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Fast Company
23-05-2025
- Business
- Fast Company
Joann fabrics stores closing: See the full list of all remaining locations that will shutter this month
Fans of Joann have one last chance to grab fistfuls of fabric, yarn, and other critical sewing supplies before the ill-fated retailer closes for good—but time is running out. The beloved brand, which has been winding down operations after seeking Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection for a second time, will close its last remaining stores at the end of May, meaning this is the last full weekend that they will be open for business. A spokesperson for GA Group, the asset firm that took control of Joann in February, shared the list of locations with Fast Company. It includes 444 stores in 45 states. At the time of its bankruptcy filing, Joann had roughly 800 locations, but hundreds of those stores closed in April, as Fast Company previously reported. Among the remaining stores, California has the most, with around 40 locations left. New York, Michigan, Texas, and Florida, and Arizona also have relatively large shares of stores on the list. Why did Joann fabrics unravel? Founded in 1943, Joann Inc. grew into a craft superstore with hundreds of locations in the ensuing decades as a publicly traded company. By the late 1990s, it was the country's largest fabric and crafts retailer. The company was taken private in 2011 by private equity firm Leonard Green & Partners for around $1.6 billion, only to go public again a decade later as the COVID-19 pandemic was fueling a resurgence of crafting and other at-home activities. But those good times didn't last, and the company eventually succumbed to a number of factors that have battered many physical retail chains in recent years, including high inflation and the broader shift to online shopping. When it filed for bankruptcy in January, it reported nearly $616 million in debt obligations. The remaining Joann stores have been holding going-out-of-business sales. According to GA Group, all stores will be closed by Saturday, May 31. You can find the full list below. Alaska Nugget Mall, Juneau Alabama Mobile Festival Centre, Mobile Riverchase Promenade, Hoover Huntsville Plaza, Huntsville Arkansas Spring Creek Centre, Fayetteville Arizona Santan Village Marketplace, Gilbert Santa Fe Square, Mesa Alameda Crossing, Avondale Riverview Mall, Bullhead City East Broadway Blvd, Tucson Buckhorn Plaza, Mesa The Riverview at Dobson, Mesa Queen Creek Marketplace, Queen Creek North Valley S/C, Peoria South Riordan Ranch Road, Flagstaff Ahwatukee Foothills Towne Center, Phoenix Desert Ridge Market Place, Phoenix Village At The Boulder, Prescott California Arden Square, Sacramento Park & Shop, Concord Safeway SC, San Jose Clovis Crossing Shopping Center, Clovis Conejo Valley Plaza, Thousand Oaks Buena Park Promenade, Buena Park Town Center Square, Rancho Cucamonga Towne House Plaza, Huntington Beach Orange Park Plaza, Orange Point Loma Plaza, San Diego Porter Ranch Town Center, Northridge Fletcher Hills Town & Country, El Cajon Centre Point Village, Santa Clarita Skypark Plaza, Chico Sunrise Village Shopping Center, Citrus Heights Vacaville Commons, Vacaville Stadium Center, Manteca Freestanding (Former Circuit City), Santa Maria Westridge Center, Salinas Santa Susana Plaza, Simi Valley Westridge Plaza, La Habra High Desert Gateway, Hesperia Von Karmen Plaza, Irvine Former Ralph's Market, Laguna Niguel Village West Shopping Center, Hemet Commons At Temecula, Temecula Freestanding, Redding Elk Grove Marketplace, Elk Grove Fairway Commons, Roseville Monte Vista Crossing, Turlock Greenhouse Marketplace, San Leandro Sequoia Plaza, Visalia Pride Center, Woodland Hills Riverside Woodman Plaza, Sherman Oaks Del Amo Fashion Center, Torrance Orange Tree Marketplace, Redlands Monterey Marketplace II, Rancho Mirage Foothill Ranch Towne Center South, Foothill Ranch Camino Town & Country S/C, Oceanside Grand Plaza, San Marcos Park West Place, Stockton River Park Plaza, Fresno Colorado Southwest Commons, Littleton Freestanding, Former Circuit City, Lakewood Yosemite Park Mall, Centennial Mesa Mall, Grand Junction The Marketplace at Centerra, Loveland Thunderbird Plaza, Fort Collins Westminster City Center, Westminster First & Main Town Center, Colorado Springs Aurora City Square, Aurora Saddle Rock Village, Aurora Connecticut Ames S/C, Norwich Berlin Turnpike, Newington Freshwater Plaza, Enfield Shop Rite Plaza, Southington Plaza At Buckland Hills, Manchester Torrington Plaza, Torrington Delaware Christiana Town Center, Newark Centre At Dover, Dover Florida Plaza At Citrus Park, Tampa St Johns Town Center Jacksonville Volusia Plaza, Daytona Beach Tyrone Corners SC, Saint Petersburg Shady Oaks Shopping Center, Ocala 23rd Street Plaza, Panama City The Shoppes at Naples Center, Naples Argyle S/C, Jacksonville Square One Shopping Center, Jensen Beach Brantley Square, Altamonte Springs Village Crossroads, Lady Lake Merchants Crossing S/C, Fort Myers South Plaza, Fort Myers Shoppes at University Center, Bradenton Tradewinds S/C, Pensacola Colonial Landing, Orlando Shops At Avenue O, Winter Haven Capitol Plaza, Tallahassee Curlew Crossing, Dunedin The