Hancock Fabrics
Hancock Fabrics was a public retailer of crafts and fabrics based in Baldwyn, Mississippi. At its height, the chain operated hundreds of stores—about 266—in 37 states.
The company was founded in 1957 in Tupelo, Mississippi by Elaine and Lawrence Doyce Hancock. It grew quickly by offering a wide selection of fabrics at lower prices. In 1971 Lucky Stores bought Hancock Fabrics, and Hancock later became a public company in 1987. The business expanded through acquisitions, including Minnesota Fabrics (Fabric Warehouse) in 1985. By 1992 Hancock was one of the major U.S. fabric retailers, running hundreds of stores.
Hancock Fabrics filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on March 21, 2007, closed 104 stores, and emerged from bankruptcy in August 2008. In 2014 the company announced plans to take itself private but later withdrew that proposal. On April 1, 2016, a bankruptcy court approved the sale of the remaining assets to Great American Group, which led to the liquidation of the 185 stores that remained open.
In August 2016, Michaels Stores announced it would acquire Hancock’s intellectual property and customer database. The chain effectively ended with the liquidation of its stores in 2016.
This page was last edited on 3 February 2026, at 14:41 (CET).