The crafts retailer is closing all 800 of its stores and laying off 19,000 employees. The news comes after the retailer’s restructuring plans failed and a liquidator opted to purchase its assets. Joann is far from the only retailer in its death throes. Recent data shows that the number of retail-store closures is expected to double during 2025, to roughly 15,000 from the 7,300 or so in 2024, including companies such as Red Lobster, Big Lots, and Party City, which have each announced plans to either completely close up shop or enact big restructuring in recent months. And a commonality between many of them? Private equity firms are playing a large role. Critics say that private equity, often simply referred to as PE, tends to come in and strip a company for parts and eventually kill it off rather than trying to make an honest attempt at turning the business around and making it profitable. [More]