Landings, Sarasota Target At Kissimmee West, Kissimmee Village Market Place, Tavares Village of Amelia, Yulee Georgia Suburban Plaza, Decatur Lakeshore Marketplace, Gainesville North Point Commons, Alpharetta Freestanding, Athens Columbus Park Crossing, Columbus Freestanding, Kennesaw Iowa Metro North Shopping Center, Ankeny Lindale Mall, Cedar Rapids Crossroads Commons, Waterloo Plaza 20, Dubuque Valley Court Shopping Center, Clive Village S/C, Davenport Iowa City Marketplace, Iowa City Idaho Karcher Mall, Nampa Pocatello Square, Pocatello Federal Way Plaza, Boise American Plaza, Twin Falls Illinois State Street Market, Rockford Town & Country SC, Arlington Heights Freestanding Building, Moline Freestanding, Algonquin Naper West Plaza, Naperville Countryside Plaza, Countryside Lake View Plaza, Orland Park Bloomington Commons, Bloomington The Shoppes At Geneva Commons, Geneva Riverfront Plaza, Chicago Former Circuit City, Springfield Commerce Plaza, Fairview Heights Marketplace at Vernon Hills, Vernon Hills Bloomingdale Court, Bloomingdale Chestnut Court, Darien Metro S/C, Peoria Indiana Waterford North, Clarksville Honey Creek Commons, Terre Haute Greenbriar Shopping Center, Indianapolis Kokomo Shopping Center, Kokomo Northwest Plaza, Muncie Merrillville Plaza, Merrillville Whitehall Plaza, Bloomington Sagamore @ 26 Shopping Center, Lafayette Wilshire Plaza, Mishawaka Avon Town Square, Avon The Shoppes Of Schererville, Schererville Shoe Carnival Towne Centre, Evansville Greenwood Pavilion, Greenwood Castle Glen Plaza, Indianapolis Market Centre, Goshen JOANN Plaza, Fort Wayne Kansas Crosswinds Commons, Topeka West 63Rd Street, Shawnee North Rock Road, Wichita Overland Park S/C, Overland Park Westgate Market, Wichita Kentucky Houston Lakes, Florence Shelbyville Road Plaza, Louisville Crossroads SC, Lexington Louisiana Siegen Lane Marketplace, Baton Rouge Ambassador Row, Lafayette Wilshire Plaza, Metairie Massachusetts Middlesex Commons, Burlington Shaw's Plaza, Raynham Broadway Shopping Center, Saugus Middleton Market Place, Middleton Walpole Mall, East Walpole Hanover Commons, Hanover Ann & Hope Plaza, Seekonk Westford Valley Mkt, Westford Milford Plaza, Milford Old Shrewsbury Village, Shrewsbury North Attleboro Marketplace, North Attleboro Dalton Ave Plaza, Pittsfield Worcester Road, Natick Maryland Westminster S/C, Westminster Columbia Crossing, Columbia Perring Plaza, Parkville South End S/C, Hagerstown Frederick County S/C, Frederick Maine Jfk Mall, Waterville Stillwater Avenue, Bangor Pine Tree S/C, Portland Topsham Fair Mall, Topsham Michigan Toys 'R' Us Plaza, Portage Former Best Buy, Comstock Park Indian Hills Plaza, Mount Pleasant White Lake Market Place, White Lake Freestanding (Former Circuit City), Roseville Westland Shopping Center, Lansing The Crossings At Taylor, Taylor Scottdale Plaza, Benton Harbor Lake Crossings, Norton Shores Northwest Plaza, Midland The Auburn Mile, Auburn Hills Hampton Plaza, Rochester Hills Frandor S/C, Lansing Century Center, Grandville East Bay Plaza, Traverse City Genesee Commons S/C, Flint Madison Place S/C, Madison Heights Brighton Mall, Brighton The Shoppes At Centerpoint, Grand Rapids Saginaw Square, Saginaw West Oaks II, Novi Shelby Town Center, Shelby Township New Towne Centre, Canton Wisner Street Plaza, Jackson Valley View Center S/C, Ypsilanti Minnesota Riverdale Village, Coon Rapids Madison East Mall, Mankato Elk Park Center, Elk River Viking Plaza Mall, Alexandria Birch Run Station, Maplewood Westgate Mall, Brainerd Bonaventure Plaza, Minnetonka Apple Valley Square, Apple Valley Crossroads of Roseville, Roseville Division Street Plaza, Saint Cloud Arbor Lakes S/C, Maple Grove Yorktown Mall, Edina Rochester Marketplace, Rochester Tamarack Village, Woodbury Missouri Rockbridge Shopping Center, Columbia Central Plaza, Ballwin Platte Purchase Plaza, Kansas City Former Circuit City, Saint Louis Northpark Mall, Joplin Primrose Market Place, Springfield Bolger Square, Independence Mid Rivers, St Peters Montana Brookstone Square, Kalispell Market Place, Billings Gallatin Valley Mall, Bozeman Holiday Village, Missoula Holiday Village Mall, Great Falls North Carolina Carolina Pavilions, Charlotte Overlook Village, Asheville The Falls Centre, Raleigh University Centre, Wilmington Oak Creek Village S/C, Durham Cross Creek Plaza, Fayetteville Morganton Heights, Morganton The Shoppes On Market, Greensboro North Dakota Columbia Junction Mall Grand Forks Town & Country S/C Minot TJ Maxx Plaza Fargo Nebraska East Park Plaza Lincoln Baker Square Omaha New Hampshire Newington Park Newington Capitol S/C Concord Nashua Mall Plaza Nashua New Jersey Colonia Plaza, Colonia Mercer On One, Lawrenceville Shrewsbury Plaza, Shrewsbury Deptford Plaza, Deptford Riverdale Crossing, Riverdale Festival At Hamilton S/C, Mays Landing Freestanding (Former Comp USA), Paramus 1379 Hooper Avenue, Toms River Centerton Square, Mount Laurel Garden State Pavillion, Cherry Hill Roxbury Mall, Succasunna New Mexico Cottonwood West Shopping Center Albuquerque Plaza Farmington Farmington Nevada Best In The West S/C Las Vegas Peckham Square Reno Sunmark Plaza Henderson New York JOANN Plaza, Williamsville Salisbury Plaza, Westbury McKinley Milestrip Plaza, Blasdell Marketfair North, Clay