Now excuse me, please for bein' so dense (and for askin' so many questions in one evenin') ... but *why* is JoAnn's "The Store We Love to Hate?"
I've been wonderin' that ever since I wandered in here ... I've been to 'bout 6 JoAnn's in my lifetime (probably more, as most places I lived had two on either end of town) and they've never seemed so bad. Certainly, though I believe that we need to support our LQS's, they're cheaper when budgets and belts are a bit on the tight side .... and I've never had a problem with their goods or fabric.
Because although the fabric is less expensive than in a quilt store it is usually an irritating store for a lot of different reasons like poor customer service, poor lighting, poor cleanliness, insufficient staff, etc.
In addition to the other mentioned items, they use bait and switch tactics on their discount coupons. When you go to the counter with your choice of items and present the coupons, they often say, "Oh, that coupon is not good on this item as it is already on sale. I wasted my time trying to buy 4 four different items with the accumulated coupons from their e-mail and newspaper ads and only one of them was worth anything. That is my current complaint. If they are trying to entice me into the store with sales, then fine, put things on sale. don't put things on sale and then give me coupons that are not good for items on sale.
I keep running into bolts of fabric with just a small amount of fabric on the bolt- that little bit of fabric won't help me. Their 'typical' so called bolt will say right on it 8 or 10 yards- that's what the 'bolt' started at. In the LQS world a bolt has 20-30 yards. I spent 2 hrs. there and had to change color schemes for my quilt several times because of insufficient amounts of fabric. Then the coupon nightmare was jus like John described. And the grand finale was that I was not allowed to use the bathroom. And that's after I drove 120 miles (one way) to get to my 'local' Joann's. They certainly have earned our nickname IMO.
It's called that because some rctqers have had bad experiences at Joanns stores. The fact that these people continue to shop at Joanns has been a source of constant wonder to me. It is definitely a love/ hate situation for many.
My Joanns is clean and well run. The coupons allow for great prices on staple items, such as sewing machine needles and rotary cutting blades. I enjoy their book section and yarns.
Unfortunately, my Joanns (Bellevue NE) is going to be closing. And that makes me very sad. I'll miss the bargains and the nice people who have worked there for years.
Erratic service, sometimes it is very very good and sometimes it is horrid. Stores set up in such a fashion that they are more than a little difficult to navigate on the fabric side.
40% off coupons, good. Running the more expensive cuts, battings, and higher ticket items at an almost constant 10% off so you cannot use the 40% off coupons on them, bad. Limited selection in notions and small tools. if you are fond of Dritz brand products you are reasonably well off, if you want anything else it is catch as catch can. When people here talk about having to wade through the aisle for batting it is no joke. If I go back there and find but one pillow form on the floor in the aisle I do a small ritual of thanks and put it back on the shelf. All too often though I find myself up to my knees in assorted fluffy shapes. One time I helped a lady put most of them back on the shelf, then we had a bit of a laugh when we found out that neither one of us worked there. Making you take bolt ends that are less than an eighth and charging you right down to the fraction of an inch. I can understand making you take the extra inches, but charging for an extra quarter inch when you are buying 4 yards is just damned irritating. Not burdensome as a rule, nor really even unfair, but irritating.
We shall skip the parts about the horror of having the craft side person cut fabric, the approximately one in five bolts that have no price nor provenence, and the wicked idea of mine that the store's data input operators should be made to shop there on a regular basis.
Aahhh, you've clearly never been to the JoAnns near where I work. Let's see... it's an imposition to cut fabric, they're actively hostile to quilters, you can't get through the aisles, and if you're lucky enough to find something to buy, you can't find anyone to ring you up. The manager is the worst of the lot, so no use complaining to her. Sure, I could go up the corporate ladder, but all they have to do is walk into the store unannounced and they'd see the problems. If they don't care, why should I? It's just as easy to go over to the LQS where they seem to *want* me to shop there.
