If you've ever wondered why Joann Fabric and Crafts corporate office seems to
make purposefully terrible business decisions, let me assure you – it's not in
your head. The truth is, the upper management at Joann’s has a long history of
being completely out-of-touch with their stores and customers. This finally
led to the company filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in March
2024.
Joann Fabrics made
210.9 million to 212.9 million in profit dollars and added 9 million new
customers by the end of the 2020 fiscal year. A lot of this is due to 2020 lock downs when people were turning to
old and new hobbies to pass the time. If Joann's corporate was smart and paid
attention to what their customers want and need, Joann’s would still be riding
this customer wave, but they didn’t.
Going from being profitable to
bankruptcy in four short years
takes a lot of talent in upper management to screw up a company that
much. Corporate tries to explain it away by saying customers are skipping
discretionary spending, but that’s only a tiny piece of the puzzle. Do you
know what people do in tough times? Make, repair, or upcycle things instead
of buying a new one. There is a reason visible mending is a popular
trend right now! It sure would be nice to buy a cute iron on patch at Joann’s
to fix my favorite pair of jeans but I can’t. Those shelves at my store are
practically bare and have been for a long time.
I took these photos of my local Joann Fabrics store in February 2024.
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