Queensbury Plaza, Queensbury New Hartford S/C, New Hartford Towne Center At Fayetteville, Fayetteville Southern Tier Crossing, Horseheads Wegmans Plaza, Penfield Burlington Plaza, Amherst Roseland Center, Canandaigua Fairview Plaza, Hudson Sayville Plaza, Bohemia Parkway Plaza, Vestal Southtown Plaza, Rochester Northway Mall, Albany Midway Plaza, Scarsdale Ohio Beavercreek Towne Centre, Fairborn Reynolds Plaza, Toledo Colerain Towne Center, Cincinnati Taylor Square S/C, Reynoldsburg Easton Square, Columbus Golden Gate, Mayfield Heights Shops @ Boardman Park, Youngstown Acme Plaza, Akron Arbor Square, Mason Medina Grande Shoppes, Medina Freestanding (frm Circuit City), Toledo Eastgate Crossing, Cincinnati Athens Mall, Athens The Festival At Sawmill, Dublin Southland S/C, Middleburg Heights Erie Commons, Mentor Miami Valley Crossing, Piqua Midway Market Square, Elyria Hyde Park Plaza, Cincinnati Lincoln Village Plaza, Columbus Springfield S/C, Mansfield Great Northern S/C, North Olmsted Belden Parke Crossing, North Canton Darrow Road, Hudson South Towne Centre, Dayton Oklahoma Rockwell Plaza, Oklahoma City Union Plaza, Tulsa Champtions Centre, Norman Oregon Former Salvation Army, Clackamas Molalla Avenue, Oregon City Bi-Mart Plaza, Albany Corvallis Crossing, Corvallis Grants Pass Shopping Center, Grants Pass Gresham Town Fair, Gresham Lancaster Mall, Salem Freestanding, Eugene Crossroads at Orenco Station, Hillsboro Pioneer Crossing, Bend Roseburg Marketplace, Roseburg Mohawk Market Place, Springfield Tigard Shopping Plaza, Tigard Sw 4Th Ave, Ontario Pennsylvania Montgomery Commons S/C, North Wales Cranberry Mall, Cranberry Twp Robinson Town Centre, Pittsburgh Ashbridge Square, Downingtown South York Crossing, York Quakertown Plaza, Quakertown Dickson City Crossing, Dickson City Creekview Center, Warrington Ross Towne Center, Pittsburgh Greengate Centre, Greensburg Former Borders, Reading Colonial Commons, Harrisburg Boulevard Plaza, Philadelphia The Court At Oxford Valley, Fairless Hills West Side Mall, Edwardsville Macarthur Towne Center, Whitehall William Penn Hwy, Monroeville Pittsburgh Mills, Tarentum Parkview Plaza, Lancaster West Shore Plaza, Lemoyne Rhode Island Marketplace Center, Warwick South Carolina Seaboard Commons, Myrtle Beach Fountain S/C, West Columbia Westgate Crossing, Spartanburg South Dakota Plaza 41 (Former Holz Haus), Sioux Falls Tennessee Towne Centre, Murfreesboro Shops of Forest Hill, Germantown Providence Marketplace, Mount Juliet Village Of Rivergate, Madison Hamilton Village, Chattanooga Cool Springs Market, Franklin The Centre at Deane Hill, Knoxville Texas Tejas Center, Bryan Baybrook Village, Webster Colony Square, Sugar Land Midlothian Towne Crossing, Midlothian Towne Center, Mc Kinney Rockridge Plaza, Lubbock Meyerland Plaza, Houston The Village at Cumberland Park, Tyler The Pavillions, San Antonio Price Plaza, Katy Central Texas Marketplace, Waco Dowlen Town Center, Beaumont Witte Plaza, Houston Deerbrook Marketplace, Humble Hulen Fashion Center, Fort Worth East Mockingbird Lane, Dallas Village At Collin Creek, Plano Shops At Soncy, Amarillo Yarbrough Plaza, El Paso Southpark Meadows, Austin Bandera Pointe, San Antonio Willowchase Center, Houston University Oaks, Round Rock Woodlands Home Center, Spring Lakepointe Towne Crossing , Lewisville South Frisco Village, Frisco Rayzor Ranch, Denton Shops at Arbor Walk, Austin Ridgemar Town Square, Fort Worth Utah Freestanding (Former Albertsons), Tooele Cotton Mill Shopping Center, Washington Northgate Shopping Center, Spanish Fork Clinton Towne Center, Clinton South Main Street, Logan Renaissance Square, Cedar City Gardner Towne Center, Vernal Centerville Marketplace, Centerville Draper Retail Center, Draper Family Center at Riverdale, Riverdale Virgina Prince William Square, Woodbridge Tower Shopping Center, Roanoke Millwood Pike, Winchester Cosner's Corner, Fredericksburg Westchester Commons, Midlothian Sugarland Crossing, Sterling Fairfax Towne Center, Fairfax Hilltop Plaza, Virginia Beach Rio Hill SC, Charlottesville Crossways Shopping Center, Chesapeake Vermont Commerce Square, South Burlington Washington Mount Vernon Plaza, Mount Vernon Target Place Plaza, Olympia Five Mile S/C, Spokane Market Pointe I, Spokane Valley Sunset Square, Bellingham Lynnwood Center, Lynnwood Pavilions Centre, Federal Way Boulevard Centre, Tacoma Aurora Ave North, Shoreline Columbia Center, Kennewick Tieton Village S/C, Yakima East 29Th Avenue, Spokane Totem Pole, Vancouver Gateway Shopping Center, Arlington High Point S/C, Port Orchard Silverdale Plaza, Silverdale Southcenter Parkway, Tukwila Orchards Market Center, Vancouver Wisconsin Koeller Plaza, Oshkosh North Pointe Centre, Menomonee Falls Oak Pointe Plaza, Eau Claire Deer Trace Shopping Center, Sheboygan Falls Regency Mall, Racine Marketplace at Janesville, Janesville Crossing Meadows Plaza, Onalaska Market Place SC, Wisconsin Dells Fox River Valley SC, Appleton Brookfield Fashion Center, Brookfield East Town Plaza, Madison Geneva Commons, Lake Geneva Rib Mountain Drive, Wausau Bayside Market Place, Green Bay Greenfield Fashion Center, Greenfield Westland Plaza, Madison Fletcher Square, Dunbar Wyoming Frontier Mall, Cheyenne
Fast Company
23-05-2025
- Business
