Lisa Wong unfurled the two rolls of fabric she had just purchased from Joann in Mount Laurel last Wednesday to show off its quality.
“Oh man, I’ve been coming here since they opened like 15 years ago to get all my stuff for costuming,” said the full-time nurse and part-time belly dancer who does all the sewing for her team of six dancers.“The Joann in Cherry Hill is actually closer to where I live but this store is bigger. I will miss it.”
Wong, 52, said she read last week that Joann filed for bankruptcy again – the second time within a year – and that the company is closing 500 of its 850 stores across 49 states, with only Hawaii missing from the list.
In South Jersey, Joann stores in Mount Laurel, Deptford, and Mays Landing are on the chopping block.
The Joann stores in Lawrenceville and Toms River in Central Jersey are also targeted for closure, as is the one in Succasunna, Morris County, in North Jersey, putting the total at six in New Jersey.
Across Pennsylvania, 33 Joanns are slated for closure.
A store clerk said that Joann at the Centerton Square Shopping Center in Mount Laurel, where she works, is in liquidation and has started going out of business sales.
No official closing date has been given for the Mount Laurel store, but the clerk gave it a couple of months before the doors officially shutter.
“That’s my guess,” said the clerk, who asked to remain anonymous because she wasn’t authorized to speak on behalf of the company. “We have to get rid of everything first. Even the fixtures.”
Joann, which uses the slogan “Handmade Happiness,” has been on the ropes for a while and isn’t alone, as other major store chains announced massive closures recently.
Among them are Macy’s, Kohl’s, and JCPenney, just to name a few, in a Darwinian eat-or-be-eaten retail landscape. To survive, according to analysts, the struggling chains are killing their weakest-performing stores to focus on those left standing, a process referred to as “rightsizing.”
For Joann, the Chapter 11 bankruptcy process started for the second time in nine months on Jan. 15, 2025.
“After carefully reviewing all available strategic paths, we have determined that initiating a court-supervised sale process is the best course of action to maximize the value of the business,” Interim CEO Michael Prendergast said in a statement when the company’s bankruptcy filing and restructuring plan were announced. “We remain committed to continuing to serving our customers – the sewists, quilters, crocheters, crafters and other creative enthusiasts we have served for more than 80 years – during the process.”
On Feb. 12, the company requested court approval to start closing approximately 500 stores.
Two days later, on Valentine’s Day, it got the court’s approval, and clearance sales began the next day, on Feb. 15, at Joann stores targeted for closure.
The recent news still hasn’t sunk in for crocheting aficionado Emmi Alexandre, a regular at the Joann in Mount Laurel.
Even the colorful skeins of yarn that typically bring a smile to her face couldn’t mask her disappointment that her favorite crafts store closest to her Pemberton home would soon close for good.
“I can’t trust to buy yarn online because of the lighting, and I don’t trust the quality because there’s different vendors (online) and you never know if they’re really giving you what they’re advertising,” said the 25-year physics student. “But I do trust Joann a lot.”
Yarn – lots of it – supports Alexandre’s hobby of creating apparel for herself and her friends, including sweaters, gloves, and beanies.
“The selection, price and quality is good here and there’s always a sale” said Alexandre, as she shopped with close friend Leah Yang, 26, an engineering intern also from Pemberton, who bought packets of beads to make bracelets.
As Alexandre surveyed the rows of supplies for every hobby, she said she felt like she was losing her happy place.
“There’s so much variety here,” said Alexandre. “I am very sad.”