As the month of May winds down, and reality around the final closing of every last Joann store settles in, I know I’m not the only person feeling a little “lost”, some sadness, and a distinct sense that we’re witnessing the end of an era.

I’ve also started to realize that I’m doing a lot less “retail therapy” with craft supplies, which means that my previously-growing stash is leveling off.

I take no pleasure in Joann’s demise, and feel deeply sad for the employees who felt the biggest impact of this reality. Still, as I wrangle with my own issues, I have to say that not having Joann a quick trip away is going to help me better achieve my goals of downsizing, decluttering and not impulse shopping. Lately I’ve been making more things with STASH fabric and yarn than with new, although I do wonder what the “shelf date” needs to be for something to be strictly “stash” fabric or yarn.

Like many people commenting on social media about Joann’s bankruptcy and closure, I have decades of wonderful memories connected to Joann (& Piece Goods, Minnesota Fabrics, House of Fabrics & Hancock Fabrics to name a few). As the years moved on and society changed, demographics shifted and habits evolved, Joann’s sewing focus had to expand to a hybrid that supported sewing as well as general craft stuff. I had no beef with the expansion as it made Joann a one-stop-shop for sewing, crocheting/knitting and crafting people with an abundance of supplies all around.

Sadly though, the fraying around the edges started to appear as they doubled down on that hybrid model and increased their investments in cheap, gaudy home decor that was pretty much disposable (single season use before falling apart).

This pivot signaled that they didn’t care about being a quality sewing shop, or an affordable yarn store. The goal was simply to make as much money as possible on impulse buys.

I remember wondering, on more than one occasion, if I was truly comfortable supporting a business that was intentionally creating items that have 1 foot in the landfill before they leave the store; especially when the profits are geared toward making money to pad the C-suite’s bonus fund – not to reinvest in the company.

The more I thought about that “tension”, the more I began to think about how often I ended up shopping and BUYING much more than I had any need, or even desire, to own. I wrote about retail manipulation in an earlier blog post.

I was thinking about this a lot as I made my final passes through dying Joann locations around town.

I have mourned and will continue to be sad about Joann’s implosion, but I am also taking advantage of the opportunity presented by the absence of my go-to store for yarn, fabrics and crafts. I am using this imposed “break” in shopping for these items to reassess my impulses to shop.

Am I shopping for something I need or specifically want? Or am I simply on the hunt for a dopamine hit by browsing and finding some colorful object that catches my eye and excites my imagination?

Shopping for intended projects we are ready to undertake is an entirely different activity than feeling bored or depressed and shopping in order to cure those feelings. This mindless shopping is the biggest contributor to piles of fabric we’ll never sew, stacks of yarn we’ll never crochet or knit and bags of craft supplies for projects that we’ve long forgotten.

In my professional world, Artificial Intelligence (AI) is the buzz of the day. One big question is whether or not the changes it is bringing will be a net positive or a net negative.

I’m sure in that case (healthcare, education and AI) the answer is “both”. A similarly framed question applied to the demise of Joann stores across the nation is probably also a mixture, but I think it might tilt, ever so slightly, toward being more positive than negative (at least for some of us).

We can shop less frantically and more intentionally. We can use the abundance of supplies we already have on hand, making our hobbies cost neutral in the present moment. We can “cure” our impulse to self-medicate with retail therapy, and in the process, get a better handle on our finances.

The rise and fall of The Cleveland Fabric Shop is a story about life, and resonates with a text from Ecclesiastes in the Hebrew text:

There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens:

²     a time to be born and a time to die,
    a time to plant and a time to uproot,
³     a time to kill and a time to heal,
    a time to tear down and a time to build,
⁴     a time to weep and a time to laugh,
    a time to mourn and a time to dance,
⁵     a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,
    a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing,
⁶     a time to search and a time to give up,
    a time to keep and a time to throw away,
⁷     a time to tear and a time to mend,
    a time to be silent and a time to speak,
⁸     a time to love and a time to hate,
    a time for war and a time for peace.

Joann stores’ time have come and gone. For the rest of us, the end of their era becomes an opportunity for us to remake ourselves and our craft shopping and spending habits. AND, the result just might be a big, net positive in our lives.

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