The one here I live has the coupons at the door but they told us they were going to stop the practice. Do you have a Hobby Lobby, I have found that the stores that have a Hobby Lobby near them have a funnier attitude.

There are no Hobby Lobbys in California, but I can get to Hancocks Fabrics in San Jose, which is a one hour drive. I drove there, but I was very disappointed in the store at Westgate Mall. The larger store in South San Jose is better, but that is a even longer drive. We have a store called Britex, but they are very expensive, and located downtown. The parking is 2 dollars for 20 minutes at the low priced garage. Britex is the place you buy fabric for something like a wedding dress or other special occasions. I would probably go to Britex more if it was not so inconveniently located. Most of my sewing projects are failures anyway, so I don't need expensive fabrics.

I always have an issue with JoAnn's -- have to grit my teeth every time I go in there -- unfortunately it's the only show in town.

I find JoAnn's to be reasonable, even without the coupon. I guess that is because they are so much cheaper than our other fabric store - G Street Fabrics. G Street advertises in national magazines even though it is a local store. It has every type of fabric and gadget you can imagine. I generally stay out of it unless JoAnn's doesn't have what I need.

I am greeted by name at the door in our Jo-anns, and if I forget/lose/have already used my coupons, they "find" one for me!! The employees are great, and as Colorcrazy said, they are quite reasonable and have great sales for which you don't need coupons! I'm sorry that you are having problems with them, that really takes the fun out of sewing.

Simmer down, tropical! JoAnn mails the coupons every two weeks or so, and they're good for the next several weeks. If you don't use any mailed coupons within a year, they remove you from their mailing list....and you don't get any more "junk mail." The same applies to Hancock Fabrics.

Coupons are also available every Sunday in my local paper, on-line in my email, and at the door of my local JoAnn. I do a lot of sewing. Either JoAnn has what I want on sale or I have a coupon for what I want. Don't blame JoAnn because your husband took out the recycling! Put the coupon in the car or your purse.

I hope you're feeling happier today. You sounded pretty upset yesterday.

Sherry

They blacked listed me I think. I lost my coupons too many times. It was very hard to get started, the first ones I did misplace until they had expired. I went back again and asked again to be on the list. The next coupon was also lost, as explained. It does not take one year to get removed from the list, if you are not on the list. I never got "on the list". If you get the first one, and you don't use it you do not get a second one. I could go in there and just buy one spool of thread or a notion, but a larger item means you have to deal with the coupons. It works great for the organized person who get the coupon, doesn't lose it, waits for it to be valid. It just never worked out for me. I would be very surprised it I get anymore coupons now. I called them to ask for more, they said no, and the first time, this happened I kept calling them but the website had crashed the toll free number was disconnected. I could find a coupon somewhere there but that won't be the personalized coupon that will bring me more coupons. I have been trying to do this for over six months.

Be glad you have a JoAnn's near you they closed ours years ago and the closest is 100 miles away

You usually can download a coupon off the internet. I just wish we still had "fabric stores", not craft stores with nothing but fleece or quilting material.

I went to the Joanns webpage and got a coupon, but it's only for the online store. I put the bobbin winder in my cart using the 50% discount, but it was tricky math. When I was ready to check out the price was still 27.99, which was the original price to begin with. The coupon only covered the hidden charges IE shipping, tax, handing. If I had gone to Joanns I would have paid the same price without the bother of having to mail it.

I can have it shipped to walmart for a lower price of 24.99 without any coupons. But, then I have to drive all the way to the east bay, because we don't have any walmarts near us.

I will probably just wait for the in store coupons again. But, you see there is no joy in picking up something, you have to plan and compare. Some people on Amazon said the bobbin winder did not do a good job winding bobbins, so it may be a waste of money. I may just try to get the singer feather weight fixed. The bobbin winders are either made by simplicity or white, but not my singer themselves. So, I would feel more confident if singer made the bobbin winder. It's not so bad to pay 30 dollars if it really works and you are really going to be able to use it.

Your coupon is not valid for 50% off the merchandise because the bobbin winder is already on sale. Coupons are not applicable to sale merchandise, except the occasional "10% off your entire order" coupon, which is rare, indeed.

I hope you like your bobbin winder.

When you get the next coupon, stick it in your purse. Even if you don't buy anything have them scan your coupon.. The ladies in our JoAnn store are very nice... Very helpful, too.

Susie

If I ever get another coupon, I will be sure to do that. But, the colma store near me, has really indifferent sales people. It's hard to get them to pay attention to you at all once you flagged them down, they act like you are a huge pain for bothering them. It not like you can take a project to them and get start to finish help at all. Maybe in other areas, it's more friendly.

By pricing the bobbin winder at 30 and putting it on sale for 2 dollar less, means you can not use the 50 percent off coupon, and the sale price is more expensive then the walmart price to begin with which is only 24.99. It's all a trick to make people think they are saving money.

I don't know, tropical. Two bobbin winders I see for sale at JoAnn's online site are listed at $39.99 originally, on sale for $27.99. That's $12.00 less. Not half price, but still $12 less, not $2 less. The third one is listed at $34.99, on sale for $24.99, or $10 less.

The people in my JoAnn's are all friendly to me.

I started reading this thread because, frankly, Jo-Ann Fabrics bugs me, too.

But tropical_thought, here's the thing: the people who work at Joann are probably working part-time, and very likely earning pretty low wages. They are there to run the register, cut fabric, and stock the shelves.

You said "It's hard to get them to pay attention to you at all once you flagged them down, they act like you are a huge pain for bothering them. It not like you can take a project to them and get start to finish help at all."

Unless you paid to take a class, the folks working at Joann are not there to help you with a sewing project. They're just not.

Most likely the person who has helped you in a small fabric store was the owner -- someone who has a personal interest in keeping you as a customer. That's just not the way large box retail works. The people in those stores are hourly employees who are just there to take care of business.

As another poster mentioned, I keep my Joann's coupons in my car and I use one about twice a year. Next time you're in there just take one of the sign up slips at the front register. Maybe sign up with your first initial and last name if you're concerned that they'd cut you off the list.

I hope this helps.

I have never brought a project for them to help me with, I was just saying that you do not get friendly service even if you just ask for a minor thing, much less you would not get project help. I only posted this to disagree that Joann's is friendly comment so one left earlier.

I am sure it varies by location. But, just because they make a low wage does not excuse them for being unfriendly.
It's not really possible to compare to a local shop, because we don't have any now. They may pay the same wage in both places? Maybe Joann's should look at the Colma store and see why it is so unfriendly? I am not the only one who thinks so. Reviews of the Colma location say, what I am saying. Reviews of your local Joann's may be glowing and warm.

If they raise up the price of the bobbin winder to 39, then put it on sale for 10 dollars less, and they same bobbin winder is priced more like 30 elsewhere. It's not a good deal.

I would only want to buy from Joann's if they were really friendly and really helping me a lot. If you are getting help from a store you may want to buy a things there to go with the project to support them for supporting you with your project even if the price is higher. I used to do that when we had a local shop.

If Joanns was really friendly they would have sent me more coupons. They can tell I did not use those by the scan of my name.

Here is a link that might be useful: Reviews of the colma Joann's on yelp

OK, tropical, have it any way you like it. Get a good night's sleep.