Jamie Burress is one of the most fun glass artists I know of. Whether she’s making a mosaic or stained glass piece or a set of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle coasters she’s obviously having a great time creating. Her newest glass adventure involves Grumpy Cat. Now if you don’t know who Grumpy Cat is you may have been living under a rock or at least some place without access to Facebook or a computer. In fact Grumpy Cat was just in Austin at SXSW and people waiting in line for hours to get a picture with her. What Jamie has done is post a visual tutorial on Facebook on how to make Grumpy Cat glass coasters. So cool. Although Grumpy might not think so…
Have you read?
Craft Retailer Joann Files for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy
In an expected move, craft store chain Joann has filed for bankruptcy to help the company deal with debt problems.
According a news release issued by the company, Joann has “received commitments for approximately $132 million in new financing and related financial accommodations and expects to reduce funded debt on its balance sheet by approximately $505 million.”
“This agreement is a significant step forward in addressing JOANN’s capital structure needs, and it will provide us with the financial resources and flexibility necessary to continue to deliver best-in-class product assortments and enhance the customer experience wherever they are shopping with us,” chief financial officer Scott Sekella said in the release.
According to a story in The Washington Post (link is free to read), Joann will become a private company after the bankruptcy proceedings, which could be complete as early as next month. The company says it currently has no plans to close stores or make any changes to its website. The release says the company, which was founded in 1943, has 829 stores in 49 states and “95 percent of which are cash flow positive.” And I literally got an email from them while I was writing this post.
(As an aside, the headline on that Post story suggests Joann’s problem is they have lost sales as people “pull back on essentials,” but if they’d ever met a crafter they would know craft supplies are always essential, we just might be buying them from different places, or buying less that we used to.)
Joann has set up a website, Joann Forward, with more details on their restructuring, including FAQs for customers, suppliers, landlords and team members. According to those pages, “this agreement is a significant step forward in addressing JOANN’s capital structure needs. It will provide us with the financial resources and flexibility necessary to deliver best-in-class product assortments and enhance the customer experience wherever they are shopping with us.”
You can also find case filings and information for claimants here.
As someone who does most of her in-person craft shopping at Joann, I’m certainly wishing them well and will update as needed with more information on the Joann bankruptcy filing.