The Decline of Joann...What Happened?

Comments · 4.1K

• JM

  @jmechu2448 · 1 year ago

  I think they should've stopped investing in home decor. Over half the store was filled with mass-produced garbage, while most of the customers I saw were buying fabric or hobby supplies.

  3K

• KI

  @kitrakitarunaki · 1 year ago

  They are the ONLY retailer who sells actual special occasion fabric or work fabric. Walmart, Michael’s, hobby lobby all sell primarily cotton or fleece. Fabric to make anything like upholstery, Haute couture, labor clothing like for a mechanic/ farm animals/ construction, or even a waterproof tablecloth is getting near impossible to find. Joann is the ONLY retailer who has those in variety. I’m terrified to see it close bc it’s the only place I can purchase fabric for the custom wedding dresses I make, or the cosplay outfits, horse blankets, vehicle covers, or my 10ft dragon puppets. No retailer exists like that. You cannot reliably buy fabric online, you HAVE to get it in person. In addition, hobby lobby’s special occasion fabric is SHEIN quality these days. Joann is the last quality fabric store in existence. <br><br>If they get back to basics, downsize to just fabric they’d be ok. No other retailer sells denim, suede, leather, heck I can list hundreds. Cotton print is the false front of the store which is why Michael’s is competing with them now. There is a major market for it. They got stupid looking at crafts. Sewing is an industry separate to crafts and will always exist even with machines. People who sew make things you can’t just buy on the market. Machines literally damage some fabric and it has to be hand sewn. I made my couch with fabric from there and my blacksmith and woodworking skills; I made a massive puppet now used to teach masters courses in puppetry manufacturing and skins for animatronics. These things have no equivalent product I can purchase. <br><br>Joann being gone will cause a domino effect at this point that isn’t easy to explain. Just being able to purchase cotton fabric, that’s honestly no better than temu, will be a nightmare. Samples to then be mass manufactured are STILL MADE BY HAND. A machine can’t reupholster a Victorian couch. Where am I supposed to get the material to do that now? The quality of the weave and thread you have to see and feel in person. &nbsp;Now fast fashion really will be the standard and we’ll be expected to trash EVERYTHING we own even down to our furniture now instead of caring and repairing. Plush fabrics have gotten terrible too even as of late, and you still have to make your own for a lot of things. Joann is just one store, but it’s the biggest. Historical fabric shops are closing too. When Joann leaves, it’ll be a horribly dark omen for any industry that uses fabric.

  1.8K

• TY

  @tyradorman4637 · 1 year ago

  As an employee there, the inventory coordinating manager, &nbsp;I have to say the whole company is terribly mismanaged, out of touch and clueless. Those of us working very hard every day in store, are constantly shocked by the decisions made and the expectations given. The product we receive is ridiculous sometimes. Tons of one item that no one wants? <br><br>The harsh part of the fall of Joann’s in our area is how many people will be affected. We sell thousands of dollars a week to people who make a living sewing and crocheting. They sell at markets and many have thriving online shops. We have the largest fabric and yarn department in our region. And we go through the product! We cannot keep our yarn section fully stocked to keep up. <br><br>I do know, and have seen, other stores a complete mess! But I do take some pride in being one of the few larger stores that keeps it together with fairly great, happy employees and customers despite the issues we have.<br><br>Hopefully someone will come along and save the fabric and yarn departments!!

  370

• EL

  @elainekilgore1352 · 1 year ago

  People are sure going regret losing the art of sewing and the loss of brick and mortar fabric stores. These skills will be needed in the future.

  479

• JO

  @johncollie337 · 1 year ago

  At this point I swear “private equity firm” and “leveraged buyout” are to Company Man what corruption and cost-cutting is to Fascinating Horror

  979

• PX

  @PXAbstraction · 1 year ago

  Once more with feeling: Private equity ruins everything.

  3.2K

• CL

  @ClayArtGirl · 1 year ago

  I have worked at Joann for 10 years and have been witness to their terrible business decisions. They expect us to run a store with only 2 employees all day on a Saturday. Customers get upset they can’t get any help and take it out on us. Some are nice about it, but it’s hard to balance out the negative people.

  1.2K

• NA

  @natalyaforaloe · 1 year ago

  I cried twice in Joann fabric – first time 28 years ago, when I just came to United States and been overwhelmed by bolts of fabric, notions, machines, books, everything for the person who wants to sew, knit, crochet, after growing up and living in scarcity. Second time I cried when I learned that my local store is closing.

  136

• UN

  @uncreativename3440 · 1 year ago

  I hate buying fabrics online; you can’t tell a fabric’s extact texture, stretch, or color based on just some pictures and videos. <br>Joann’s is my go-to because it’s generally affordable and also one of the only fabric stores open near me. <br>If Joann’s was better with what stock they kept in their limited floorspace, for example, eliminating most of those darned ip print fabrics, and really focused in on the fact that they are a sewing store, they might not be struggling as hard as they do now.<br><br>Also, private equity firms showing how crap they are at managing any business ever part 9999

  2.2K

• EL

  @ElizabethRBain · 1 year ago

  The alleged decline of sewing is the smallest cause, if it is a cause at all. Things started to go south when private equity got involved, and when more Chinese -made cheap Temu-type goods showed up in the stores.

  499

• BR

  @brittaj68 · 1 year ago

  I worked at JoAnn in &apos;04. &nbsp;One time a man came in to buy 4 bolts of fabric, but he made me measure each one and not go by the label. &nbsp;Each one was almost a yard short. &nbsp;Multiple that by the millions of bolts across time and space and you have a company getting embezzled by their supplier. &nbsp;Not only that, the company tried to blame the shrink on the employees!

  792

• AP

  @AprilThompsonibc · 1 year ago

  I remember back in early 2000&apos;s my mom, who has always sewn her own clothes, complaining that the quality of the material she was buying at Joann&apos;s had become so bad that she could no longer use it to make her clothes. &nbsp;She had to start buying from local quilt shops because they carried better quality material. &nbsp;Like someone has already mentioned, the downfall really goes back to bad management decisions and misunderstanding of customer wants at the top level.

  79