Burlington, Other Retailers Snag Joann Store Leases

As retailer Joann works its way through bankruptcy, other retailers have called dibs on some of the craft store's locations. Burlington has signed up to assume 45 leases of former Joann store locations, according to a Monday court filing.

Burlington will move in as soon as this month to some locations, which span the country. Cure amounts range from $0 to just over $58K, according to the filing. Hobby Lobby, a Joann competitor, plans to take two Joann locations and Boot Barn will take another. 

Burlington's 2024 was the opposite of Joann's. The same year that Joann first filed for bankruptcy, Burlington opened 101 net new stores, according to a press release. In the fourth quarter of 2024, Burlington’s net sales rose 4.8% year-over-year to almost $3.3B. Net income rose 14.6% to $260.8M.

Analysts aren't surprised that Burlington, which is in expansion mode, is going after shuttered retail locations, RetailDive reported. 

“Our recent conversations with real estate contacts suggest very little new shopping center growth is planned in the US for the foreseeable future — meaning chains with high store growth ambitions, like [Burlington], will need to be aggressively going after locations from retail bankruptcies along the way,” Evercore ISI analysts said in an emailed note Tuesday.

Those on the hunt for space have options. With major closures, including Party City, Joann and Big Lots in the rearview mirror, some markets have reported plenty of retail square footage up for grabs. 

Retail vacancies in the U.S. have hovered between 5% and 6% for the last few years following a decade-long reset of the retail landscape. However, leasing began the year slowly, with vacancy increasing slightly to 5.5%.

Nationwide, absorption reached a net negative 5.9M SF in Q1, according to Cushman & Wakefield, the largest drop since 2020.