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Living Madly: Joann Fabrics Closing is Yet Another Assault on Women

By Emilie-Noelle Provost

This past February, Leonard Green & Partners, the California-based private equity firm that owns Joann Fabrics, announced that it was closing all 800 of the store’s retail locations. According to news sources, this decision was made after the company filed for bankruptcy protection twice in the past year. What isn’t commonly reported, though, is that, in 2011, Leonard Green purchased the formerly public—and profitable—fabric and craft chain in a $1.6 billion leveraged buyout that took the company private and burdened it with debt. This, combined with a series of bad business decisions, is what ultimately led to Joann’s demise.

Leonard Green’s decision to liquidate the company’s assets, rather than sell it to another investor that might be willing and able to revive it, is a tragedy.

If you do an online search on the subject, you’ll find a number of articles claiming that Joann’s downfall was all but inevitable due to fewer young people learning how to sew and a growing lack of interest in making things by hand. An article published by Fortune magazine in March calls Joann Fabrics a “cultural relic,” blaming the women’s movement, fast fashion, and the globalization of the U.S. economy for the “decline in the popularity of sewing.”

While it’s true that fewer people sew today than did years ago, I find these rationalizations to be sexist and simplistic, and the role that corporate greed played in all of it is rarely mentioned. There are still many thousands of people in this country, the majority of them women, who sew. Quilting is extremely popular. There was rarely a time that I went into one of Joann’s stores that I didn’t see young people, both men and women, buying fabric and supplies.

Joann Fabrics was also a significant and affordable source of yarn for knitters and those who love to crochet. The store also sold embroidery floss, buttons, sewing patterns, thread, scissors, macramé cord, zippers, jewelry-making supplies, needles, crochet hooks, books, ribbons, sewing machines, and craft supplies for kids. The location where I usually shopped was almost always busy.

At a time when overt misogyny seems to be leaking through the cracks of our society like water infiltrating a sinking ship, Joann’s closing feels like yet another assault on women.

What the editors at Fortune and many other media outlets don’t get is that it’s not just about the yarn or the fabric. Many women use their shared love of quilting or knitting as a way to spend quality time together. They make clothing and hats and baby blankets for their children and grandchildren, their husbands and co-workers. They share stories, offer one another advice, share in each other’s joys, and support each other when times get tough.

I have fond memories of shopping for fabric with my mother, who was an avid quilter. She and I didn’t always get along, but sewing was one of the interests we had in common. It provided a way for us to spend time together that we wouldn’t otherwise have had.

Joann’s closing could effectively make gatherings like these a thing of the past. For many women, especially those who live in rural areas, there’s nowhere else to buy much of what the store sold. While many items, like scissors and knitting needles, can be easily purchased online, it’s difficult, if not impossible, to buy things like fabric and yarn without first being able to see and touch them. Colors depicted online are often untrue, and knowing what the texture and thickness of a fabric or yarn is like is essential before making anything with them.

All this is beside the fact that we are living at time when in-person gatherings and making things by hand have become increasingly rare. We need more opportunities to do these things, not fewer. The closing of Joann’s retail locations not only makes it less likely that contemporary sewers and knitters will get together, it will make it more difficult for young people to learn how to knit or sew, diminishing the likelihood that such social outings will still take place in the future.

Part of me hopes another store will come along to fill the void that Joann’s closing has left. But considering the current cultural and business climate in this country, I don’t know if that will happen.

Although none of them are as comprehensive, there are a few local alternatives to Joann Fabrics that sewers, knitters, crocheters, and crafters can visit. Michael’s craft stores in Chelmsford and Nashua sell fabric in limited amounts as well as yarn and items like scissors and thread. In Littleton, there’s The World in Stitches, a locally owned shop that sells embroidery and cross stitch supplies and has a nice selection of higher-end yarn. Aunt Margaret’s Yarn and Gift Shop in North Chelmsford sells yarn and knitting and crochet supplies. Thread Gardens Fiber Studio at Western Avenue Studios in Lowell sells hand-dyed yarn. Sew Together Quilt Shop in Tewksbury sells fabric, sewing notions, thread, and other supplies. And Bits ‘n Pieces Quilt Shoppe in Pelham has sewing machines, fabric, notions, books, and quilting kits for sale.

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Emilie-Noelle Provost (she/her) is the author of The River Is Everywhere, a National Indie Excellence Award, American Fiction Award, and American Legacy Award finalist, and The Blue Bottle, a middle-grade adventure with sea monsters. Visit her at emilienoelleprovost.com.