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Yarnmarket Sold to Love Knitting

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yarnmarket sold to love knittingAccording to a notice on their website and an email sent to subscribers, Yarnmarket has closed its doors and its remaining stock has been sold to Love Knitting.

Yarnmarket was an online yarn, pattern and notions store that was in business for more than 10 years.

The email, sent as usual by Jan and the Yarnmarket Staff says in part:

I and the Yarnmarket staff are saddened to see our beloved store close. We also thank you for your support and for allowing us to serve you for so many years. The good news is that LoveKnitting has purchased our remaining stock of beautiful yarns and other products along with our websites and is carrying on the Yarnmarket tradition.

Just as with Yarnmarket, the LoveKnitting staff and managers are dedicated to customer service and providing quality products. They are currently in the process of adding the Yarnmarket stock to their website and will let you know when it’s ready for you to enjoy once again.

Love Knitting is a British company and states on its website’s announcement that for now all orders will be shipping form the UK but should be able to get to American customers withing 7 business days. Check out their FAQ if you have orders, gift certificates or returns for Yarnmarket.

I always hate to see consolidation and fewer choice in the marketplace, but I wish everyone involved the best in the future!

Update: I had a reader on Facebook ask about the future of the yarn directory Yarndex, which was also owned by Yarnmarket. I asked Love Knitting and got this reply:

We have no plans to delete yarndex completely, but it is a little outdated and does need some work on all the new yarns. I am afraid that is all I can say at the moment.

It would take a lot of love and time to get it up to date, but I certainly hope it happens some day!

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Comments

  1. Sarah,

    Thanks for the best wishes: we’re excited to be able to continue Yarnmarket’s justly proud history of great customer service. We’re working hard to add products that Yarnmarket stocked to our range and improve our overall service to US customers.

    Anyone with further questions or concerns should feel free to contact us at info@loveknitting.com.

    Thanks again,

    Nigel from Loveknitting.

Have you read?

What’s Next for Joann?

Now that all the Joann stores have closed, a mysterious message has appeared on the company’s website:

For generations, Joann has been honored to be part of your creativity: your quilts, costumes, school projects, and handmade moments of love. It has been our joy to serve markers and dreamers across the country.

We’re stitching up something new behind the scenes and we can’t wait to share what’s next.

Stay tuned for exciting news about the future of Joann.

To quickly recap, Joann filed for bankruptcy in January for the second time in less than a year. In February, in the hope of making the company more attractive to potential buyers, it petitioned the court for permission to close about 500 of its 800 stores. The company was put up for auction, with Gordon Brothers set to buy the company, sell its assets and close all the stores if no other buyer materialized.

In the end the winning bidder was GA Group, but the result was the same: all stores were to be closed by the end of May if not sooner.

Once store closure sales started the company quickly stopped selling on its website, and now all that remains is this jpeg image hinting at new ventures.

I’m sure there will be a tone of speculation in the coming days and weeks (or as long as it takes for them to announce the meaning of the message) as to what sorts of plans Joann could be cooking up.

My theory based on nothing but my gut is that they will transition to an online only storefront, probably with much reduced inventory, sort of like Herrschners (which had previously announced that it will be carrying Big Twist yarn, the beloved private label yarn brand sold at Joann). I also think they will use whatever retail sales they do to support CreativeBug, the digital learning platform that Joann purchased in 2017. That could mean producing kits for projects that already have classes, or developing classes based on products they want to sell, or both.

As of this writing the CreativeBug website seems to still be functional and there’s a full slate of new classes planned for June. I’ve got my eye on both the Joann website and the Joann restructuring website and will let you know as soon as I see changes.

In the meantime, I’d love to hear your speculation as to what the next chapter might be for Joann.