Bankrupt crafts retailer Joann closing all stores, including two in Richmond area

The Joann store at Merchants Walk Shopping Center in Henrico.  (Jack Jacobs photo)

A bankrupt retail chain’s company-wide shutdown will include two Richmond-area locations.

Fabric and crafts retailer Joann’s local stores at 7504 West Broad St. in Henrico and 125 Perimeter Drive in Chesterfield are among the more than 800 outposts slated to go dark as part of the company’s bankruptcy liquidation.

The move is a reversal of previously announced plans by Joann to shutter just some of its stores, a footprint reduction that would have spared the company’s Richmond-area locations.

California-based GA Group and the Joann’s lenders were selected as the winning group in a bankruptcy auction to acquire the chain’s assets. Subject to court approval of the transaction, they intend to close all Joann locations and hold going-out-of-business sales, according to a Joann news release.

“(Joann) made every possible effort to pursue a more favorable outcome that would keep the company in business. We are committed to working constructively with the winning bidder to ensure an orderly wind-down of operations that minimizes the impact on all our stakeholders,” the company said in a prepared statement.

The Henrico location is an 18,000-square-foot store next to the Food Lion at Merchants Walk Shopping Center. The Chesterfield outpost is next to the Marshalls at Westchester Commons.

It wasn’t clear when the Richmond-area stores would close. A Joann spokeswoman didn’t respond to an email seeking comment Monday afternoon. A GA Group representative told the Akron Beacon Journal newspaper that most stores would stay open through May.

The Ohio-based retailer filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in January. Earlier in February, it announced initial plans to close 500 stores out of a footprint of more than 800 locations in 49 states, USA Today reported.

Joann ultimately announced over the weekend that all of its stores would close.

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