The last several years have not been good for the retail industry. Before the worldwide pandemic, things weren’t looking good for a number of stores. For some, things actually got a bit better during the height of the pandemic when people were staying in and buying things. The outside world opened up and the downward trend that was taking place continued all over again. One of the retail chains that experienced this up and down was Joann, and the fear this time around is they may be down for the count.
Joann Stores are largely known for their sales of fabrics and crafting materials. Having been around for over eight decades, the chain has had a pretty reliable run in terms of being a household name and nationwide presence. They’ve also been able to hold their own against other places like Hobby Lobby and online retailers. Or at least, they were holding their own through the aforementioned pandemic.
In 2021, they went public on the stock market, but the bottom started falling out in late 2023.
It’s never a good sign when your stock value drops to under a dollar. In fact, it’s so not good that you’ll be delisted if it continues. That’s what they were threatened with in October of 2023. Flash-forward a couple months later to March of 2024 and they filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy. If you’ve read some of our other articles about these events, then you likely know that chapter 11 is not the end of a company, just the reorganizing of it. That’s what Joann was trying to do, reorganize to structure a way to manage debt.
Apparently those plans didn’t work because they’ve filed again. The issue with this is how it may be harder to find a buyer given the amount of debt the company has and its failure to restructure properly during its first chapter 11 filing. Without a buyer, the only way the company would have to pay off its debt is to liquidate assets to pay their creditors. For the time being, stores are remaining open and people are still employed. It may only be a matter of time though before that changes.
Too many retail businesses are failing for various reasons and the workers are the ones who end up getting hurt the most. We hate to see long standing businesses fail and we hate to see people out of work. Here’s hoping something can happen to keep things open and people at work.
