Stores had a feel for the fabric of a community
Fran Prescott buys fabric at Joann’s in Riverwalk Plaza in Boynton Beach. ‘It’s a disaster,’ she says of the impending closings. ‘There are no other stores like this.’ Photos by Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star
By Tao Woolfe
Fran Prescott pushed her cart past bolts of fabric on a recent Thursday afternoon, noting the yellow paper signs taped to shelves announcing deep discounts on Joann’s fabrics, buttons and trim.
Prescott, of Boynton Beach, is a microbiologist who has been sewing for 70 years — “since I was 4”— and who has shopped regularly at Joann for decades to create costumes, pillows and blankets for her grandchildren.
“I’ve made everything for them, from snowsuits to wedding dresses,” Prescott said. “I like coming to Joann’s to look at the fabric and get a feel for it. Sometimes I don’t have a project in mind, but I’ll come in here and look around and get ideas. I don’t like ordering online.”
Prescott has a highly developed sense of whimsy. She made a surgical mask and surgical gown for herself peppered with images of COVID molecules, for example, and once spent five years making a hockey-themed quilt for her grandson.
“I work the night shift for a commercial microbiology lab, and when I get home, I like to work on my projects,” she said.
But on this day, she was navigating the aisles with a heavy heart. The Boynton Beach store — and the 800 or so other Joann fabric and craft stores across the country, including ones in Pompano Beach, Wellington and West Palm Beach — will close their doors forever in the coming weeks.
“It’s a disaster,” Prescott said. “There are no other stores like this.”
Other shoppers share Prescott’s dismay.
Rosemary Mouring, of Lantana, is a community volunteer and a Joann’s regular.
Mouring said that although people can buy fabric at big box stores like Hobby Lobby and Walmart, the fabric is sold in pre-cut packages and the staff, for the most part, does not have the level of expertise that Joann’s staff offers.
“I’m going to have to rethink the Christmas bags we make for the children at St. Mary’s Hospital,” said Mouring.
She explained that she and other volunteers discovered about 10 years ago that the patients at Palm Beach Children’s Hospital at St. Mary’s Medical Center — the only dedicated children’s hospital between Fort Lauderdale and Orlando — had been keeping their belongings in trash bags.
The volunteers replaced the plastic bags with big, fluffy fleece pillowcases sporting red, holiday trim to hold the kids’ toys and clothes.
The project was so popular with the children that volunteers serving in the West Palm Beach hospital now make those gift bags every year — but with Joann’s going under, the fleece will be hard to find, Mouring said.
“Most crafters are a little upset with Joann’s corporate office for shooting themselves in the foot,” Mouring said. “And the company that bought it and paid off all the debt, cares only about the bottom line.”
Joann, which is based in Hudson, Ohio, filed for bankruptcy in January after operating for more than 80 years. The Boynton Beach store, at 1632 S. Federal Highway in the Riverwalk Plaza, was previously located on the west side of Federal in the Publix plaza. It has had a presence in Boynton Beach for decades, including since 2007 at its current location.
“The last several years have presented significant and lasting challenges in the retail environment, which, coupled with our current financial position and constrained inventory levels, forced us to take this step,” Michael Prendergast, interim chief executive of Joann’s, said when announcing the second bankruptcy filing in a year.
Prendergast said he was hoping the struggling company could find a path that would enable Joann’s to “continue operating as a going concern.” But in February, the company was put on the auction block, and GA Group, a financial services firm, was the winning bidder.
Amanda Hayes, spokeswoman for Joann’s corporate office, said the company does not yet have a closing date for the Boynton Beach store. She did not respond to a question about whether the company could emerge from bankruptcy.
A website dedicated to the company’s restructuring says closeout “sales will be held for 12 weeks, until the end of May, until supplies last.”
The website also says: “We have been proud to serve as a destination for creativity for more than 80 years and thank our dedicated Team Members, customers and communities across the nation for their decades of support.”
Christine Burtch, of Lantana, has been a manager at the Boynton Beach store for nine years. She’s also the executive vice president of the Lake Worth Beach-based Hibiscus Quilt Guild of South Florida, which has some 50 quilting enthusiasts around Palm Beach County.
Before the coronavirus sent everyone home in 2020, Burtch taught sewing and quilting classes to Joann customers.
The classes never resumed at the Boynton Beach store, she said, so she got involved with community outreach. She is among the volunteers who make fleece bags for the children at St. Mary’s and, along with her colleagues, has been stocking up on fleece from several South Florida Joann stores.
Like a toy store for crafters
Customers say they love the stores’ selection of fabrics, art supplies, home decor, yarn, sewing supplies, buttons, beads, baskets, paper goods, and artificial leaves and flowers for making wreaths and centerpieces.
“It was like being in a toy store for me,” Burtch said.
Lisa Ritota, a longtime Ocean Ridge resident, agreed that perusing the store’s notions was as much fun as choosing fabrics.
“They had a little bit of everything. It was a great, great store for last-minute thread, needles, buttons, zippers, holiday decor and seasonal stuff,” Ritota said. “I’m incredibly sad. There’s nothing else out there like it in this country.”
Ritota is a member of the American Sewing Guild who has owned an upholstery business for 30 years. She said she is switching now to the less physically demanding practice of creating handbags.
“I hope Michael’s will pick up the slack,” Ritota said, speaking of other stores and online sources for fabrics and fasteners. “I try not to use Amazon. Etsy is better.”
Debbie Sprague, president of the Hibiscus Quilt Guild and Lake Worth Beach resident, said quilters have options that other crafters and seamstresses will forfeit when Joann’s closes.
Smaller quilt shows, quilting stores, and big area quilting expos offer fabrics for sale, she said, and quilting clubs like Hibsicus can also offer community, expertise and inspiration.
“If you’re a quilter, we’re here for you,” Sprague said. “If you’re a dressmaker or a home decorator, we can’t help you.”
Faith Thelwell, of Delray Beach, unaware that Joann’s days are numbered, cruised a well-searched row of fabrics hunting for light green tulle and satin to make a skirt.
Beneath her cap of silver sequins, Thelwell’s face crumpled when she heard the news.
“I’m going to miss this store,” she said quietly. “I have been shopping here for 40 years. I am very sad.”
Comments