Jo-Ann Fabric and Craft Stores Employee Reviews for Retail Assistant Manager

A typical day can be pretty busy(slow one moment and busy the next), I've learned a lot of things about sewing, and dealing with different fabrics. Management is as good as most retail jobs. Hardest and most enjoyable part is dealing with customers.

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Great Coworkers, but that's it

Key Holder (Current Employee) - Florida - November 28, 2023

Schedule changes can happen the day of, no respect for your work/life balance. Corporate is horrible. No acting CEO, cutting hours left and right even during busy holiday season. Constantly understaffed and you have to do the work of 3+ people for minimum wage. (Managers get 60 cents more an hour and that's it). All the full timers got laid off and their only options were take a severance package, or go back to part time and lose all of their accrued raises they had earned over the years. Only redeeming qualities of this job are your coworkers (if they're great like mine) and a nice discount, if it's something useful for you.

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Retail Assistant Manager positions

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The management is terrible very unprofessional nothing is private , raises and reprimands are discussed with anyone but the employee affected

Full time Key Holder/ Shift Manager (Current Employee) - Kennewick, WA - November 14, 2023

Chaos, un organized The management is very clear that they do not care about you . If you want to feel undervalued and dis respected Joann's is for you .The don't give raises they give pay cuts

Pros

If you love to sew or craft you are in the store daily

Cons

Management is aweful, you are just a number . There is no loyalty or respect

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Overall Ok

Key Holder (Former Employee) - Boulder, CO - November 2, 2023

Overall if you have a strong and supportive district manager the work isn’t difficult as they will be the one giving your evaluation.Corporate mainly cares about two things, sales, making sure inventory is stocked and looks presentable. Cons: you’re limited to how many hours you can schedule unless you boost your sales. But if you don’t have enough help for daily operations this is rather difficult…

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Horrible work environment

Key Holder (Former Employee) - Margate, FL - October 25, 2023

Ac was broken for a year my hours got cut every week and they forced me to choose a pay cut or severance, managers constantly threw others under the buss and blamed stores shortcomings on staff

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Jo-Ann Fabric and Craft Stores insights

Based on 3,009 survey responses

What people like

Ability to learn new things
Supportive environment
Feeling of personal appreciation

Areas for improvement

Fair pay for job
Sense of belonging
Overall satisfaction

Employee discount.

Freight Coordinator/Key Holder (Current Employee) - Loveland, CO - October 16, 2023

If you’re a crafter and shop there it’s ok. Pays the lowest amount possible. The 30% discount is the only reason to get a part time job there. Get a decent job, work a day or two.

Pros

It’s retail, so most customers are ok. Fun to hear about the fun projects people are making.

Cons

No full time, no benefits. 15 min breaks.

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Going downhill fast

Full Time Key Holder (Former Employee) - Citrus Park, FL - October 7, 2023

They keep reducing staff and trying to find ways to cut costs that end up making it harder and harder to accomplish anything on the store level. Notorious for long lines but constantly telling us it's okay that people wait. Lack of training, poor morale, many stores falling behind on stock with transportation issues every week so that managers are always shifted around from store to store trying to fill holes and catch up, while leaving their own stores to fall behind. Stores always in such disarray, empty aisles, and confusion that the most common question from customers was "are you guys closing?" By the time I left, I was wondering that myself.

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Terrible management in store and regional

Key Holder (Former Employee) - Omaha, NE - September 28, 2023

Was dealt with difficult customers and was always told the customer was right. The management at some point was terrible and non existent and regional didn’t do anything until they hired from the outside (even though people applied in store) and the new manager didn’t work with us

Pros

Discount

Cons

management

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Fun people for the most part. See new trends.

Retail Assistant Manager (Former Employee) - Hudson Market - September 25, 2023

Never enough coverage. As an MOD you may be there over 8 hours without even a 15 minute break. Then if the part time keyholder calls off you may be there for that shift also with no break.Last year after Black Friday weekend ,we went right back to 2 person coverage. Now there are layoffs going on . I lost my job of almost 18 years. I am close to retirement age but still hoped to work at least 2 more years ,or 7 more years.

Pros

The nice people.

Cons

The unrealistic expectation of providing excellent customer service, while constantly being frustrated, hungry, unappreciated, and underpaid.

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Company in debt. Fired all full time employees with little notice. Severance pay was a joke. All so they don’t have to pay for benefits

Full Time Key Holder (Former Employee) - Indianapolis, IN - September 10, 2023

Employees were over worked and burnt out. Staffing issues. Fired all full time employees with little notice. Does not take care of employees. No benefits with all offering part time.

Pros

Team members were nice. Corporate doesn’t care about general staff

Cons

No breaks, staffing issues, no benefits

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Lots of Cranky People

Part Time Key Holder (Former Employee) - North Canton, OH - September 10, 2023

Most customers come in with a chip on their shoulder already. You cannot make most customers in Joann's happy if you give the them exactly what they ask for.Staff stay at the place forever and they are set in their ways and they do not care if you need help, want advice or just need to learn your job as long as it doesn't interfere with theirs. Just stay out of the way.

