CENTERVILLE, Utah — The upcoming closing of every Joann location, the once-popular fabrics and crafts store, sent a jolt to quilters across the country, including here in Utah.
“That's what crafts does for people. It brings everybody together,” shared Lorrie Ryther-Hall with the Utah Quilt Guild.
Carla Gray is one of the owners of Quilter’s Attic, a small fabric store in Bountiful, who says sewing or quilting is soothing and relaxing.
“I don't want to say I'm excited that they're going," Gray said of Joann's closing, "because I've often have gone there for little craft things. So it is a shock that they're leaving, but hopefully, we can draw in a lot of those customers into our store.”
Gray admitted that Joann was never much competition for her high-quality fabrics, but the news shows a shift is happening in the industry.
“The ladies like to come in and feel and touch and see for themselves the actual fabric before buying," she said, "but it's just the way the world's going with social media and online stuff, you kind of have to gravitate the way it's going to accommodate everybody.”
Other quilters are devastated to see their local Joann’s closing.
“We're tactile people," added Ryther-Hall. "We want to be able to touch our fabric, and that's what quilters are. And a lot of us do charity work, and the prices are better, the selection is better, and you can just get what you need from Joann’s.”
Ryther-Hall doesn’t want to go online to get the affordable fabrics she uses to make quilts.
“Yes, we're older, but we can still go online and do that. We have done that, but you can't do that as a quilter. You need the color, you need the quality, you need a touch,” she explained.
Lorrie hopes the store closures won't discourage younger people from discovering quilting.
“They're definitely going to become lost arts," she worries. "It's kind of almost like a slap in the face with Joann's closing like it is simply because we're fighting to keep it alive.”
Joann stores have yet to announce an official closing date but the company said it will stop accepting gift cards after Friday.
