Joann's Status

[charkitty]

Any news on the status of Joann's. I'd read Joann's may be bought or going out of business. The one near a friend of mine just closed...really a surprise since business appeared to be good. Know anything?

 

 

char

[Real Deal]

Who knows? They moved out of our area ages ago, and everyone here thought they were plenty busy. They didn't have any competition here. Plus there's a fair size Amish and Menonite population, and they make all their own clothes. So, who can figure the corporate mentality?

[texasredhead]

Maybe they closed your store to build a new JoAnn's Fabric and Craft Store like we have in Texas. They are great. I don't think they are going out of business. Maybe the store in your area wasn't doing as well as they would like. I hope you get a new one!!

[01buckler15]

I might have to ask about that when I go to the one here. I hope they aren't. That's my favorite place to go.

[PoetryinYarn]

i love the products at the joann's here and the prices. just kinda disappointed with service. A lot of things don't have prices marked (like two whole freestanding yarn displays). When I mentioned that to a manager she said that it way clearance so they wouldn't post the price! How am I supposed to know if it's worth buying if I don't know how much it is?! Maybe I should just haul the whole thing up to the counter to ask. As is now, I have to find a clerk and waste their time (and mine) checking individual skeins.

[nana5boys]

i love the products at the joann's here and the prices. just kinda disappointed with service. A lot of things don't have prices marked (like two whole freestanding yarn displays). When I mentioned that to a manager she said that it way clearance so they wouldn't post the price! How am I supposed to know if it's worth buying if I don't know how much it is?! Maybe I should just haul the whole thing up to the counter to ask. As is now, I have to find a clerk and waste their time (and mine) checking individual skeins.

 

 

Ooo, don't you just hate that when there is no price on items.

 

jaye

[losingmymind2]

There are two Joanns I can get to fairly easily, the one is terrible, dark, badly messed up and missing yarn in the far back corner; and lots of broken/missing floor tiles make it a danger for my mom to even walk back there. Not that it's worth it; they usually don't have much of anything; a few skeins only of one color and not enough for a project. And no one visible to HELP.

 

The other Joanns was much like that two years ago. Now, it has done an amazing turnaround. I went in reluctantly, but had an hour to kill in that area and nothing else to do. It was wonderful, and I told the manager, a supervisor from the home office, and the clerk how amazed I was at the pleasant changes. I'll go out of my way to go to THAT Joanns now, even though I can go past the other one every day.

[Real Deal]

Don't I wish we were getting a new JoAnn's ~ instead they want to put in a Walmart Supercenter. That doesn't even make any sense because there are 2 Walmarts here 20 minutes apart, and 2 supercenters another 20 minutes further away from each of them. We don't need another one.

 

I did hear talk about a new Lowes moving in. Do you suppose we could get them to carry yarn?

[Suebee42]

Jo-Ann's ain't goin' nowhere.

 

I've worked there for 7 years now. If something that big was up, we'd know about it (employees). They're very communicative about overall company performance and any sweeping changes -- to be honest, the demise of a few competitors lately (Hancock's, Rag Shop) in some markets has actually been a help. That's all I can say, though. If you want more information about earnings or anything like that, you need to go through official channels (read: contact them directly).

 

They DO close underperforming stores, and have been opening new superstores here and there. That's normal business -- any business that wants to stay viable does that. That's all that's been happening. I'm sure for some people, though a closing store means the company's in trouble. That's absolutely not the case -- if one store isn't cutting it, it's not financially intelligent to keep it open.

 

We've got three superstores in our area, creating a triangle around the city, and they're all doing great.

[dragonfli]

Ours is always a filthy, unorganized mess. Nothing is ever priced and finding anything is an exercise in futility. The yarn and related items are not in one place but rather scattered throughout the store, which is really odd when you think about it. I recieve the sales paper, but if I go in to find the item, no-one knows where it is or if they even had it!! The staff is less than helpful and most of them aren't even crafters so they don't even know what you are talking about 98.5 percent of the time! Don't you just hate it when you ask several clerks for help and get a blank look and the response, "huh, ya, I don't know, we must not have it then, ya I don't know where it would be". One time thought maybe I mistook a customer for an employee and asked, "do you work here", the clerk said, "ya, but this is only part-time and temporary for me to make a little cash for a race" ??????

 

Some of the Joann's Stores described here in this thread sound so nice, I am jealous!!

 

On the other hand, we have the best Michaels around! People come from surrounding towns just to go to our Michaels because it has everything. The yarn selection is pretty good too and everything is organized in one section of the store. The store is always clean and organized and all of the employees know exactly where everything is! I love it. We have a Beverley's too and it is always clean and organized, but a little overstuffed!

