Jo-Ann Fabrics & Crafts

I’m not a fan of this store and rarely go in. I went a couple weeks ago because they had a sale on yarn.
It’s a very stereotypical, run of the mill fabric store. It’s beyond boring and nothing new as far as stock or yarn colors. Even Wal-​Mart gets new colors in more often! If you’re looking for boring consistency, I suppose this is the store for you.
Employees are scarce and hard to find. My husband and I lined up, after following the long maze of impulse buy shelves, to wait a solid ten minutes. We talked loudly, I coughed a few times, clapped. Nothing. My husband attempted to find an employee, still nothing. Finally, one wanders over and said she was sorry, but she couldn’t see the check-​out lines from where she was. Not my problem. I said they needed to have a bell out to cut down on wait time in the later evening when there aren’t many customers. She said they weren’t allowed to do something like that.
So in a store where the registers are blocked off by impulse buy bullshit, and employees want to be useful past standing behind a register with two customers in the store, apparently you have to go find them in order to pay for your items. They might as well turn it into a self checkout! Or at least change that portion of the store around so they can see the registers and when someone is there.
I said as much to the cashier, who then spent three minutes explaining where she was in the store, and where to find someone should it happen again. Bla, bla, bla. I forgot everything she said before I even walked out the door because it was a boring, drawn out conversation turned lecture from her, and quite frankly, it’s unlikely I’ll be back for a very long time anyway. So my ability to care about her speech was pretty minimal and tuned out ten seconds after she started.
I’m constantly less than impressed by this store. Which is sad because it could be great. The location is perfect, and I would totally go a lot more often if they had a better selection and more employees to help.

Jo-ann’s is run of the mill. They have craft stuff, and it is the same stuff you can find at all their other stores. The service was not very friendly, but they had the knitting needles I needed. Overall pretty meh.

Just started quilting and the employees here have been great. Especially Debbie and Kris. They are patient and very helpful explaining choices. For my first quilt people are amazed at the nice fabric I got from Joaans. They all think it came from a quilt shop or online. Keep it up I’m coming back

There have been some changes in employees, and its all for the better. I have only been in here a couple of times recently, and all of my interactions have been positive. Namely, there is a very friendly gentleman (who seems to be running the store – he was everywhere) who was very friendly and helpful not only to me but to other customers. This place may be on an upswing!

I was beyond disappointment with my experience here, employee’s were yelling at each other across the store, there was not a single employee on the floor that was willing to help/​direct customers in need and were very clear about it. The store was disgusting, lights were broken, it looked like they hadn’t swept or mopped in weeks and the piles of fabric were overflowing into the walkways, I felt like it created a very unsafe environment, especially with shoppers with little ones running around. After pulling a number to get my fabric cut their system failed, so they decided to cut fabric on a first come first serve basis, but neglected to tell customers this as we all waited for our number to called and the Cutting-​Counter employee’s ignored us all. My cashier was no better, not helping the line of people, my cashier experience was no better, a sticky counter, popping gum and unfriendliness of it all was too much. I’m never going back.

I stalk their online and paper ads and buy basic crafting items on sale. Most of the ladies are very friendly and well intentioned, but do not expect anyone to be able to provide assistance with what you are working on. This store is in a much better neighborhood than the one in Eugene, strange but true. It also seems to have a better selection and get shipments more regularly than the other store too.
FYI: be careful if you buy the Jo-ann’s brand yarn as it isn’t stocked regularly and there is a large color variance between each dye lot. Buy more than you need for your project and check the dye lot numbers before you buy it.