- Fast Company
Joann fabrics' last stores are closing: This is your final weekend to shop at remaining locations. See the full list
Fans of Joann have one last chance to grab fistfuls of fabric, yarn, and other critical sewing supplies before the ill-fated retailer closes for good—but time is running out. The beloved brand, which has been winding down operations after seeking Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection for a second time, will close its last remaining stores at the end of May, meaning this is the last full weekend that they will be open for business. A spokesperson for GA Group, the asset firm that took control of Joann in February, shared the list of locations with Fast Company. It includes 444 stores in 45 states. At the time of its bankruptcy filing, Joann had roughly 800 locations, but hundreds of those stores closed in April, as Fast Company previously reported. Among the remaining stores, California has the most, with around 40 locations left. New York, Michigan, Texas, and Florida, and Arizona also have relatively large shares of stores on the list. Why did Joann fabrics unravel? Founded in 1943, Joann Inc. grew into a craft superstore with hundreds of locations in the ensuing decades as a publicly traded company. By the late 1990s, it was the country's largest fabric and crafts retailer. The company was taken private in 2011 by private equity firm Leonard Green & Partners for around $1.6 billion, only to go public again a decade later as the COVID-19 pandemic was fueling a resurgence of crafting and other at-home activities. But those good times didn't last, and the company eventually succumbed to a number of factors that have battered many physical retail chains in recent years, including high inflation and the broader shift to online shopping. When it filed for bankruptcy in January, it reported nearly $616 million in debt obligations. The remaining Joann stores have been holding going-out-of-business sales. According to GA Group, all stores will be closed by Saturday, May 31. You can find the full list below. Alaska Nugget Mall, Juneau Alabama Mobile Festival Centre, Mobile Riverchase Promenade, Hoover Huntsville Plaza, Huntsville Arkansas Spring Creek Centre, Fayetteville Arizona Santan Village Marketplace, Gilbert Santa Fe Square, Mesa Alameda Crossing, Avondale Riverview Mall, Bullhead City East Broadway Blvd, Tucson Buckhorn Plaza, Mesa The Riverview at Dobson, Mesa Queen Creek Marketplace, Queen Creek North Valley S/C, Peoria South Riordan Ranch Road, Flagstaff Ahwatukee Foothills Towne Center, Phoenix Desert Ridge Market Place, Phoenix Village At The Boulder, Prescott California Arden Square, Sacramento Park & Shop, Concord Safeway SC, San Jose Clovis Crossing Shopping Center, Clovis Conejo Valley Plaza, Thousand Oaks Buena Park Promenade, Buena Park Town Center Square, Rancho Cucamonga Towne House Plaza, Huntington Beach Orange Park Plaza, Orange Point Loma Plaza, San Diego Porter Ranch Town Center, Northridge Fletcher Hills Town & Country, El Cajon Centre Point Village, Santa Clarita Skypark Plaza, Chico Sunrise Village Shopping Center, Citrus Heights Vacaville Commons, Vacaville Stadium Center, Manteca Freestanding (Former Circuit City), Santa Maria Westridge Center, Salinas Santa Susana Plaza, Simi Valley Westridge Plaza, La Habra High Desert Gateway, Hesperia Von Karmen Plaza, Irvine Former Ralph's Market, Laguna Niguel Village West Shopping Center, Hemet Commons At Temecula, Temecula Freestanding, Redding Elk Grove Marketplace, Elk Grove Fairway Commons, Roseville Monte Vista Crossing, Turlock Greenhouse Marketplace, San Leandro Sequoia Plaza, Visalia Pride Center, Woodland Hills Riverside Woodman Plaza, Sherman Oaks Del Amo Fashion Center, Torrance Orange Tree Marketplace, Redlands Monterey Marketplace II, Rancho Mirage Foothill Ranch Towne Center South, Foothill Ranch Camino Town & Country S/C, Oceanside Grand Plaza, San Marcos Park West Place, Stockton River Park Plaza, Fresno Colorado Southwest Commons, Littleton Freestanding, Former Circuit City, Lakewood Yosemite Park Mall, Centennial Mesa Mall, Grand Junction The Marketplace at Centerra, Loveland Thunderbird Plaza, Fort Collins Westminster City Center, Westminster First & Main Town Center, Colorado Springs Aurora City Square, Aurora Saddle Rock Village, Aurora Connecticut Ames S/C, Norwich Berlin Turnpike, Newington Freshwater Plaza, Enfield Shop Rite Plaza, Southington Plaza At Buckland Hills, Manchester Torrington Plaza, Torrington Delaware Christiana Town Center, Newark Centre At Dover, Dover Florida Plaza At Citrus Park, Tampa St Johns Town Center Jacksonville Volusia Plaza, Daytona Beach Tyrone Corners SC, Saint Petersburg Shady Oaks Shopping Center, Ocala 23rd Street Plaza, Panama City The Shoppes at Naples Center, Naples Argyle S/C, Jacksonville Square One Shopping Center, Jensen Beach Brantley Square, Altamonte Springs Village Crossroads, Lady Lake Merchants Crossing S/C, Fort Myers South Plaza, Fort Myers Shoppes at University Center, Bradenton Tradewinds S/C, Pensacola Colonial Landing, Orlando Shops At Avenue O, Winter Haven Capitol Plaza, Tallahassee Curlew Crossing, Dunedin The Landings, Sarasota Target At Kissimmee West, Kissimmee Village Market Place, Tavares