Confessions: Fabric Shopping during Covid19

I survived for two months on what I could order online, but I finally got to the point where I couldn't hold off any longer. I had to go to JoAnn's. There are just some things you cannot get online for one reason or another.

The whole trip was kind of insane and I thought I'd share my experience in case anyone else was thinking about going. Here's what you should know.

In my area, about half of the stores are closed except for curbside pick-up. Curbside pick-up is taking forever. I waited two weeks and in the end, they cancelled my order because by the time the employees got around to my number, my requested fabric was out of stock.

Of the stores that ARE open, they have limited hours and are only allowing a few customers in at a time. My chosen store was open from 11am-5pm and allowed 15 customers in at a time. (And this is a BIG store, not one of the little ones).

I arrived shortly after 11am. The store had been open about ten minutes and there were 25 people in line.

It took me an hour until I was able to get into the store.

Now I was prepared for this. I had a full battery on my phone, I'd left my baby at home, and I had a water bottle. But I wish I'd also brought a folding chair and a laptop or book because by the end of the trip, my fibromyalgia had flared up majorly.

When I got into the store, there were still about 20 people in line behind me. When I emerged, an hour and a half later, there were 10 people in line.

There were sanitizing wipes by the carts, so I was able to sanitize my cart and hands right away, although I think they were wiping down the carts after every customer anyhow. There were signs everywhere asking people to stay six feet apart. I did my best to comply with this, although it was sometimes pretty tricky. Most of the customers were congregated around the fabric area.

I wish I had picked up my cutting counter ticket right away, but I didn't know how long it was going to take. Consequently, I ended up having to wait quite awhile. I didn't realize how many people were getting big cutting orders done, slowing things down. But I should have expected it. After all, I was picking up a lot of stuff for myself, AND getting items for some other friends and family to save them a trip.

As I expected, the cotton fabric was VERY picked over. I've never seen the quilting fabric section so bare, not even during Black Friday. There was more licensed fabric left than I expected, and the home decor department was pretty normal. There were a few other shortages in some areas, like notions, but for the most part the rest of the store seemed to have a normal stock of everything.

In my store, I don't believe any of the employees were wearing masks. However, they did keep their distance, and at the cutting counters there were tables set in front of the counters to maximize the distance between the customers and the employees cutting the fabric. This was actually pretty nice because I could get my fabric all laid out and move very quickly. I wouldn't mind if they kept those tables around!

To my surprise, they DID have elastic that you could purchase by the yard at the cutting counter. They didn't have a limit on how much you could get. Since my online elastic order is STILL on a boat in the Pacific, I did pick up 15 yards at JoAnn's.

At the checkouts, there were plexiglass screens in front of the cashiers, and they wiped down the counters in between each customer.

This is a very difficult time to be a JoAnn's employee. The company has made some missteps in how they've handled the situation, and there remains a lot of controversy about whether they should be open at all. If you find that you do need to go yourself, I recommend being as patient as you possibly can with every part of the process, and making sure to thank the employees no matter how grumpy they might seem. I know that they do NOT get paid very well, and like any retail, it's tough being on your feet all day. I was truly tremendously grateful to each person working there.

The last two months have taught me in so many ways not to take things for granted. Even though so much was difficult and different about the shopping experience, I was so thankful that I had a chance to get the things that I needed for myself and others.

Finally, I know there is a lot of debate right now about what all of us should be doing on any level. Please don't bring that debate here. I intend this to be an informative post of facts, in hopes that it might make you life easier, if such a shopping trip becomes important to you, even if it's just to save you a wasted trip to a store with an hour-long line.