with joanne s bed and back . this article needs additional citations for verification . please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources . unsourced material may be challenged and removed . october 2008 learn how and when to remove this template message jo ann stores inc. type private founded cleveland ohio 1943 headquarters hudson ohio u.s. number of locations 850 1 key people jill soltau chief executive officer industry crafts and fabrics owner leonard green & partners website www.joann.com a typical jo ann store in henderson nevada jo ann store on us 1 in saugus massachusetts jo ann stores inc. is a 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 . contents 1 history 1.1 beginnings and northeast ohio roots 1.2 fabri centers of america inc. 1.3 jo ann stores inc. 1.4 endorsements 2 store classes 3 store locations 4 references 5 external links history edit beginnings and northeast ohio roots edit 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 . 2 fabri centers of america inc. edit in 1969 jo ann fabrics became a publicly held corporation traded on the american stock exchange 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 . jo ann stores inc. edit 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 . 3 endorsements edit in september 2012 jo ann stores introduced project runway season six contestant christopher straub as the spokesperson for national sewing month 4 september . this endorsement included a contest series of videos and in store promotions . store classes edit some jo ann stores offer classes in many areas of crafting . these include knitting crochet quilting sewing scrapbooking painting jewelry making floral design and foodcrafting . 5 store locations edit jo ann stores are now located in 49 states . the only state without a jo ann store is hawaii 6 although jo ann stores online will still ship there . references edit corporate information . jo ann fabric and craft stores . jo ann fabric and craft stores . retrieved 2016 03 12 . as of december 10 2014 we operate approximately 850 stores in 49 states . http www.factorywindowsdirect.net carter adrienne ; cane jeffrey 23 december 2011 . leonard green offers 1.6 billion for jo ann stores . the new york times . retrieved 2 july 2011 . jo ann stores and christopher straub national sewing month store events customer service . joann.com . retrieved 1 july 2011 . jo ann fabrics stores locator with map external links edit jo ann home page corporate profile jo ann stores inc. investor relations v t e leonard green & partners healthcare aspen dental ims health retail bj s wholesale club the container store david s bridal del taco equinox fitness j.crew jo ann stores neiman marcus petco rite aid sports authority tourneau whole foods market retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title jo ann stores & oldid 742729333 categories arts and crafts retailerscompanies based in ohiocompanies listed on the new york stock exchangeretail companies of the united statesamerican companies established in 1943retail companies established in 19431943 establishments in ohiohidden categories articles needing additional references from october 2008all articles needing additional references navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite this page print export create a bookdownload as pdfprintable version in other projects wikimedia commons languages add links this page was last modified on 5 october 2016 at 12 20 . text is available under the creative commons attribution sharealike license ; 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