Village of Amelia, Yulee Georgia Suburban Plaza, Decatur Lakeshore Marketplace, Gainesville North Point Commons, Alpharetta Freestanding, Athens Columbus Park Crossing, Columbus Freestanding, Kennesaw Iowa Metro North Shopping Center, Ankeny Lindale Mall, Cedar Rapids Crossroads Commons, Waterloo Plaza 20, Dubuque Valley Court Shopping Center, Clive Village S/C, Davenport Iowa City Marketplace, Iowa City Idaho Karcher Mall, Nampa Pocatello Square, Pocatello Federal Way Plaza, Boise American Plaza, Twin Falls Illinois State Street Market, Rockford Town & Country SC, Arlington Heights Freestanding Building, Moline Freestanding, Algonquin Naper West Plaza, Naperville Countryside Plaza, Countryside Lake View Plaza, Orland Park Bloomington Commons, Bloomington The Shoppes At Geneva Commons, Geneva Riverfront Plaza, Chicago Former Circuit City, Springfield Commerce Plaza, Fairview Heights Marketplace at Vernon Hills, Vernon Hills Bloomingdale Court, Bloomingdale Chestnut Court, Darien Metro S/C, Peoria Indiana Waterford North, Clarksville Honey Creek Commons, Terre Haute Greenbriar Shopping Center, Indianapolis Kokomo Shopping Center, Kokomo Northwest Plaza, Muncie Merrillville Plaza, Merrillville Whitehall Plaza, Bloomington Sagamore @ 26 Shopping Center, Lafayette Wilshire Plaza, Mishawaka Avon Town Square, Avon The Shoppes Of Schererville, Schererville Shoe Carnival Towne Centre, Evansville Greenwood Pavilion, Greenwood Castle Glen Plaza, Indianapolis Market Centre, Goshen JOANN Plaza, Fort Wayne Kansas Crosswinds Commons, Topeka West 63Rd Street, Shawnee North Rock Road, Wichita Overland Park S/C, Overland Park Westgate Market, Wichita Kentucky Houston Lakes, Florence Shelbyville Road Plaza, Louisville Crossroads SC, Lexington Louisiana Siegen Lane Marketplace, Baton Rouge Ambassador Row, Lafayette Wilshire Plaza, Metairie Massachusetts Middlesex Commons, Burlington Shaw's Plaza, Raynham Broadway Shopping Center, Saugus Middleton Market Place, Middleton Walpole Mall, East Walpole Hanover Commons, Hanover Ann & Hope Plaza, Seekonk Westford Valley Mkt, Westford Milford Plaza, Milford Old Shrewsbury Village, Shrewsbury North Attleboro Marketplace, North Attleboro Dalton Ave Plaza, Pittsfield Worcester Road, Natick Maryland Westminster S/C, Westminster Columbia Crossing, Columbia Perring Plaza, Parkville South End S/C, Hagerstown Frederick County S/C, Frederick Maine Jfk Mall, Waterville Stillwater Avenue, Bangor Pine Tree S/C, Portland Topsham Fair Mall, Topsham Michigan Toys 'R' Us Plaza, Portage Former Best Buy, Comstock Park Indian Hills Plaza, Mount Pleasant White Lake Market Place, White Lake Freestanding (Former Circuit City), Roseville Westland Shopping Center, Lansing The Crossings At Taylor, Taylor Scottdale Plaza, Benton Harbor Lake Crossings, Norton Shores Northwest Plaza, Midland The Auburn Mile, Auburn Hills Hampton Plaza, Rochester Hills Frandor S/C, Lansing Century Center, Grandville East Bay Plaza, Traverse City Genesee Commons S/C, Flint Madison Place S/C, Madison Heights Brighton Mall, Brighton The Shoppes At Centerpoint, Grand Rapids Saginaw Square, Saginaw West Oaks II, Novi Shelby Town Center, Shelby Township New Towne Centre, Canton Wisner Street Plaza, Jackson Valley View Center S/C, Ypsilanti Minnesota Riverdale Village, Coon Rapids Madison East Mall, Mankato Elk Park Center, Elk River Viking Plaza Mall, Alexandria Birch Run Station, Maplewood Westgate Mall, Brainerd Bonaventure Plaza, Minnetonka Apple Valley Square, Apple Valley Crossroads of Roseville, Roseville Division Street Plaza, Saint Cloud Arbor Lakes S/C, Maple Grove Yorktown Mall, Edina Rochester Marketplace, Rochester Tamarack Village, Woodbury Missouri Rockbridge Shopping Center, Columbia Central Plaza, Ballwin Platte Purchase Plaza, Kansas City Former Circuit City, Saint Louis Northpark Mall, Joplin Primrose Market Place, Springfield Bolger Square, Independence Mid Rivers, St Peters Montana Brookstone Square, Kalispell Market Place, Billings Gallatin Valley Mall, Bozeman Holiday Village, Missoula Holiday Village Mall, Great Falls North Carolina Carolina Pavilions, Charlotte Overlook Village, Asheville The Falls Centre, Raleigh University Centre, Wilmington Oak Creek Village S/C, Durham Cross Creek Plaza, Fayetteville Morganton Heights, Morganton The Shoppes On Market, Greensboro North Dakota Columbia Junction Mall Grand Forks Town & Country S/C Minot TJ Maxx Plaza Fargo Nebraska East Park Plaza Lincoln Baker Square Omaha New Hampshire Newington Park Newington Capitol S/C Concord Nashua Mall Plaza Nashua New Jersey Colonia Plaza, Colonia Mercer On One, Lawrenceville Shrewsbury Plaza, Shrewsbury Deptford Plaza, Deptford Riverdale Crossing, Riverdale Festival At Hamilton S/C, Mays Landing Freestanding (Former Comp USA), Paramus 1379 Hooper Avenue, Toms River Centerton Square, Mount Laurel Garden State Pavillion, Cherry Hill Roxbury Mall, Succasunna New Mexico Cottonwood West Shopping Center Albuquerque Plaza Farmington Farmington Nevada Best In The West S/C Las Vegas Peckham Square Reno Sunmark Plaza Henderson New York JOANN Plaza, Williamsville Salisbury Plaza, Westbury McKinley Milestrip Plaza, Blasdell Marketfair North, Clay Queensbury Plaza, Queensbury New Hartford S/C, New Hartford Towne Center