Joann shares more sad Chapter 11 bankruptcy news
The beloved chain has has a very devoted following, who do not want to see it close.
Retail chains that run out of money rarely reach a happy ending.
Instead, they die slow deaths as efforts to save them become futile.
At first, you get the inevitable changed marketing and other efforts to bring in more customers. Those efforts rarely have enough money behind them to have enough impact to changes the fate of the companies.
Related: Another popular beauty brand files Chapter 11 bankruptcy
Somewhere in there you get leadership changes, to people who have turned around other brands. Unless they come with a big infusion of cash, that's almost never successful either.
Finally, you get the bankruptcy filing. In rare cases, that gives a company a chance to reorganize, get its debt under control, and emerge from court proceedings with a workable balance sheet.
The problem right now is that money is very expensive, so unless vendors and landlords offer very good terms, chances are a Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing, even a successful one, will be just one last gasp along a death march.
We have recently seen chains like Party City, and now Joann Fabrics, emerge from Chapter 11 and tout their great futures. In reality, these chains come out of Chapter 11 barely able to operate and with little room for error.