 

I wish we had a nice Joann's, if we did I would shop there too as it is right next to our Target and easily accessable. As it stands, I just don't go in there anymore, I don't need the frustration and waste of time when I can go a little further and get what I need from knowledgable, helpful staff!

[SaxDragon]

Sometimes, the death knoll of a company is a long time coming, like heart disease finally killing you. The company tries to deny it until they just can't pretend anymore. It can take many years. It often starts with discount strategies - clearance bins, coupons, megabuys, etc - trying to bring in more customers to also buy more nondiscounted items. Closing stores is smaller markets where there isn't a competitor or opening in a market that already has too many similar stores. Another symptom is the 'biult it bigger and they'll come', (not just relocating to a less expensive to maintain building) which taxes them financially and sometimes they end up closing those same superstores years later because the customer base isn't any bigger or not willing to travel there, hassle the bigger traffic/parking, or the price hike. You'll see them bring out store label items, which may or may not be good or cheaper in a market where the customers are brand name buyers (lots of us would rather buy the big name because that's what the pattern says, or we trust that brand for it's quality, or just because we like being able to say we used it, etc). Some stores start branching out into other product lines, start skimping on their established ones, and end up loosing their real customer base. Another sign is the number of stores with bad management where the employees also don't care, the store is filthy, product poorly maintained, etc. Such things kill sales and hurt reputations. A healthy company visits often enough to realize these exist and do something about it - repair or relocate, retrain or rehire, more frequent visits, etc. I've watched this occur too many times here ...wouldn't surprise me if Joann's closes in a few years.

[karin4christ]

What seems kind of odd to me is some of the new products Joann's now carries. Specifically, greeting cards. That just strikes me as really odd. Not greeting cards you make. The same ones you buy at Walmart or a Hallmark store. I just don't get that. The other thing I don't like is Joann's not adding different/new crochet, quilt and knit booklets. It seems like they carry the same ones over and over again.

[happy stitcher]

We got a new superstore a couple years ago, and I it!

 

BUT - the service is terrible. You have to know what you're looking for, and where it should be, because they can't help. And don't even bother calling to ask if they carry something....when they bother to answer the phone, they'll keep you on hold so long that they forget why you're there. (I wouldn't say that if it only happened to me once!)They're not polite on the phone, either. Some of them mumble (even in person!) so low that I can't even understand them. The last time I called I got frustrated and asked to talk to the manager - then she cut me off mid-sentence to ask what I wanted.

 

I still go there because they carry so many things I want. The store is about 40 minutes from me, so I don't make a special trip unless I know they've got what I need, but I don't bother trying to call anymore. If I'm in town, I stop.

 

Service aside, the store itself is great!

[busym1]

I love Jo-annes! We have a wonderful superstore in our area, and the service can't be better! THey know me well there, and always have something nice to say to me or my children when they are with me! I like that they are knowledgeable about most of thier stock and are very friendly! I quit going to Michael's completely in my particular area. The people that work there are simply not friendly, half of them have no idea what you are talking about when you ask a question about something. They have really nice things in that store, and I do kinda miss going sometime, but the few run ins that I and friends of mine have had, made us quit going. I'm not saying that all Michael's are like that, but if you went in this store, you would come out shaking your head, wondering why these people work with the public! Michelle

[cjansen]

I don't think JoAnn's is closing, they are based near me. They closed my favorite store, but it was more a fabric store than the big craft center the others are. There is one mainly fabric store left around here, it is dingier that the one they closed. Most of the staff, when you can find them, are very knowledgable and are trained to ask "what are you using this for?" or something like that.

[Charlene]

The one closest to me is closing starting the day after Thanksgiving. I heard so many nationwide are set to close. They said this one didn't do enough business. It was always cluttered and hard to shop. They are taking 2 months to go out. Charlene

[crochetingmomof4]

Suebee, I live in the Rochester area and wonder where the 3rd super store is located?? I only know of Greece (just recently moved from there) and Henrietta. I now live on the far East side, and the closest location for me is now in Canandaigua. But it's an old, small store and very disappointing. So I have to drive a ways to Henrietta for the good shopping. I wonder if they'd ever upgrade Canandaigua to a super store!!

[dragonfli]

Ditto here too!!

 

The other thing I don't like is Joann's not adding different/new crochet, quilt and knit booklets. It seems like they carry the same ones over and over again.

[Hounddog]

I love our fairly new super store ETC except it is a lot smaller than another that is a little farther away. But this one is very full and busy every time I am in there. The yarn dept. is great but the thread is just okay. We lost Hancock a long time ago but we still have fabric at Walmart but they have downsized their thread for crochet now hardly any colors.

[crochetalot]

There is one not far from here. Infact they are the only fabric store around. I go there for all of my sewing needs.

 

I am surprised they would go out of business. I will have to ask my sister about this. She knows the owner personally. julie