At Fayetteville, Fayetteville Southern Tier Crossing, Horseheads Wegmans Plaza, Penfield Burlington Plaza, Amherst Roseland Center, Canandaigua Fairview Plaza, Hudson Sayville Plaza, Bohemia Parkway Plaza, Vestal Southtown Plaza, Rochester Northway Mall, Albany Midway Plaza, Scarsdale Ohio Beavercreek Towne Centre, Fairborn Reynolds Plaza, Toledo Colerain Towne Center, Cincinnati Taylor Square S/C, Reynoldsburg Easton Square, Columbus Golden Gate, Mayfield Heights Shops @ Boardman Park, Youngstown Acme Plaza, Akron Arbor Square, Mason Medina Grande Shoppes, Medina Freestanding (frm Circuit City), Toledo Eastgate Crossing, Cincinnati Athens Mall, Athens The Festival At Sawmill, Dublin Southland S/C, Middleburg Heights Erie Commons, Mentor Miami Valley Crossing, Piqua Midway Market Square, Elyria Hyde Park Plaza, Cincinnati Lincoln Village Plaza, Columbus Springfield S/C, Mansfield Great Northern S/C, North Olmsted Belden Parke Crossing, North Canton Darrow Road, Hudson South Towne Centre, Dayton Oklahoma Rockwell Plaza, Oklahoma City Union Plaza, Tulsa Champtions Centre, Norman Oregon Former Salvation Army, Clackamas Molalla Avenue, Oregon City Bi-Mart Plaza, Albany Corvallis Crossing, Corvallis Grants Pass Shopping Center, Grants Pass Gresham Town Fair, Gresham Lancaster Mall, Salem Freestanding, Eugene Crossroads at Orenco Station, Hillsboro Pioneer Crossing, Bend Roseburg Marketplace, Roseburg Mohawk Market Place, Springfield Tigard Shopping Plaza, Tigard Sw 4Th Ave, Ontario Pennsylvania Montgomery Commons S/C, North Wales Cranberry Mall, Cranberry Twp Robinson Town Centre, Pittsburgh Ashbridge Square, Downingtown South York Crossing, York Quakertown Plaza, Quakertown Dickson City Crossing, Dickson City Creekview Center, Warrington Ross Towne Center, Pittsburgh Greengate Centre, Greensburg Former Borders, Reading Colonial Commons, Harrisburg Boulevard Plaza, Philadelphia The Court At Oxford Valley, Fairless Hills West Side Mall, Edwardsville Macarthur Towne Center, Whitehall William Penn Hwy, Monroeville Pittsburgh Mills, Tarentum Parkview Plaza, Lancaster West Shore Plaza, Lemoyne Rhode Island Marketplace Center, Warwick South Carolina Seaboard Commons, Myrtle Beach Fountain S/C, West Columbia Westgate Crossing, Spartanburg South Dakota Plaza 41 (Former Holz Haus), Sioux Falls Tennessee Towne Centre, Murfreesboro Shops of Forest Hill, Germantown Providence Marketplace, Mount Juliet Village Of Rivergate, Madison Hamilton Village, Chattanooga Cool Springs Market, Franklin The Centre at Deane Hill, Knoxville Texas Tejas Center, Bryan Baybrook Village, Webster Colony Square, Sugar Land Midlothian Towne Crossing, Midlothian Towne Center, Mc Kinney Rockridge Plaza, Lubbock Meyerland Plaza, Houston The Village at Cumberland Park, Tyler The Pavillions, San Antonio Price Plaza, Katy Central Texas Marketplace, Waco Dowlen Town Center, Beaumont Witte Plaza, Houston Deerbrook Marketplace, Humble Hulen Fashion Center, Fort Worth East Mockingbird Lane, Dallas Village At Collin Creek, Plano Shops At Soncy, Amarillo Yarbrough Plaza, El Paso Southpark Meadows, Austin Bandera Pointe, San Antonio Willowchase Center, Houston University Oaks, Round Rock Woodlands Home Center, Spring Lakepointe Towne Crossing , Lewisville South Frisco Village, Frisco Rayzor Ranch, Denton Shops at Arbor Walk, Austin Ridgemar Town Square, Fort Worth Utah Freestanding (Former Albertsons), Tooele Cotton Mill Shopping Center, Washington Northgate Shopping Center, Spanish Fork Clinton Towne Center, Clinton South Main Street, Logan Renaissance Square, Cedar City Gardner Towne Center, Vernal Centerville Marketplace, Centerville Draper Retail Center, Draper Family Center at Riverdale, Riverdale Virgina Prince William Square, Woodbridge Tower Shopping Center, Roanoke Millwood Pike, Winchester Cosner's Corner, Fredericksburg Westchester Commons, Midlothian Sugarland Crossing, Sterling Fairfax Towne Center, Fairfax Hilltop Plaza, Virginia Beach Rio Hill SC, Charlottesville Crossways Shopping Center, Chesapeake Vermont Commerce Square, South Burlington Washington Mount Vernon Plaza, Mount Vernon Target Place Plaza, Olympia Five Mile S/C, Spokane Market Pointe I, Spokane Valley Sunset Square, Bellingham Lynnwood Center, Lynnwood Pavilions Centre, Federal Way Boulevard Centre, Tacoma Aurora Ave North, Shoreline Columbia Center, Kennewick Tieton Village S/C, Yakima East 29Th Avenue, Spokane Totem Pole, Vancouver Gateway Shopping Center, Arlington High Point S/C, Port Orchard Silverdale Plaza, Silverdale Southcenter Parkway, Tukwila Orchards Market Center, Vancouver Wisconsin Koeller Plaza, Oshkosh North Pointe Centre, Menomonee Falls Oak Pointe Plaza, Eau Claire Deer Trace Shopping Center, Sheboygan Falls Regency Mall, Racine Marketplace at Janesville, Janesville Crossing Meadows Plaza, Onalaska Market Place SC, Wisconsin Dells Fox River Valley SC, Appleton Brookfield Fashion Center, Brookfield East Town Plaza, Madison Geneva Commons, Lake Geneva Rib Mountain Drive, Wausau Bayside Market Place, Green Bay Greenfield Fashion Center, Greenfield Westland Plaza, Madison Fletcher Square, Dunbar Wyoming Frontier Mall, Cheyenne The final deadline for Fast Company's Brands That Matter Awards is Friday, May 30, at 11:59 p.m. PT. Apply today.
