photo by: Chad Lawhorn/Journal-World

The Joanne Fabric store at 2108 W. 27th Street is pictured on Feb. 13, 2025

News and notes from around town:

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It has been clear for awhile now that it will take more than needle and thread to mend what’s broken with the craft and sewing retailer Joann Fabrics. Now, it also is clear that the Lawrence store won’t be around for the end of the project.

Joann has announced it is closing more than 500 stores, and its lone Lawrence location at 27th and Iowa streets is on the list. The announcement hardly comes as a shock. Last month Joann filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection for the second time in a year. The company saw its fortunes improve during the pandemic as sewing and crafting increased in popularity as many people were stuck at home. But the surge didn’t last, at least not for Joann stores.

The Ohio-based retailer operates about 800 stores, so it is closing more than half of its locations. The company hopes to find a buyer to operate the remaining stores.

“This was a very difficult decision to make, given the major impact we know it will have on our team members, our customers and all of the communities we serve,” the company said on its website. “A careful analysis of store performance and future strategic fit for the company determined which stores should remain operating as usual at this time. Right-sizing our store footprint is a critical part of our efforts to ensure the best path forward for Joann.”

The company hasn’t announced a date that the Lawrence store will close. Because the company is in a bankruptcy proceeding, there are some legal steps that will have to be followed before the locations are shuttered. Namely, the bankruptcy court must approve of the closings. The company filed a motion with the court on Wednesday seeking those approvals.

If you are having a hard time picturing where Joann is located in Lawrence, you must have a shortage of homemade fleece pajama bottoms and you probably think a bobbin involves an apple and a tank of water. The store — which if you haven’t figured out by now, sells all sorts of fabrics and sewing supplies — is located in the shopping center at the northwest corner of 27th and Iowa streets. That is the one that includes the McAllister’s Deli, where many an individual has nursed an ice tea while their partner on the other end of the shopping center wrestled with the gut-wrenching choice of aqua blue or marine blue.

Two other Kansas locations are on the list for closure — one in Salina and one in Wichita. Based on the company’s website, the retailer will still have nearby locations in Topeka, Overland Park and Shawnee. For how long, though, is another question. The company does have one potential buyer as part of the bankruptcy process. However, it is not clear that the bidder — a financial firm that specializes in distressed retailers — will commit to keeping existing stores open.

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photo by: Chad Lawhorn/Journal-World

Lawrence’s Office Depot store at 2525 Iowa Street is pictured on Feb. 13, 2025.

Some of you may be wondering what is going on with a shopping center just a couple of blocks up the street from the Joann location. A ‘for lease’ sign has been prominently displayed at the shopping center at the southwest corner of 25th and Iowa streets for many weeks now.

That’s the shopping center anchored by Planet Fitness and Office Depot, and passing motorists have been wondering if there is a major change on tap for the center.

Well, there is no official announcement from any company in the center, but marketing materials from the commercial real estate agent show that the Office Depot space is available for lease, even though Office Depot continues to operate at the site.

photo by: Lane 4

A graphic from a marketing brochure from Lane 4 real estate shows available space at the shopping center at 2525 Iowa Street.

As you can see from the marketing brochure above, there’s a little more than 36,000 square feet of big box store space available in the site, plus a smaller 5,000 square foot space that actually is on the back side of the shopping center. The site that is marked “confidential” is where Office Depot is located currently.

(I won’t comment on whether the CIA trained me to crack such confidential information, or if I simply drove by the site.)

I wouldn’t take this as a for-sure sign that Office Depot is planning to leave the space. Office Depot may still be trying to negotiate a new lease for the space, and the landlord may be testing the market to see if anybody else is out there willing to offer a better deal. But, it also is possible that Office Depot has decided it no longer wants the space once its lease expires, which is a date I’m not privy to.

In short, keep an eye on the space — and maybe buy an extra ream of paper.