<
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2026/sep/24/joann-fabrics-fans-crafts-co-op>
"To its dedicated fans, JoAnn Fabrics wasn’t just a fabric store. It was a
vital hub for small businesses – wedding dress makers, upholsters, milliners
and rug repairers. It taught generations to make, fix and craft. A visit
sparked new ideas in a way that shopping online just can’t replicate.
Since it became one of hundreds of US companies bankrupted by private equity
investors in 2025, it has been sorely missed.
Its rise and fall, from a Cleveland, Ohio, store founded by German immigrants
in the 1940s to the 800-store chain closed by Leonard Green & Partners, has
been memorialized in videos and Halloween costumes.
But what was declared dead may not be gone forever. JoAnn’s dedicated followers
are trying to figure out a way to bring the essence of the store back, minus
the investors who gutted the company.
“The ultimate big dream is to try to create an ecosystem that connects all of
these people in the crafting world,” said Sandy McClenahan, 35, a legal
assistant, hat maker and former tech industry relationship manager. “The model
we’re investigating is how member-owned and/or worker-owned co-ops can help do
that.”
McClenahan published a survey last month suggesting a call to action: “A craft
and fabric co-op, owned by us.” The post got hundreds of responses, including
one person from every US state and 30 who wanted to be founding members.
It wouldn’t be just about buying fabrics, McClenahan added. The goal is to
preserve individually owned businesses and the skills owners have. “How can we
create an ecosystem that helps all of these crafts stay afloat and not get
eaten up by private equity?’”
In an era of brutal private equity cost-cutting, ballooning corporate
monopolies and shrinking consumer power, the notion of a communal movement
replacing JoAnn, which earned more than $2bn in annual revenue in its last good
years, may seem like a naive idea or an arcane curiosity. But businesses that
prioritize users and workers’ over profits are not only deeply embedded in US
history, they are growing and thriving as a reaction to the current state of US
capitalism, cooperative specialists say.
“People don’t want to feel that the economy is something that’s being done to
them,” said Julie Bosland, the head of the Cooperative Development Foundation,
a national non-profit.
Like publicly traded companies, these entities invest and earn revenues,
Bosland said, but they use that capital as a means to grow a business “that
serves the members and the community”.
Worker-backed cooperatives are growing particularly fast in the US, more than
doubling from 315 firms in 2014 to 820 in 2024, in part because of drivers’
cooperatives, or driver-owned rideshare platforms. They join about 30,000 other
US cooperatives, including brand names like REI, Ace Hardware and Land O’Lakes,
as well as purchasing groups that dominate the farming business and credit
unions for employees of corporate giants like Boeing.
After stagnating for years, the number of employee stock ownership plans, or
Esops, that gives workers ownership of the company they work for, has also
risen for the past three years on record, with more than 6,400 companies
offering plans to employees. A federal bill passed 16 September is expected to
make it easier for more to form and follow in the footsteps of employer-owned
companies like grocer Publix and midwest sports retailer Scheels.
And US demographics are about to give the entire movement a big boost,
enthusiasts believe."
Via Susan ****
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
