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Small businesses benefit from JOANN closure
A big corporation can often put the small shops out of business. But, when JOANN closed their doors for good across the country last year, it allowed small businesses to fill that gap for crafters and sewers. FOX 13's Briona Arradondo reports.
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - A big corporation can often put the small shops out of business, but when JOANN Fabrics and Crafts closed its doors for good across the country last year, it allowed small businesses to fill that gap for crafters and sewers.
Local perspective:
Stitch by stitch, the vision comes together at sewing classes in St. Petersburg’s Sew Pinellas, giving locals an opportunity that wasn’t always there.
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"It was the day after they closed that we decided to be open six days a week," said Jennifer Fairbanks, the owner of Sew Pinellas, a fabric store and sewing studio.
It’s been a year since JOANN Fabrics and Crafts announced the closure of all its locations. In that time, Fairbanks watched her business fill the gap left behind.
"We have a lot of people who come here, they don’t fit into things in the store. So, they want to learn how to make things on their own," said Fairbanks.
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Dig deeper:
Fairbanks said she’s been selling out sewing classes and stocking more fabric in the last year. Her physical store location offers the one thing you can’t get online.
"You’ve got to touch everything. When people come here, even the kids that come to our afterschool program, I tell them just go around and feel everything in the store. Just make sure your hands are clean," said Fairbanks.
In Brandon, Gigi’s Fabric Shop sits across the street from the former JOANN location. With 14 years in business, owner Carmen Wilson said she’s also seeing more customers.
"Oh my goodness, they’re coming from all over! And we usually ask them, ‘Hey, where are you from?’ And we see them coming from St. Pete, Wesley Chapel, Sarasota, just about all of Central Florida," said Wilson.
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What they're saying:
While Gigi’s Fabric Shop in Brandon primarily stocks supplies for quilters, but Wilson, who also goes by Gigi, said that changed.
"I saw a lot of Gasparilla people. They were coming in here and they were wanting to do pirate costumes, and they were like, ‘Where’s the red chiffon, and where’s the black chiffon?’ And like, I don’t have that," said Wilson. "So, I started kind of scrambling a little bit and I started changing the way I do my fabric purchases."
Wilson said she added more apparel fabric to her stock, extended her shop hours, and hired another worker. She also brought back sewing classes and offers local pickup for online orders from the store’s website, Jukijunkies.com.
In-person shopping options are slimmer today compared to what Fairbanks said she grew up seeing around the Tampa Bay area.
"Unfortunately, even just two years ago, the biggest fabric store in the area, Jay’s Fabric, they closed, which is sad because I had been going there since I was a teenager," she said. "Being in this area, there were a lot more fabric stores back then. And once they closed, it’s like, okay, where do you go to buy garment fabrics anymore?"
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Both women said they plan for their businesses to remain as an answer to that question for customers in the Tampa Bay region.
"We have to be mighty in a little, small spot," said Wilson.
The Source: The information in this story was gathered through interviews with small business owners of Sew Pinellas and Gigi’s Fabric Shop by FOX 13’s Briona Arradondo.