After a long fight with declining sales, the fabric and craft store Joann is closing down all locations nationwide.
There are 14 Joann locations in Colorado, including two nearby in Fort Collins and Loveland. Originally, only 500 locations would be closing across the United States, but only a week later on February 25, it was announced all stores would be closing. This news came as a shock to many.
“I felt like Joann has such a big group of people to appeal to, because every time I go there, there’s a bunch of old ladies… and people that don’t sew getting fabrics for blankets or stuff like that,” said Kendall Holmes, a Fossil senior who is going to college for fashion design. “I didn’t think they were lacking any business.”
Family and Consumer Science teacher Kara Felske went to Joann about once a week for the Fashion Design and Merchandising II class. In it, students learned how to make clothes by using patterns and sewing.
“All of the fabrics that I could think of, [Joann] had it available. They had every type of thread and thickness of thread, they had all my bobbins that fit with my sewing machines,” she said. “They had additional zippers and buttons and things that students would use for their projects.”
Despite how often Holmes felt people used Joann, she saw the signs of closure.
“Last time I went, there was a lot of things on sale before they announced the shutdown… especially nicer fabrics…mostly what I noticed with the lack of customers.”
Felske enjoyed the conveniences of Joann, such as being open seven days a week, even when other stores like Hobby Lobby carry fabrics. Online shopping is hard to rely on, too.
“There are some specialty fabric stores online… but it’s just so expensive, you’re paying a premium price,” Felske said. “A lot of times it’s not really in our budget to get some of the things that we want from those online shops. Sometimes shipping takes a few weeks from some specialty shops as well.”
Holmes has used Joann for many of her projects to get everything from fabric to zippers. She prefers the ease of shopping in-person.
“Online, they’ll give you a description of the fabric and you see a picture of it, but you can’t generally picture what it feels like or how stretchy it is,” she said. “I also feel like usually when I’m going to pick out fabrics, I like looking through a bunch of options instead of knowing right off the bat what I want. Sometimes I’ll have a color or a certain fabric that I like, but I like going in person because then I can look at all the options.”
Students will not only miss out on a wider variety of fabrics and patterns, but other schools, like Rocky Mountain High School, did field trips to Joann.
“[Rocky] talks about pricing and measurements and how much of a fabric and textile to get, like, ‘Let’s do an actual tactile activity and feel the differences [between fabrics]’, and they’re gonna miss out on a pretty cheap, low cost field trip that has a really big reward,” Felske said. “So I’m thinking about the other schools and other programs that really rely on the in-person things, and not just for the teacher shopping.”
Holmes had an easier time with her fashion portfolio for colleges like the Fashion Institute of Technology because of Joann.
“I went to Joann and got a bunch of fabric samples because my colleges were requiring that [for portfolios],” she said. “So if I didn’t have the option of Joann’s, I would have to order fabrics, and usually… it’s a lot harder than going in person just asking for, like, an inch.”
Some states will be hit harder than others. For Colorado, which does not have a strong fashion scene, the closure of Joann will leave a hole for in-person shopping.
“Colorado doesn’t have a ton of options for fabric stores. I think they have some in Denver, but it’s a really hard drive, and they get pricey,” Holmes said.
Felske reflects that other stores have fabric, like Michaels, but she will miss Joann.
“It’s not like we won’t have access to anything. It’s just Joann was the perfect one-stop shop.”
