Joanne Fabric and Crafts store don’t live here anymore

A Fabric of Struggle: Joann’s Store Closures and the Consequences of Corporate Failur

Jo-Ann Fabric and Craft Stores have been a staple for crafting enthusiasts in the San Diego area, with locations in San Marcos, Oceanside, and San Diego. However, as of February 2025, the company has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy and announced the closure of approximately 500 stores nationwide, including several in San Diego County. The affected local stores are:

• San Marcos: 177 South Las Posas Rd.
• Oceanside: 2227 S El Camino Real Ste C
• San Diego (Midway District): 3633 Midway Drive
• Poway: 12313 Poway Rd

The announcement that Joann—a fabric and crafts retailer once woven into the daily lives of working people across the country—plans to shutter more than half of its 800 stores is not merely a story of corporate mismanagement or shifting consumer demand. It is a story of power, of whose voices matter when a business fails, and of who will bear the consequences.

For decades, Joann thrived by supplying ordinary Americans with the materials to create, to mend, to express themselves. But in the great churn of corporate America, where profits dictate survival, even a business deeply rooted in community life is not immune to the relentless pressures of debt, financial speculation, and the predatory nature of modern retail economics.

The company, headquartered in Hudson, Ohio, filed for bankruptcy not once but twice in the past year. It blamed its downfall on declining consumer spending and supply chain disruptions—common refrains in an economy where small businesses and workers are often the first to suffer.

Yet missing from these explanations is any acknowledgment of the deeper forces at play: the consolidation of wealth, the dominance of retail giants like Amazon and Target, and the financialization of industries once driven by service and craft.

Joann’s leadership insists that closing stores is necessary, a “critical part” of their survival strategy. But survival for whom? For the thousands of employees—many of them low-wage workers, often women—who will lose their jobs, there is no financial safety net, no executive parachute, no “strategic repositioning.”

The communities where these stores provided not just fabric but a space for creativity and connection will be left with empty storefronts, another casualty of an economy where the bottom line reigns supreme.

Joann’s troubles did not begin with COVID-19, though the pandemic briefly boosted interest in at-home crafting. Competition from Hobby Lobby and big-box retailers chipped away at its business, but the real danger was the system itself—a system where corporations go bankrupt while executives walk away unscathed, where hedge funds and private equity firms dictate the fate of businesses that once stood as pillars of their communities.

The unraveling of Joann is not an isolated event. It is part of a pattern: workers paying the price for the failures of those in power. When corporate decisions prioritize shareholders over employees, debt restructuring over job security, and store closures over investment in community resilience, the question remains—who is this system really designed to serve?

And as Joann’s fabric stores disappear from towns across America, one thing is clear: the threads that once connected business to the people are fraying. And unless workers and communities assert their own power, those threads may never be stitched back together again.

According to the company’s restructuring website, these Joann locations in Southern California are slated to close:

• Long Beach, 3588 Palo Verde Ave.
• La Verne, 2086 Foothill Blvd.
• Huntington Beach, 9901 Adams Ave.
• Alhambra, 2115 W Commonwealth Ave.
• La Canada, 2160 Foothill Blvd.
• Lakewood, 5255 Lakewood Blvd.
• Torrance, 21800 Hawthorne Blvd.
• Northridge, 19819 Rinaldi St.
• Buena Park, 5885 Lincoln Ave.
• Irvine, 2170 Barranca Parkway
• Woodland Hills, 22914 W Victory Blvd.
• Glendale, 1000 South Central Ave.
• Fullerton, 3300 Yorba Linda Blvd.
• Santa Clarita, 26583 Carl Boyer Drive
• Orange, 1411 N. Tustin St.
• Foothill Ranch, 26742 Portola Parkway
• Sherman Oaks, 13730 Riverside Drive
• Oxnard, 2351 N Rose Ave.
• Simi Valley, 2242 Tapo St.
• Corona, 2250 Griffin Way
• Temecula, 40462 Winchester Road
• Redlands, 1625 W Lugonia Ave.
• Rancho Mirage, 72765 Dinah Shore Drive
• Hesperia, 12779 Main St.
• Riverside, 3635 Riverside Plaza Drive
• Hemet, 2981 West Florida Ave.
• Chino, 5545 Philadelphia St.
• Oceanside, 2227 S El Camino Real
• Poway, 12313 Poway Road
• San Diego, 3633 Midway Drive
• San Marcos, 177 South Las Posas Road

Here is Joann’s list of all stores on the closure list nationwide.