Reuters
12-05-2025
- Business
- Reuters
Insurance broker Hub International secures $29 billion valuation in $1.6 billion investment deal
May 12 (Reuters) - Insurance broker Hub International said on Monday it has secured a $29 billion valuation in a minority investment transaction of about $1.6 billion. The investment is led by funds and accounts advised by T. Rowe Price Investment Management, Alpha Wave Global, and Temasek, along with participation from other investors. The company's valuation is an increase from $23 billion in 2023, when Leonard Green & Partners L.P. announced a minority investment.
Yahoo
30-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
How Joann Fabrics went from a cult-favorite retail darling to a bankruptcy disaster
Everything is on sale at a Joann's store just north of New York City. In the sewing section, some shopping carts have all but disappeared under bolts of cotton, tulle, and fleece. But the mood is hardly festive. The busy atmosphere and steep discounts are signs of a sad ending for a beloved institution. Or, as one dark-haired young shopper puts it: "It's a bummer.' Last month, Joann Fabric and Crafts, a fixture of American shopping for generations, announced it would close all of its more than 800 stores in the U.S. and lay off 19,000 workers, including more than 15,000 part-time store associates. The company is in the midst of its second bankruptcy in less than a year. Joann's isn't the only retail chain that has failed lately—Party City and clothing shop Forever 21 have both filed for bankruptcy. But the demise of Joann's hit a nerve, and an army of devoted staffers and customers have shared their grief in a wave of online tributes. In heartfelt videos posted on Instagram and Facebook, head office employees choke up recalling the lunch hours spent crocheting with their teams. Customers wax nostalgic about past mother-daughter projects and long Saturday afternoons at Joann, and several fans share intense 'last haul' videos, scoring images of empty shelves with melancholy pop songs. 'Joann is f—ing closing,' said one young tear-stained shopper in a TikTok post. 'No shade to Michael's or Hobby Lobby or anything like that,' she says, referring to the store's closest competitors. 'But Joann feels like home.' The emotional farewells, however, have been accompanied by murder-mystery-style sleuthing about how the brand reached this point. In the late 1990s, Joann was the largest craft brand in the U.S., and became a Fortune 1000 company for two years during the pandemic, only to lose 99% of its value between 2021 and 2024. 'I'm baffled as to how they managed to fail,' says Diana McDonough, a longtime customer and member of the Ohio Valley Quilting Guild. In a statement published when the company filed for bankruptcy this year, Joann attributed the move to 'significant and lasting challenges in the retail environment' and its 'financial position and constrained inventory levels.' Former employees and vendors who spoke to Fortune have theories about what happened. For many, the answer to the question 'Who killed Joann?' is simple: Leonard Green. In 2011, the L.A.-based private equity company took Joann private for $1.6 billion in a leveraged buyout that saddled the company with significant debt. But some say that debt alone doesn't tell the whole story. They point to long-running cultural headwinds, staffing choices that created a dearth of workers in a customer-service-heavy industry, failure to respond to surprisingly tough competition, a revolving door of CEOs, and overconfidence sparked by a pandemic boom. Joann Fabrics and Leonard Green & Partners declined to comment for this story. 'They really did this to themselves,' says Alan Porter, a former district manager who worked at Joann for 16 years. 'Because the business is there.' Joann's founders—two German immigrant families in Cleveland—likely never imagined their business would become as big as it did. They launched the specialty store in 1945 as Cleveland Fabric Shop and later renamed it Joann, combining the first names of daughters from both families: Joan and Jacqueline Ann. (For many years, the company went by Jo-Ann Stores.) By 1963, Joann had 18 locations. In 1969, the fabric chain went public. Virtually everything about our relationship with clothes has changed since Joann's early days. At one time, sewing machines were a mainstay of American households, and most women learned to sew—but that all changed with the women's movement, globalization, and the rise of fast fashion. Leaving aside "tradwives" and Etsy shop owners, most people now sew for leisure, not out of necessity. 'How many young women are leaving college and their college graduation gift is a sewing machine?' says Lori Kendall, a senior lecturer of management at Ohio State University's business school. A larger pivot within the U.S. retail climate to e-commerce and big-box stores has also made it harder for a relatively small company like Joann to compete with behemoths like Amazon and Walmart. Along with the decline in the popularity of sewing, that shift created a 'double whammy' for Joann, says Kendall. Joann entered the 21st century as a family-run business, but not always a thriving one. In 2006, the company hired Darrell Webb, who had been president of grocer Fred Meyer, to take over as the brand's first non-family CEO. At that time, the company was struggling with uneven sales and too much inventory. 'We had stores that weren't clean, and he came in and brought this tremendous discipline, not only to the corporate culture but to the stores' culture,' says an executive who worked at Joann at the same time as Webb but asked to remain anonymous to protect his privacy. Webb, he says, brought sparkling restrooms and tight inventory control: 'That was a very positive shot in the arm.' Alan Porter, who worked at Joann for 16 years, beginning as a store manager around 2004 and leaving as a Florida district manager in 2020, agrees. He credits Webb with setting Joann on what could have been a sustainable path. Webb and his leadership team did that largely by 'getting back to basics,' Porter tells Fortune, and right-sizing the stores' overgrown retail footprint. The CEO talked to store staff across the country, too, Porter says, learning how to make Joann a mecca for its core audience: sewers. Fortune could not reach Webb for comment. But Webb stepped down from his role in 2011 and took a seat on the board after Joann accepted an unsolicited bid from Leonard Green & Partners to take the company private. That $1.6 billion leveraged deal left the company with a mountain of debt—the remnants of which would bog it down for years—and meant Joann would pay steep annual management fees. In the best-case scenario, private equity firms provide an injection of cash that allows a company to grow and create jobs before the firm finds an exit—like a sale or an IPO—and cashes out with a decent return. But timing, market conditions, and interest rates don't always cooperate. Making matters worse, buyouts are made with funds borrowed against the company's assets, meaning a company like Joann—which had no debt in 2010 and hit a record-high stock price that year—can find itself severely overleveraged and forced to raise prices or cut costs, including labor, to survive. If the market turns, or a company is poorly managed, and refinancing becomes harder, paying down debt can prove impossible. 