Joann, the crafting and fabrics retailer, will close its Alabama distribution center if the company doesn’t find a court-approved buyer soon.

Nearly 250 employees at its distribution center in Opelika are at risk of losing their jobs, the company said in a notice to the Alabama Department of Commerce this week.

“While we remain hopeful this closure event will not occur, we are providing notice that if this action does occur, employee separations at or otherwise aligned to the Opelika DC are expected to commence on the 14-day period beginning on March 31, 2025,” said Amanda Hayes, a spokesperson for Joann, in an email to AL.com.

In mid-January, the company filed its second bankruptcy within a year – filing for Ch. 11 bankruptcy in federal court in Delaware. Any sale of the company would have to be approved by a federal bankruptcy judge.

“Should the Company fail to secure a buyer who intends to continue to actively operate JOANN’s business (including potentially offering employment to some or all current Company employees), it is possible that the Company may have no choice but to immediately close its Opelika DC and conduct employee separations,” Ann Aber, Joann’s executive vice president of chief legal and human resources, wrote in a Jan. 24 letter to Alabama state and local officials.

The expected closure would bring Alabama’s tally of employees impacted by mass layoffs already scheduled for 2025 to more than 1,100.

Joann opened its 700,000-square-foot distribution center in Opelika in 2006. The company expanded the $45 million center in 2021, investing nearly $8 million more into building onto its warehouse and adding 30 jobs.

It’s unclear what the future of the site in Opelika will be, or what resources Joann will provide to the impacted employees.

John Sweatman, the director of Opelika Economic Development, told AL.com that it’s too soon to share details for next steps.

The closure announcement of Joann’s Alabama center follows a recent financial spiral for the Ohio-based retailer, including a separate bankruptcy filing last March before the company went private. Joann, which was founded in 1943, sells yarn, crafting supplies, sewing machines, home decor and more.

When Joann filed for bankruptcy on Jan. 15, the company said stores would stay open and employees would continue to be paid.

“The last several years have presented significant and lasting challenges in the retail environment, which, coupled with our current financial position and constrained inventory levels, forced us to take this step,” interim CEO Michael Prendergast said in a Jan. 15 statement about the bankruptcy filing. “We hope that this process enables us to find a path that would allow JOANN to continue operating as a going concern.”

The company has at least three other distribution and fulfillment centers in Ohio and California, per its website. Without a buyer, Joann will have to close those sites as well, resulting in hundreds more layoffs, according to media reports.

Federal law requires those large employers to file a public WARN notice with the state 60 days in advance of mass layoffs or plant closures. Those WARN notices are published by the Alabama Department of Commerce.