I had a very *pleasant* experience a few weeks ago at two different LQS's with bolt ends. At one I was buying two yards and there was a half yard left -- they told me if I took the extra half yard they'd give me 20% off on the whole thing. Which basically means they were giving me the half yard for free. At the other, I wanted 4 yards and they only had just over 3. They offered me 30% off if I could make the 3-plus work, which I could. :)
Besides everyone else's comments that I heartily concur with!!!! I need fusible fleece for a small project I making, so I HAD to go to TSWLTH. (I try to avoid it as much as possible, because I'm always feeling I need to get back in the shower after I've left.) So I got there at 9:05 - they open at 9:00 - a few people looked up when I knocked at the door, but it wasn't until the manager noticed I was there that she sent someone over to unlock the door. Small irritation. I got my fleece, and while paying, engaged in conversation with the cashier. She said they have a lot of new people they are training. She is on loan from another store & the manager just came to take over from another store. They are FINALLY going to clean the store up - so they say! She said there are boxes & boxes of books, patterns, notions, fabric in the back that have never been opened. She said they are filling dumpsters with discontinued products. Last week they threw away thousands of spools of thread! I said, can't you put it on clearance? Or donate it to a non-profit? She said they would be happy to donate it to a non-profit, if they knew of anyone! Yeah - that's tough to find!! So, when I left, I called the woman from out guild who runs a small program called Blankies for Grownups to tell her to get over there & collect whatever she could. She did & the manager told her she had to contact corporate by email & get on file before they could donate anything to her. She has contacted corporate by email - of course, no response yet. I called corporate when she told me what happened & left a detailed message about this particular situation - i.e. product going in the dumpster. Yeah - I'm still waiting for a response. Oh - by the way - the manager told the woman from the Guild that JoAnns is very generous to non-profits. We'll see. I just got turned down for a small donation request I made from corporate. Grrrr - even if they called in Goodwill, it would be better than just throwing the stuff out.
Pauline Northern California "SewVeryCreative" wrote in message news:690d0$472bceae$18d6c25a$ snipped-for-privacy@KNOLOGY.NET...
I worked for our local Jo-Anns for 8 years till I retired a couple years ago... It's standard proceedure to offer a 50% discount on anything left on a bolt that's under 36". (That would be the remnant price, and it's easier to get rid of it rather than make a "rem".) That said -- a quick way to count how much is left on a bolt -- every two folds on one side of the bolt is roughly = to 1 yard. (add on a bit more for that irritating folded over/ wadded up bit on the very inside of the bolt.)
Store employees are "tested" on how they measure fabric once a month - and you'd better be doggone accurate! But "corp" doesn't care whether or not it's on-grain (or folded so the selvedge edges are not even... being a quilter, that used to drive me nuts when I worked at the cutting table.
We had a great group of gals when I worked there.... we were a "destination" so to speak. Folks would bring in their finished works to be oooohed and ahhhhed over - we were proud of our store, and it showed. Then they moved the store to a bigger shopping center and a lot changed. I still shop there. Ditto what is said about the coupons - drives me nuts!
I had no problem with my not so local JoAnn's until recently. It was clean and reasonably well staffed. The coupons were never a problem for me either as I simply used them for non-sale items as the coupon indicates you must do. I loved my JoAnn's.
But now I can't walk into the store without getting an instant migraine from the current manager's command to use multiple overpowering air freshener devices with conflicting scents despite a tremendous number customer complaints and an obvious drop in number of regular customers. I no longer shop there, and it has earned the title TSWLTH. Debra in VA See my quilts at
Although their fabric prices are cheaper so is there fabric. You get what you pay for. Yes, the bait and switch is another reason. The other reason, you get use to them carrying an item and then it is gone. Poor thread selection.
NOT funny ... 'bout two years ago, I walked in to my son's classroom and was assaulted by the smell of sickly sweet roses and lavendar. When I asked (jokin'ly at first) who dropped the perfume bottle (his teacher and I had that kind of comraderie), she told me it was to camoflauge the smell of mold. I kind of said "huh" and didn't think that much of it until the end of the year (in Florida, it's hard NOT to have mold - at least a little) - the teacher had taken her stinky air freshener back home and the smell of mold was enough to knock you out of your shoes!! What was worse was the undertones of bleach (the school had been throwin' bleach on the mold to keep it under control).
The mold was shot through the walls, the insulation (how in the world???) and into the ceilling tiles. Our school system didn't give our particular school enough money to take care of the mold and in the end, stopped givin' money to the school for bleach!!
Okay, now see, this is why I didn't understand 'bout the name "TSWLTH" - every single JoAnn's I've been in (or maybe I've just been real lucky) has been wonderful!! The people have always been warm, helpful, pleasant (though hubby would disagree - he says goin' into one is like being the "Outlanders" in "Children of the Corn"), and creative!! I met three of my best friends while they worked at JoAnn's ... and we're still best buddies to this day!!
The coupons, okay, I don't always use'em - mainly because I'll go to JoAnn's on such a spur of the moment (Oh! Crap! I need 2 more yards of this so I can finish this quilt or costume in time!! Argghhh!!) that I usually forget the damn coupons. But they're still loads cheaper than my LQS - and their hours are WAY better, too. Plus, I've been to several LQS's where I got the prima donna vibe - as in a "Oh, YOU shop at *JoAnn's* - you must not be a REAL quilter" sort of attitude. I've never gotten that attitude at JoAnn's.
