One thing I've been shopping for is outdoor fabric - olefin (polypropylene) textiles for tarps that do not break up into shreds. I'm so fed up with the woven tarps that easily tear and litter the yard with strips of plastic, no fun to clean up.
Yes the textile versions - designed for upholstery - are way more expensive. But you can cut holes, hem or serge edges, and at the end of the day it is recyclable. I got some heavy stuff 350 GSM last season that was selling 3m for the price of 1. Great deal and very nice quality material. I just picked up a few pieces more, some lighter weight, to run tests about water penetration and find out which works best for a holed tarp for planting.
The deals offered at my store included 75% off, some 3 for 1 deals, and some 60%, but they also sent me deal of the day promo code to get another 10% off on online orders. So as you can imagine, way more affordable.

I just checked at Joann's online, what are they offering that's similar. Regular prices in USD are probably a bit lower than CAD full price equivalent for these materials, but at 25% off they're still twice what I paid in nominal CAD. per meter, not per yard.
https://www.joann.com/c/fabric/home-dec ... st-matches
Maybe the closeout sale is coming later?

[ddsack]

We have a Joanne's Fabrics anchoring one end of our indoor mall in our smaller city. Although I didn't shop there that much, I certainly will miss it. If you sew for yourself, you really want to feel the softness or texture of the material with your fingers before you buy it, and see the drape and hang of it. Thickness, stiffness, shininess and true color can't come through on a screen and descriptions are not always good or true.

I suppose despite lots of "Project Runway" fans, not many do people do much sewing for themselves or even own a sewing machine. Patterns are pretty expensive now, around $10 ( I remember when they were about 35 cents - yes, I am old!) We had two semesters of sewing classes in Home Ec when I went to school, we learned to make a pleated skirt, a bibbed apron (for cooking class) and baby doll pajamas as projects. There were about 30 old black and gold treadle machines, and only about 4 or 5 electric sewing machines that we learned on. I doubt that is even offered as an option in schools now, so not a big customer base for the future. Unless you are interested in fashion and picking your unique colors and materials, ( or in hobbies like quilting) I just don't see the upcoming generation of customer sales being able to support the kind of profits that companies want these days. It's sad, I loved to browse all the bolts of fabrics and imagine what I could make with them if only I had the industriousness ( I am lazy!)

[worth1]

I remember the 35 cent patterns.

[bower]

I remember the 35 cent patterns.

Sigh... me too!

So agree with you @ddsack about shopping by feel. Anything bought online is a gamble, and the worst thing is, even if you like it, it may not be that easy to go back for more. Stocks disappear, names change. I've learned to use GSM to figure the weights and approximate expectations, but unless the hand and drape is described you're really flying blind.
I remember as a child, going to fabric stores with my mother, oohing and aahing over the nicest stuffs.
Everyone sewed their own clothes in her day. She was very good and a bit of a perfectionist. Also made all my clothes until I was skilled enough to make my own - I was expected to learn that.
But eventually it fell by the wayside. Mainly due to the switch to jeans and t-shirts, which would be a pain to sew myself (yes call it lazy). Sometimes I'll take apart an old item that fits just right and make a pattern of it. I still have the sewing machine I got when I was 16 years old. Yep, still working. A Kenmore.
I also have my grandmother's old foot pedal Singer. It's missing a belt, no idea where I would find one. The machine folds down to make a small table, and there it sits.