Joann Stores have filed a layoff notice with the state for more than 200 employees at their Visalia distribution. The closure comes after the retailer filed bankruptcy for a second time in a year. Photo via Visalia EDC Facebook page

Bankrupt fabric retailer Joann Stores has announced intentions to close its West Coast distribution center in Visalia in late March, with 209 people who work at the plant to be laid off permanently.

The news comes via a required 60-day notice to the state Employment Development Department that was published Jan. 29.

Closure of the big distribution center is expected to be followed by the closure of most or all of the retail stores it supplies, including the retail outlet on S. Mooney Boulevard in Visalia, although no notice has been filed for retail outlets as of yet.

Joann also has a retail store in Fresno that is part of the River Park Shopping Center.

One of the longtime anchors of the Visalia Industrial Park, Joann Stores declared bankruptcy in March 2024, and now a second time this month, which dims the future of both the 880-store chain, and now the seals the fate of its landmark distribution center on Plaza Drive that opened in 2001.

The 635,000 square-foot facility employs around 200 year-round and more during the holiday season. The company says the Visalia distribution center handles all stores west of the Mississippi, and about a third of the Ohio company stores, nationwide. The company leases the building in Visalia from a Texas real estate investment trust.

As of March 2020, Joann had 865 stores in 49 states. Joann was privately owned by Leonard Green & Partners before going public in 2021. It is privately held now.

The company is currently in bankruptcy for the second time in a year, filing earlier this month.

In 1943, German immigrants Hilda and Berthold Reich, Sigmund and Mathilda Rohrbach, and Justin and Alma Zimmerman opened the Cleveland Fabric Shop in Cleveland, Ohio. After further expansion, in 1963, the name was changed to Jo-Ann Fabrics. The store’s name was created by combining the names of the daughters from both families: Joan and Jacqueline Ann, says Wikipedia.

The 81-year-old fabric and craft retailer has suffered in the past few years as customers cut back on discretionary spending. The company says it is the nation’s category leader in sewing and fabrics, with one of the largest arts and crafts offerings.

Their voluntary Chapter 11 proceedings continue in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware to facilitate a sale process to maximize the value of its business.

Through the bankruptcy proceedings, there’s always a possibility that a buyer will emerge for the chain, but the filing of this notice by the company is not good news for Joann or for Visalia. Many of the workers at the Plaza Drive distribution center have worked there for decades.