I even the other day was buyin' a buttload (that's the technical term for WAY too much yukky fabric) of tissue lame - there was a flaw in the lame about halfway in the length of fabric that I wanted - she cut it out of my portion and then offered the "bad" fabric (only 'bout an inch wide of flaw running near the one selvedge was flawed) at 70% off!
So, I guess I've been really lucky in terms of my experiences at JoAnn's ... that's why I just didn't get it. My current JA isn't the most modern lookin' - it's fixtures are on the old side, but it's clean (they try to keep it tidy and you can tell), and orderly. My only complaint is that every time I go in, there's more beads, scrapbookin' items, etc ... each time I go in, there's less and less fabric!! >:(
And last time I checked, it was JoAnn's FABRIC and Crafts - shouldn't they have the higher content in the name first???
Anyway, thank ya'll for explainin' this to me. My JoAnn's, while light on fabric, is heavy on warmth and encouragement - so if'n ya'll ever want to enjoy your trip to JoAnn's, you come on down (or up or over) and we'll go to mine! You may not find the fabric you're dyin' for, but you'll feel welcomed proper! :)
Okay, yep, that would tick me off, too. I'd probably be torqued enough to put an ad in the paper. I know that it's their goods to do with as they will, but to SAY that they're generous and then not follow through? Well, they're LYIN'. And if they're lyin' they don't deserve the good that their pub dept gets them.
Our Wal*Mart 'bout three years ago (during one of the last evacuations for one hurricane or another) threw out milk, butter, frozen foods, etc (because they were expectin' to lose power). Well, someone from one of the local food pantries came over to get the stuff out (since they're non-profit and was goin' to be a major shelter for the homeless) of the dumpster (once it hits the trash it's public domain, so to speak), they found that they had locked the dumpster!! Wal*Mart went and made sure that NO one would benefit from the thousands and thousands of dollars worth of food that they were just tossin' out!!
Well, that guy went to our local paper and the you-know-what really hit the fan. The manager was fired and Wal*Mart issued an apology to the community and avered that they were happy to help the community and were the most generous in terms of donatin' to the community (which is bull-doody - communities PAY Wal*Mart to build stores!!) ... all in all, Wal*Mart's aisles were empty for a LONG time - as a community, we pretty much boycotted them!!
Now, I wonder if something like that might help your JoAnn's (and Corporate) see the light? Wal*Mart thought it was "too big" to be hurt ... but I highly doubt that JoAnn's suffers under such delusions!! >:)
Oh, you're tellin' me!! I was angrier than I can ever tell you ... my son was lucky enough to be born healthier than a mule - but I know many kids in his class who were asthmatic. And don't even get me started on how the School Board budgets their money (with so VERY little goin' to the actual schools) ...
*I* threatened to tell the Board of Health - and they durn nigh laughed at me. Apparently (and this is more true, I've found, than not) the government doesn't listen to the government. OSHA, Board of Health, etc, is useless when it comes to government (county, state, or federal) offices. OSHA et al is for CIVILIAN offices - not government ones.
Hubby's office - with the US Navy (civilian)- smells like raccoon pee. The ceiling tiles are soaked with it. Someone got pi**ed and called OSHA, complained, and were told to pound sand, that OSHA couldn't do a damn thing since it's a part of the gov (basically, they're both employed by the same government). Even Animal Control refuses to come and trap the durn critters ... sayin' what else? We can't since it's a government office - you'll have to figure something else out, maybe rent a trap (and can you imagine a bunch of office guys like my hubby trapping a family of wild raccoons? And then what do they do with them??!).
It's all ridiculous - and it's why I'm votin' for the other guy for SB Superintendant this election ... maybe the next fella will give more money to the schools so they can gut and clean those damn buildin's.
To boot, we have the 1/2 cent tax comin' up for renewal again. It's what
*supposedly* generates money for reconstruction, rebuilding, and renewal. Ten years ago, it was only meant to be for ten years - they promised they wouldn't ask again - but here they are, askin' again. And I for one, knowin' how bad the schools are structure and sanitation-wise, will give it to'em. It's not the kids' fault that the adults can't manage their money/fundin'. Maybe this time, they'll use it for what needs doin' - instead of frivolous lawsuits (long story).
Bottom line: our schools are in serious trouble. And it's the kids who're payin' for it. >:(
Yeesh ... now I need a beer. Or a tall glass of vodka. Or maybe just a whack in the head with a hammer so *I* can calm down!
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