The latest updates in JOANN bankruptcy - and key takeaways for your business

In an article we shared last month, we discussed the bankruptcy filing of JOANN fabric stores. If you missed that article, you can find it here. This month I am sharing what we have learned since that initial filing and what happens next.

A substantial amount of small business owners and consumers have been waiting as the JOANN bankruptcy process plays out. JOANN filed for bankruptcy twice within the space of a year, raising many concerns about its viability. JOANN was a very large retailer in the craft industry. The first bankruptcy filing was to shed a large portion of its debt. Initially, this raised a lot of questions about why the second bankruptcy happened less than a year after the first.

As part of the bankruptcy proceedings, JOANN shared that it was looking for a buyer for the company. Bankruptcy proceedings have a predefined series of steps that occur at each part of the process. There is a specific timing window that companies have to bid on purchasing either part of or all of JOANN. When a large company fails, who buys it? It is like catching a falling knife. At the time of the bankruptcy, JOANN had over 800 stores. This would require an even larger company to step in.

Now what happens?