Jo-Ann Fabrics to close DeKalb store by Nov. 5

DeKALB – After 40 years in the city, Jo-Ann Fabrics plans to close its DeKalb location by Nov. 5.

Kristine Ranger, manager of the fabric store at 1712 Sycamore Road in the DeKalb Shopping Center, has been with the company for nine years and said she’d be sad to see the store go.

“The decision is made at corporate level,” Ranger said. “We just get the brunt of it down here.”

The fabric and craft store opened in DeKalb in October 1975. It will join Big Lots in exiting the the shopping center, which is owned by First Rockford Group.

First Rockford Group representatives were not available for comment Tuesday.

The store employs 12 people, most of whom had been with the company for years and live in the DeKalb area, Ranger said.

All employees were offered the opportunity to work in a different store location, Ranger said. The two locations closest to DeKalb are Rockford and Geneva.

Ranger said she plans to transfer to the Rockford location, but didn’t know how many of her colleagues would follow suit.

“We’ll revisit it down the line,” she said. “It was a lot to spring on them.”

Jo-Ann Fabrics will be the fourth national retailer to leave DeKalb in the past year, joining JC Penney, Barnes & Noble and Big Lots. Representatives from Jo-Ann Fabrics’ corporate office could not be reached for comment Tuesday.

Jo-Ann is headquartered in Hudson, Ohio, and is America's largest fabric and craft retailer. The company was publicly held until it was purchased by a private equity firm in 2011 and taken private. Although the company earned about $2.3 billion in sales in 2014 according to Forbes, its credit rating was slashed by Moody's in June 2014, citing its substantial debt and interest burden.

Liquidation sales are set to begin in September and the store will close no later than November, although it could be sooner, depending on how long merchandise lasts, Ranger said.

Ellen Divita, the city's community development director, said that if residents are concerned about the store leaving, they should call the corporate location or send letters to the company's customer service department.

“It strengthens the case that we want businesses to stay here,” she said. “These are usually dollars-and-cents decisions. If [the corporations] feel like they can reach our residents with locations in other communities, they will. If we want stores here, we truly have to support them.”

Want them to stay?

DeKalb Community Development Director Ellen Divita said that residents who want Jo Ann Fabrics to remain in DeKalb should contact the company’s corporate office in Hudson, Ohio.

By phone: 888-739-4120

By email: Go to website www.joann.com/contactus/