New Spanish Fork Jo-Ann Fabrics Store Review

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I've written before about how much I love to wander around craft stores and look at the wonderful supplies and imagine the possibilities.  A new Jo-Ann Fabrics was just built here in Spanish Fork, Utah.  I had been impatiently waiting for the new store to be built since I saw the first sign announcing it last summer.  I was so excited to think of how nice it was going to be.  It opened last Friday and I had plans to be one of the first customers.  Unfortunately, I had a migraine and had to wait until Saturday night to go to the new store.  While I was there, I ran into a few different people from my neighborhood and made a friend in the scrapbook paper aisle.  It's so nice to meet other crafters and hear about the projects they are working on.

They are also having a Grand Opening celebration on March 19 - March 21.  The first 100 customers each day will receive a gift card for between $25 and $250.  They are having giveaways each day, free face painting on Saturday, free demos each day at 11am, and an Open House for their classes offered, and quite a few 60% off sales.

Now, on to my review and what great new features you will find at this store.

The old store was small, dark and cramped.  It was set up so strange and they did not have a good selection of the items at the store.  Most of the time I ended up driving the extra 15 minutes up to the next closest Jo_Ann store in Orem because their inventory was so much better. Now on to the newly opened store.

This new store is so different.  It is so roomy and bright.  You can see the merchandise and push your cart through the store with no problem.  There are plenty of employees in the store if you have questions that you need answered.

The most interesting thing to me was that there is a classroom area.  I talked with their Education coordinator, Mona, for about 10 minutes and she told me all about the process that the teachers of the classes have to go through to make sure that they are qualified.  I asked her how many of the stores have the classroom area and she said that only a handful of the newer stores have them.  They have started building these to provide a nice place for people to come learn a new craft.  She said that they want to promote a community feel.  They even rent out the classroom area for a reasonable amount for people that want to get together with a small group to have crafting nights.  And if your kids love crafting, they can reserve the area for birthday parties too!

Mona told me that they have certain classes that are corporate sponsored, but they also welcome local crafters to approach them about presenting a class that hasn't been offered yet.  They have many classes available for all age ranges.  She also told me that during the summer they are going to have quite a few classes available for kids that are out of school.

There is a large fabric section with a good selection of each different type of fabric.  It takes up the whole right 1/3 of the store.  The thing I like best is that the fabric is on raised displays.  It was a hassle having to lean over to look at the fabric that was on the bottom shelf.  These are much more shopper friendly in my opinion.

There was quite a good selection of crafting items.  Rows of wood products...even ones not available at the bigger store in Orem.

They have a nice selection of stamps.  These cute ones that I had a hard time saying no to.

I fell in love with some of the wonderful scrapbook packs.  Their single sheet paper selection is not that amazing, but I haven't seen any of their stores that have a large selection of those.  Their embellishments and other supplies to use with paper crafting is quite extensive.  I look forward to buying some interesting items in the future.

They had so much yarn too!  There were 4 aisles of different types of yarn.  4!!  It is a paradise for knitters and crocheters.  I looked at all the colors and mentally planned some cute crochet projects.

As I was walking down the aisle with miniatures, I stopped to look at what items they had.  I have never used them before, but I think that I might buy some and make a fairy garden for my girls.  We bought a kit to make a fairy house last summer and I want to put it together this spring.  I could use the miniatures to decorate the little fairy garden.  I will probably take my girls with me so they can pick a few out.