Pros

A lot of areas to learn new skills

Cons

Cranky people everywhere

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A second home at Team Tallahassee

Key Holder (Current Employee) - Tallahassee, FL - September 7, 2023

I work at Joann's almost full time at this location. It's a fast paced and rewarding work environment fill of colorful customers and career building skills.When I joined this location I had minimal retail experience outside of grocery stores. I was deathly afraid of the register at first and the finality of cutting fabric yardage, but everyone here wants you to succeed. The main store manager especially is very kind and patient.I have mental health issues that impact my day to day life, the manager, along with the assistant manager have been beyond helpful and accommodating in my long journey surviving.I started frightened of retail, but now almost two years later know the store like the back of hand, have developed crucial social skills, time management skills, customer service skills that are invaluable for anyone pursuing a career that involves communication.Yes, there are high highs and lows lows, but so will any job anywhere.I can firmly recommend this location for anyone looking for a starter job, just be prepared to work, have comfortable shoes, and great creative.

Pros

Hands on learning, training on fabric, strong relationship with customer base

Cons

Lots of standing, heavy lifting

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Low Budget Retail

Key Holder/Sales Associate (Former Employee) - Bellevue, NE - September 6, 2023

There are a lot of better options if you are looking for a retail job. They pinch pennies and offer no real benefits or incentives. The amount of product that is throw away makes my heart hurt.

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Overworked and unfair management

Sales Lead/Key Holder (Former Employee) - Baton Rouge, LA - August 25, 2023

My time at Joann was okay. It was a job. I would recommend for someone in school as a part time job. The flexibility is nice. The job isn’t hard but of course, it’s retail. You won’t make a lot of money and you will work hard. The management treated me unfairly compared to some other employees. I wasn’t okay with it so I left. I will miss the discounts though, but it wasn’t worth my peace of mind anymore. Overall, I wouldn’t recommend it if you have a voice and value your peace.

Pros

Discounts, nice customers

Cons

Low pay, favoritism among managers

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Would never recommend people to work here

Key Holder (Former Employee) - Elk Grove, CA - August 23, 2023

What is the best part of working at the company?The people I worked with…that was it. Corporate cut hours, demoted full time employees so they lost their benefits all while I was on disability, and they threatened another person on disability that if they didn’t come back they would be terminated. So I quit before that happened to me.They care nothing about the people who work for them, because we are “replaceable”, the sad part is I had come back to work because I missed the people I worked with. But we were all treated like no matter how hard we worked we had to work even harder to meet quotas even after they cut hours! Not a good way to run a company.What is the most stressful part about working at the company?Everything I mentioned in the last question…Made to feel like number, for them to cut hours and expect higher outcomes.What is the work environment and culture like at the company?They like to say they are inclusive, but to be honest it doesn’t matter to Corporate who you are as long as you break yourself to make ends meet for themWhat is a typical day like for you at the company?I was a Key Holder, doing cashiering, stocking, BOPIS, SFS, Cut Counter on top of closing manager duties, they literally make their Key Holders do EVERYTHING under the sun, and you’re still expected to keep eyes out for theft, provide excellent customer service and back up any location in the store if it gets busy and when being short staffed that is ALL the TIME.

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Can be fun, but also stressful

Part Time Key Holder (Current Employee) - Indiana County, PA - August 17, 2023

Fun customers, but no time to interact with them. Especially when you have 2 people covering the store. Because of the lack of coverage, (At least in my opinion.) Working at Joann's is very fast paced.

Pros

30% employee discount

Cons

2 people coverage

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Fun place to work but corporate sucks

Key Holder (Current Employee) - Evansville, IN - August 10, 2023

Enjoyed working here until the constant corporate restructuring started to hurt the small format stores. It is a fun atmosphere and you meet interesting people, pay is low.

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Great coworkers

Full Time Key Holder (Former Employee) - Idaho - August 3, 2023

Love the coworkers, environment is great. Customers are better than regular retail customers. Insurance isn’t the greatest but better than nothing……..

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Great discount, but questionable business practices

FT Key Holder (Former Employee) - Centennial, CO - July 31, 2023

Best employee discount Ive had as a retail employee. I would only recommend working here part time to get the discount if youre a crafty/artsy person, because you get 30% on top of all sales except clearance. My management played favorites, and schedules you as much or as little as they want/need. And when HR was contacted about me as a FT employee not getting even close to FT hours, and they just said "scheduling is based on the needs of the business. At the same time they were scheduling our PT keyholder with chronic pain issues 35+ hours even when that employee asked them multiple times to stop because their body cant handle it. They were super mean to everyone (including customers) among many other issues.

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No hours even if your full time...and cutting positions. Not a good place to work.

Key Holder (Former Employee) - Nashua, NH - July 31, 2023

My experience working at Joann's was starting as a part-time team member working over 30 hours because we were so understaffed, and it was the Holidays. Then springtime came and the company cut everyone's hours but managers, so I worked maybe 20 hours a week. A job came up for a full time keyholder. I applied and got the job. While being a full time keyholder I should have 36 hours, I only got 30-32 hours and that was if I worked 6 days a week. Then a month into the job the company informs me that they will be eliminating my position and offer me a different job at a rate under what they are currently hiring team members at.

Pros

I did enjoy the people I worked with

Cons

no cosistent hours, poor management, no work life balance

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Cooperates is unfair

Key Holder (Current Employee) - Duluth, GA - July 29, 2023

Lay offs and cut hours no sense of loyalty to workers that have been here for years - no real room for growth constant hour and pay cuts to even full time workers

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