There has been at least one Jo-Ann's Fabrics store in The Rocket City in the 30ish years I've been here; it opened in a small strip center pretty much where a very nice independent fabric store had been located (it's sad that I don't remember the name of the store). There was a fire in the center, and the indy store never reopened, but Jo-Ann's was there for a little while. They came, they declined, they went.
Today there was a Grand Opening for a brand spanking new Jo-Ann's. I didn't figure I'd try to go, but I had an appointment on that end of town and, well, I had to look.
I wanted to know if the first thing visible when you walk in the door was fabric. Silly of me, maybe, but that kind of sets the tone for the store. There's a Jo-Ann's in Duluth, GA, that Miss A and I always visit when we make it to the Expo, and there's one in Cool Springs, TN, that we stop by when we do our annual trek to Textile Fabric's Summer Sale.
There's a huge difference. The Georgia store has the fabric front and center; it's what you see when you walk in. I've seen silk, linen, nice cottons...it's a fabric store. The Tennessee store has craft stuff up front, and the fabric tends to polyester.
I wanted to know what we had.
Now, I knew that, since I'm *supposed* to be resting up, I probably shouldn't go. If I hadn't had to get out anyway, I wouldn't have. But the new store was only about 3 miles from my appointment, so...I went, just to have a look.
It's just as well it was just a look. The line for the cash register went all the way to the back of the store. It was crazy.
I could sort of see the fabric all along the left side of the store when I entered; it wasn't front and center but it was visible.
However, a quick walk through...such as I could manage, with the crowd... showed mostly polyester and quilting cotton. I saw a teeny bit of very lightweight silk dupioni that was listed at $25/yard, but no linen or rayon or wool. And they didn't have Burda patterns, which was the main reason I was excited a Jo-Ann's was coming to town.
Sigh.
But I filled out the registration for the gift card drawing just the same before I left. :-)
All we have where I live is Jo-Ann's, no Hancock and I must say I prefer Jo-Anns but it's probably because I'm more familiar with what they have and how it's all laid out. I hope when you feel better you'll get it another look through. :)
ReplyDeleteYep. Sounds like my Joann's, too. It's always a treasure hunt to see if there's any really nice fabric that somehow managed to sneak in under the radar! We do have Burda patterns, but don't expect to be able to buy any of the newest Big 4 until they've been out at least a month or two.
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