'It may make the individuals rich at the time,' Chad Zipfel, a finance lecturer at Ohio State University's Fisher School of Business, says of leveraged buyouts. 'But it often portends future hurt.' Leonard Green initially looked like the right answer, according to the former executive who remembers discussions from that time. As private equity firms went, this person says, the PE firm was known for being hands-off, which was appealing. Joann initially maintained the close-knit culture instilled by the family-run firm even after its PE acquisition, the former executive recalls. However, that eroded with time. One major culture shock came when then-CEO Jill Soltau, who had not previously worked in craft retail, hired consultants from McKinsey to analyze the workforce, which led to layoffs, he recalls. (Soltau did not respond to Fortune's request for comment.) Between 2011 and 2023, nine executives rotated through the CEO office, including Webb and two sets of interim co-chiefs. Porter also says that the company began reducing headcount inside stores in the 2010s to save on payroll costs, which led to a cascade of issues. Unlike cans of soup that get restocked by the caseload, fabric often must be measured by employees at a cutting counter. One customer might need half a yard from six different heavy bolts, and the next person could have an even more complicated sewing project, Porter explains. When his stores didn't have enough staff on hand, fabric bolts piled up at the cutting counter, and customers faced 45-minute-long wait times. Elizabeth Caven, an Ohio-based crafts business investor who is also a vendor at Joann, adds that the sewing-obsessed staff were 'one of the reasons why originally you would want to go into the store.' 'Usually, while the cutting process is happening, there's a conversation: 'What are you making?' 'What else do you need to go with this?'' Joann's associates could make invaluable suggestions, she explains. But finding those helpful employees became 'hit or miss,' she says. Caven noticed staffing issues of another kind as well. In the process of pitching a handheld pattern projector to the company, she was stunned to discover that a head buyer had never seen paper patterns outside of their packaging. 'The higher up in the company that you would go, the less there was an understanding of what the customer actually wanted to do,' she says. Meanwhile, in the late 2010s, Hobby Lobby began expanding across the country, offering craft supplies and a limited selection of fabric. The chain had started in Oklahoma City in the 1970s and was a regional competitor for decades. Hobby Lobby's rise as a national rival was the tipping point for Joann's decline, according to the former executive. The retailer was family-owned, he notes, so it wasn't facing the same financial pressures as Joann. It didn't have hundreds of millions in debt to worry about, or management fees. Meanwhile, it had less emphasis on labor-intensive sewing requests, and its goods were often cheaper. The famously Christian and mission-driven store quickly stole market share from Joann, which responded with more cost-cutting, further impacting the customer experience, which created a self-perpetuating cycle. After a rough few years, Joann's fortunes changed again. Entering 2020, the chain was still in debt to the tune of $900 million, which Moody's flagged as distressed. But in the first nine months of that year, revenue reached $1.9 billion, representing nearly 25% year-over-year growth, according to its subsequent IPO filing. COVID-19 lockdowns that kept people indoors had sparked a crafting renaissance. It wasn't just amateurs who had found Joann's, then-CEO Wade Miquelon told Fortune in 2021. The brand also attracted side-hustle sellers and small businesses. 'Fundamentally there has been a shift for people who want to do more do-it-yourself projects,' he said. With sales soaring, Leonard Green saw an opportunity to exit. The private equity firm put the company back on the market that year in a public offering that raised $131 million, with Leonard Green remaining the majority shareholder. But just a year later, it was clear that what looked like a new era for the crafting store was in fact more of a 'blip,' the executive who asked to remain anonymous said. Joann's pandemic boom went bust, and the store once again belonged solely to its most dedicated hobbyists. With sales in the now-public company plummeting year over year, Joann's share price dropped below a dollar in 2024, triggering a Nasdaq delisting and its first bankruptcy last April. Miquelon, who resigned in 2023, did not respond to Fortune's request for comment. To outsiders, says OSU professor Zipfel, it appears that Joann's CEO fell victim to a common psychological trap. 'When times are good, we think they'll always be good,' he says. 'It's hard as a finance leader to say: 'Hey everyone, let's pull back a little bit. Let's not go so heavy into hiring and assuming these spending trends will continue.'' The store also failed to take measures such as adding subscriptions or creative services, for example, that may have helped it to retain its pandemic-rush customers. Last year, Joann struggled to keep its shelves stocked, which is not uncommon after a bankruptcy. Suppliers often worry about sending more products to a shaky business, unsure whether they will get paid. In November of 2024, news broke that Joann was looking for rebates from vendors. Two months later, the store declared a second Chapter 11 bankruptcy, and was eventually bought by a liquidator. 'It's quite sad,' says Caven. 'They were clearly the category leader.' This story was originally featured on
