Craft Retail Giant Plans to Close 500+ Stores, Connecticut Possibly Affected

Another year brings another conversation of store closures across the U.S.

Last year, there seemed to be many corporate giants that filed for bankruptcy and closed a bunch of stores and it looks like not much is changing this year. I hope we can eventually get to a point where business is booming and all stores open again. I would rather see local businesses stay open, but business is general is what we need.

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JoAnn Fabrics announced that they filed for bankruptcy a second time in the beginning of this year, after they originally filed in March of 2024. According to USA Today, the retail giant made a statement saying that they will close more than 500 stores. They have about 850 stores total, so this will be a big hit to their company.

There are no public lists yet about which locations are closing, but according to the article, they did submit locations that they planned to close. I was curious to see if any Connecticut stores were going to be part of these closures and looking at the list, every Connecticut store was on there.

Connecticut is currently home to 10 Joann Fabrics stores - Brookfield, Clinton, Manchester, Newington, Enfield, Southington, Hamden, Milford, Torrington and Norwich and every store was on the list of planned closures. What does this mean for Connecticut? I wonder if only some of our stores will close, or if they all will.

I guess only time will tell.