Out of curiosity, I’ve been skimming through the court docket. Know what I think? Joann’s has been badly mismanaged for years by executives who: (a) didn’t know their target customers as well as they should have and (b) were out to siphon off as much money from the company as possible. Follow the chain of ownership. The number of different LLCs that own Joann is dizzying. Too much intermingling among executives, members of the board of directors, suppliers, financiers and outside consultants. Lots of lawyers, accountants, consultants, rent-a-executives with four figure hourly rates all have their fingers in the pie. They’ve all filed paperwork with the court to make sure they get paid. What about the employees and unsecured creditors?
Joann has too many stores and no one was willing to be the bad guy and close the unprofitable ones until now. Gordon Brothers is taking care of that. Apparently, the remaining stores have garnered the interest of several suitors in an auction. It’ll be next week before we hear anything about that. Hopefully, the new buyer will revive the remaining Joann stores – returning the company to its fabric and textile roots. Keep the fabric, notions, yarn and needlework categories. Maybe some plastic storage. Have a carefully curated selection of sewing machines, accessories and staff who know how to use them. Offer classes again. Adults are looking for in-person beginner sewing classes because you can only learn so much from YouTube.
My unsolicited advice to the successful bidder who plans to keep the remaining stores open: Invest in your stores and people. Offer quality merchandise that’s priced fairly, with clear coupon/discount policies. Customers will return.
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