How is your JoAnns looking??

I can't think of anything I need other than zippers so it's not worth the 30 minutes each way drive for me.

That’s what the thread racks looked like at the NEW one near me that, when just opened in November, was previously fully stocked. 😩 I went there with DD a few days ago and she commented that the whole store just looked sad because it was in total disarray. When we went in November shortly after this store had opened (they closed the old location and moved to a brand new space in the same mall) it looked just like the JoAnn’s commercials that had been running on TV a couple years ago: totally stocked, everything neat and orderly, everything bright and clean and new. 

They have tons of fabric but I'm not a sewer. All the scrapbook *pads* were gone. Most of the crafting stuff, most stuff was picked over but there were lots of sticker, was only 10% off. I bought nothing.

Mine has been picked clean, and the discounts aren't that good. Half the staff quit once the closing was announced, so the cutting counter was running on 2 people, one of whom was the manager who was running between the counter and the front to put out fires. I waited almost 2 hours to have fabric cut. The stack of fabric behind the workers was HUGE, they literally didn't have anyone to put it back so they just kept making piles behind them after they cut. This was right after it was announced that they were closing.

I went back last weekend on a whim and there was very little left, yarn has totally been cleaned out same with thread. Lots of fabric left and clearly they have people helping to cut as the piles weren't that big, but the markdowns are also not that big.

Completely empty! I was shocked! The aisle of scrap paper was mostly in tacked. It was ridiculous how much people bought at 20%. Maybe if they shopped there more frequently, we wouldn’t be losing yet another brick and mortar store.

Ours had hiring signs up too. Sorry, there’s no amount of money you could pay me to take on that gig. The store was a total dumpster fire.

I get zipper tape by the yard from Amazon, I’m sure other places sell them that way too. I like that I can cut it to whatever lengths I need for my project and that all of the zippers on a project will match.

Some few things in my JoAnn's are completely gone and other things are barely touched. I was in there just now. I keep popping in every 4 or 5 days waiting to pick off some kind of bargain. But with the cotton fabric only 20% off, it's not a sale. It would regularly go on sale for 40% off. So why buy it at 20? And I'm waiting for the baking pans to go on sale. They are only 10% off right now. When I could have bought them with a coupon two months ago. Like I said, I go every 4 or 5 days. The only change since my last time in there is that the fleece is all now down to 40%. But no one wants it. (I stand by my thoughts that the overemphasis on fleece led partly to JoAnn's downfall. Who the $%&@ needs half a fabric section of fleece?

I'll be headed to one next week - it used to be the only place that had a decent selection at decent prices.

I'm curious to see how the papercrafting section looks.

I went to one over the weekend. Nothing was more than 30% off, there was tons of stock, a 3 yard minimum on fabric and a very long line at the checkout. I left with nothing.

It’s really not! You should try it sometime. I actually prefer the zippers by the yard. What I really like is that if I need a weird length I don’t have to buy a really long zipper only to have to cut a big piece off. Putting the zipper pulls on is a bit fiddly but there’s a free zipper jig STL on Thingiverse that’s supposed to make that task easier.