Hancock Fabrics was a specialty

retailer Retail is the sale of goods and services to consumers, in contrast to wholesaling, which is the sale to business or institutional customers. A retailer purchases goods in large quantities from manufacturers, directly or through a wholesal ...

craft A craft or trade is a pastime or an occupation that requires particular skills and knowledge of skilled work. In a historical sense, particularly the Middle Ages and earlier, the term is usually applied to people occupied in small scale pr ...

s and

fabric Textile is an umbrella term that includes various fiber-based materials, including fibers, yarns, filaments, threads, and different types of fabric. At first, the word "textiles" only referred to woven fabrics. However, weaving is no ...

s based in

Baldwyn, Mississippi Baldwyn, officially the City of Baldwyn, is a city in Lee County, Mississippi, Lee and Prentiss County, Mississippi, Prentiss counties, Mississippi, United States. It is located in the northern part of the Tupelo micropolitan area. Founded in ...

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. Hancock Fabrics operated as many as 266 stores in 37 states under the Hancock Fabrics name. Hancock Fabrics was established by the late Lawrence D. Hancock. On July 27, 2016, all of the stores were closed, marking the end of the chain.

Retail History

Early history

Hancock Fabrics was founded in 1957 in

Tupelo, Mississippi Tupelo ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Lee County, Mississippi, United States. Founded in 1860, the population was 37,923 at the United States Census, 2020, 2020 census. It is the List of municipalities in Mississippi, 7th-most populous ...

by Elaine (1922-2015) and Lawrence Doyce (L.D.) Hancock (1913-1998), started out as a cost-efficient retail store and offered a greater selection of merchandise to its customers at lower prices.Hancock Fabrics, Inc. -- Company History
/ref> By 1971, when

Lucky Stores Lucky Stores are a pair of American supermarket chains plus a defunct historical chain. The original chain was founded in San Leandro, California, and operated from 1935 until 1999. The Lucky brand was revived ''circa'' 2007 and is now operat ...

bought Hancock Fabrics, the chain owned 81 stores and had 265 additional franchise stores in 19 states.Claudia H. Deutsch
"Lawrence Doyce Hancock, 85, Entrepreneur and Philanthropist"
''

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'', October 29, 1998. Retrieved May 7, 2015.

Growth and reorganization

In 1985, Hancock Fabrics acquired Minnesota Fabrics, which was based in

Charlotte, North Carolina Charlotte ( ) is the List of municipalities in North Carolina, most populous city in the U.S. state of North Carolina and the county seat of Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, Mecklenburg County. The population was 874,579 at the 2020 United ...

and operated over one hundred stores under the names Minnesota Fabrics and Fabric Warehouse. Fabric Warehouse had originally been part of Hancock before they bought Minnesota Fabrics. Lucky Stores demerged Hancock in 1987, floating it as a public company. By 1992, the company was one of seven major retail piece-goods chains operating 482 stores in the United States.

Closure

On March 21, 2007, Hancock Fabrics announced it would file for

Chapter 11 bankruptcy Chapter 11 of the United States Bankruptcy Code ( Title 11 of the United States Code) permits reorganization under the bankruptcy laws of the United States. Such reorganization, known as Chapter 11 bankruptcy, is available to every business, w ...

. The company closed 104 stores and emerged from bankruptcy in August 2008.Hancok Fabrics was established by the late Lawrence D. Hancock. Hancock Fabrics Investor Overview] In 2014, Hancock announced plans to Listing (finance)#Delisting, take the company private, but later withdrew the proposal. On April 1, 2016, the U. S. Bankruptcy Court approved the sale of the remaining assets to Great American Group, who announced that the remaining 185 stores will be closed and their assets liquidated. In August 2016, Michaels Stores, Inc. announced its intent to acquire Hancock Fabrics' intellectual property and customer database.

References

External links

Hancock Fabrics
{{Webarchive, url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081101143909/http://www.hancockfabrics.com/ , date=2008-11-01 Defunct retail companies of the United States Retail companies of the United States Companies based in Mississippi Retail companies established in 1957 Retail companies disestablished in 2016 1957 establishments in Mississippi Companies that filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2007 Companies that filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2016 2016 disestablishments in Mississippi 2016 mergers and acquisitions