JoAnn Stores

Jo-Ann Stores Inc.

Type	Private
Industry	Crafts and Fabrics
Founded	Cleveland, Ohio (1943)
Headquarters	Hudson, Ohio, U.S.
Number of locations	~850
Key people	Jill Soltau (CEO)
Owner	Leonard Green & Partners
Website	www.joann.com

Jo-Ann Stores, Inc. is an American specialty retailer of crafts and fabrics based in Hudson, Ohio. It operates the retail chains Jo-Ann Fabrics and Jo-Ann Etc. The headquarters of the company is located in the former General Motors Terex plant.

In 1943, German immigrants Hilda and Berthold Reich and their friends Sigmund and Mathilda Rohrbach opened an imported cheese store in Cleveland. Fabric was added, which sold so well that they decided to open a second store. With no money for additional inventory, they divided full bolts into two to supply both stores. Eventually, they discontinued cheese sales and began operating under the name Cleveland Fabric Shop. With further expansion in 1969, the name was changed to Jo-Ann Fabrics. The store's name was created by combining the names of the daughters from both families: Joan and Jacqueline Ann. The Rohrbach family also founded two other Cleveland-based businesses—Decorative Hardware Supply, Inc. and Factory Windows Direct, LLC, which still operates in Cleveland and is partially owned by the Rohrbachs' great-grandson, David Wittenberg.

In 1969, Jo-Ann Fabrics became a publicly held corporation traded on the under the name of Fabri-Centers of America, Inc. During the 1970s, Jo-Ann Fabrics opened stores in shopping malls; by the 1980s, they had left most malls and added crafts and floral. In 1994, the company made its first acquisition with the purchase of Cloth World, a 342-store southern company; at the time of the acquisition, Fabri-Centers operated 655 stores.

In 1998, Fabri-Centers acquired House of Fabrics, which also operated as Fabricland, Fabric King, and So-Fro Fabrics. The company also changed its name to Jo-Ann Stores Inc., and all of its stores were renamed Jo-Ann Fabrics. Today, Jo-Ann Fabrics is a leading national specialty retailer of crafting, decorating, and sewing products.

On December 23, 2010, Jo-Ann Stores announced plans to sell out to private equity firm Leonard Green for $1.6 billion.

In September 2012, Jo-Ann Stores introduced Project Runway season six contestant Christopher Straub as the spokesperson for National Sewing Month (September). This endorsement included a contest, series of videos, and in-store promotions.