ARLINGTON, Texas – The nerves of Arlington’s sewing community are fraying thanks to the nationwide closures of Joann Fabric and Craft stores amid the company’s bankruptcy proceedings.
After nurturing and supplying eight decades of sewers while helping them hone and enjoy their craft, Joann is closing its doors. The 82-year-old business, founded in 1943, sells a wide variety of fabric, art and craft supplies, and home décor. It also provides custom framing services, sewing classes and affinity groups as well as weekly scissor-sharpening services at select locations.
Filed for bankruptcy in January
In early February, Joann announced it would be closing all 800 of its stores due to the company filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy status in January. The company had previously filed in March 2024.
Joann has served the crafting and sewing communities for decades, and its decision to close its doors leaves a rash of makers wondering where they will go to purchase fabric, yarn and machine maintenance supplies.
The news of its closure has drawn hundreds to their local Joann’s to stock up before they are forced to source their needs from online retailers or specialty vendors, both of which are cost-prohibitive, especially compared to the low prices Joann has offered over the years with its discounts, numerous coupons and special offers. But due to its bankruptcy status, no Joann locations are now accepting gift cards, coupons or online orders.
Arlington Highlands location hummed with activity
On a recent Wednesday afternoon, the city’s only Joann’s—located in the Arlington Highlands—hummed with the sound of customers rummaging through sparse beige shelves. Littered with markdown posters, Joann was filled with shoppers trying to find a good deal while the chatty women in green aprons working the fabric counter buzzed away at calicos and fleeces while asking customers what they’re making. Customers waited patiently in line, carts overflowing with bolts of fabric, to have their number called for cutting.
On the other side of the store, customers like Genny Phillips, a self-professed “art person” who used to come to Joann for crafting supplies, roamed around rummaging through bins of fake flora and fauna and springtime pillow lines.
“I knew the store was closing down, so I was gonna see if I could get any home décor,” Phillips said.
While home décor is not Joann’s specialty per se, its locations do sell various seasonal pillows, candles, ornaments and tchotchkes—usually brightly colored, often displaying some rhyming phrase or uplifting wording, and most often Easter, Halloween or Christmas themed.
Stockpiling for the future
Others shopped hoping to pass down their trade or passions while the store is still open to offer easily acquirable and affordable supplies. Customers like Heather Taylor and her two daughters meandered through the store filling their cart with large balls of fluffy yarn so Taylor could teach her daughters how to hand-crochet blankets.
Near the back of the large store sat a group of mostly women who meet every Wednesday afternoon to sew and embroider on their Viking Husqvarna machines, making everything from aprons to complex quilts. The women sit dispersed across several small tables basking in the cool illumination of their machines while chatting in between stitches. Conversations ranged from family life to machine utility to local deaths.
One member of the group, who asked to be referred to solely by her first name, Willie, is a Mansfield resident and a three-year member of the group. She hand-stitched colorful polka-dotted hexagonal blocks together in the shape of a flower while her companions whirled away on their machines. With the nationwide closure, members of groups like this wonder what comes next.
‘High hopes’ dashed
“They are always busy, so if they’re not making money, something’s wrong with the pricing, something’s wrong somewhere,” Willie said. “More and more people are doing crafts, so I don’t understand it. We had high hopes because it was so busy that it would stay open, but we were wrong.”
For future sources of fabric, she cited online companies like Missouri Star Quilt Co. and Shabby Fabrics. She added that ordering fabric online is difficult because it’s difficult to evaluate coloring or texture before ordering.
“The biggest effect it’s going to have is the fabric,” Willie said. “There’s no other place that has the variety of fabric that Joann’s has, and fabric is not easy to order online.”
The group of women, most of whom learned to sew in home economics classes in school, will now meet at the George W. Hawkes Downtown Library. The library offers 10 machines for in-house use for those with valid Arlington Public Library card. There the group will continue to make bowls, table runners, wall-hangings and whatever else suits their sewing fancies.
