After more than 75 years in business, crafts and fabric retailer Joann plans to close about 500 of its stores across the U.S.
According to Joann’s restructuring website that lists the locations impacted, 13 locations in Virginia are set to close, including three locations in Southwest Virginia.
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Joann currently operates around 800 stores across 49 states. The initial list of the roughly 500 locations it’s looking to close can be found on the company’s restructuring website — spanning coast to coast and includes locations in North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Virginia and West Virginia.
When exactly those closures will happen and how many employees will be impacted has not yet been announced. Joann’s Wednesday motion seeks court permission to begin the process.
Virginia Stores closing
- 145 Shoppers Way 24073 Christiansburg VA
- 1774 Rio Hill Center 22901 Charlottesville VA
- 3405 Candlers Mountain Rd 24502 Lynchburg VA
- 240 Commonwealth Blvd W 24112 Martinsville VA
- 705 Dominion Square S/C 22701 Culpeper VA
- 1076 W Mercury Blvd 23666 Hampton VA
- 5103 Main St. 23188 Williamsburg VA
- 551 Hiltop Plaza 23454 Virginia Beach VA
- 6320 Seven Corners Ctr 22044 Falls Church VA
- 251 W Lee Hwy Ste 659 20186 Warrenton VA
- 12124 Fairfax Towne Center 22033 Fairfax VA
- 14350 Smoke Town Rd 22192 Woodbridge VA
- 9685 Jefferson Davis Hwy 22407 Fredericksburg VA
The company posted a statement on it’s restructuring website explaining the move.
According to an initial report by the Associated Press, the Hudson, Ohio-based retailer filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection last month for the second time within a year, with the company pointing to issues like sluggish consumer demand and inventory shortages.
Joann previously sought Chapter 11 in March 2024 and later emerged as a private company. But after operational challenges continued to pile up, Joann filed for bankruptcy again in January. It’s now looking to sell the business — and maintained in a filing Wednesday that closing “underperforming” locations is necessary to complete that process.
Both of Joann’s bankruptcy filings seen over the last year arrived amid some slowdowns in discretionary spending — notably with consumers taking a step back from at-home crafts, at least relative to the early COVID-19 pandemic boom. Joann has also faced rising competition in the crafts space from rivals like Hobby Lobby, as well as from larger retailers, like Target, who now offer ample art supplies and kits.
And, while Joann turned to implementing a new business plan after emerging from bankruptcy last spring, “unanticipated inventory challenges post-emergence, coupled with the prolonged impact of an excessively sluggish retail economy, put (Joann) back into an untenable debt position,” interim CEO Michael Prendergast noted in a sworn court declaration filed when Joann initiated its latest Chapter 11 proceedings on Jan. 15.
Prendergast explained that inventory shortages had significant ripple effects on Joann’s core business, particularly when “in-stock levels eventually dropped by upwards of 10%" and led to a “new phase of operational distress.”
Citing these and other macroeconomic challenges seen in the retail space over recent years, Joann has maintained that a sale of the business is the best path forward. The company says it has a proposed “stalking horse” bid agreement with Gordon Brothers Retail Partners.
