Hancock Fabrics

Store isn’t ADA compliant and staff was rude to my father in law who is disabled and in a wheelchair.

This store has the worst customer service. I once watched the manager berate an employee in front of customers. Today, there were only 2 employees cutting fabric with no one on the registers and the same employee who I think is the manager, just stopping helping her customer at the cutting table to ring out customers. I hope Hancock corp monitors Unilocal as another reviewer accurately described this store as a «hot mess»

This store is a HOT MESS! It’s really the only fabric store in Alexandria, so I only shop here when I absolutely don’t have time to drive to JoAnns.
The store is incredibly disorganized and dirty. All the fabrics and notions are a mess, literally falling off their shelves (and it looks like a toddler shoved them on the shelves)! Also, the store is littered with cheap gift merchandise that would fit better in a tourist gift shop. Seriously, you can’t walk anywhere without being surrounded by cheap notebooks or back scratchers shaped like bear paws. Really?!
The staff is also so unfriendly, unhelpful and unavailable. You’d think that the store only had one employee because there is only ever one person walking between the cutting table and the registers, even though you see other employees in the store. There have been several times where I’ve had to wait at the cutting table or the registers for 10 minutes while the one working employee was either no where to be found, or helping a long line at the cutting table before they moved to the registers, or vice versa.
Today the manager was training a new employee and was being very short and rude to the employee. It was awkward to see. Instead of asking her kindly to put all the items a customer bought in one bag, after the new employee had put them in two bags, she told her, «Don’t waste bags! Put everything in one!» Or, instead of, «Will you put away this fabric?» it was, «What are you going to do with that fabric, because I’m not putting it away!»
And, I can’t stand how they always push you to buy their deal-​of-​the-​week while you’re at the registers. It’s always some cheap 3 pack of scissors, or a new spray starch that is sitting on the register counter. They must get some reward as an employee if they can’t get customers to buy this cheap merchandise. No thank you!
Please, save yourself the time and hassle, don’t go here!

Staff is always friendly but I find the selection to be seriously lacking. I can’t justify a special trip to this store but if I’m in the area I’ll sometimes stop in.

This store is constantly disorganized, dirty, and short-​staffed. The selection is small and cheap. It’s the only nearby fabric store for Alexandria, and it okay for some very basic notions and other things that won’t compromise one’s overall project.
I’ll also never forget how I went to the store with my 2-​year-​old and my 4-​year old hoping to make a quick trip. We waited at the fabric counter for 10 minutes (no bell or anything to ring for service). Then as soon as I approached the register counter, the lady who had just been serving another customer before me, turned and walked away. I sat at the counter and called out «hello?» several times (and it’s not like we were invisible — as I say I had two noisy children with me!), as there seemed to be no one else in the store. I was contemplating calling the store’s phone number just to get someone on the phone to ask for service at the register, when someone FINALLY came and we could get out of there. Although I wasn’t able to use my Hancock’s card or any coupons because the system was down.

Poor customer service from the elderly women.
Disorganized (!!!) store: items seem to be just strewn all over the place.
Using coupons and taking advantage of their sales are sometimes worth digging through piles and piles of disarray and rude/​indifferent attitudes.

After reading a ton of these reviews and shopping at this store for a very long time I will say that the store is short staffed and that’s no doubt because of all the low prices. in other words we can’t have our cake and eat it too. I’ve received kind and courteous customer service and surly customer service. Most of them are knowledgeable and can be very helpful. I did notice that the store is pretty tidy except during these new spot the bolt sales and then fabric seems to be all over the place. I wish we had another source for fabrics which would spur a little competition but we don’t ;-(

You will find what you need for just about any sewing project. There is a great selection of notions and fabrics, although a limited amount for special occasions.
However, the store is sorely understaffed judging by the long wait for help, the sometimes surly staff and the state of the store; it is always a mess. The rest room is particularly bad.
It appears there is no time for the staff to clean up and attend to the customers questions. Putting more people on the floor would result in a better looking store, better customer service and logically more sales. I don’t know what they are thinking. Also, they sell cheap items that have no place in a fabric store, compact mirrors, cheap scarves and purses… cheapens the place. Makes no sense. I go because it is convenient and they usually have what I want.

I tried Beacon Mall store again. I don’t know why.
I found buttons I needed. Found material. Stood at table. No one, no one, no one, then a clerk comes over to my side of the table and pushes my bolts over and says she is cutting for someone else. I am standing right there waiting patiently. Could she have gone just to the other side of the table where no one was? Could the manager left the clerk at the register to help at the cutting table? Did she really need to stand there and count the items for the clerk? Gee, thanks for telling me the buttonis are 30% off. And I saved money.
And they lost me again. And the manager could care less why I was not happy.
By that time, I was done.
I’ve worked in a fabric store. I know what its suppose to be like and this is not it. This is Ms. Hannigan and the hard fabric life. Buy online, at Walmart, and anywhere else and go if there is a sure sale and you have to go.
This is the 3^rd poor experience. I do hope they get it right sometime. Google ratings aren’t that great either.

I’ve been to this store a dozen times; the staff has always been kind and even helpful. Yet every time I visit I am again shocked at how their fabrics do not meet their target customer’s needs. This is your place if you are making Halloween and school play costumes. This is not the store with copious fabrics suitable for home décor or fashionable wear. I would estimate ¹⁄₃ of the store is bolts of fleece… even in the summer months! They have a good (not vast) collection of color coordinated thin fabrics for quilters. I bought 2 yards of this for $ 7 and mod podged it onto shelves. The ribbon/​trim selection is lacking and they have an equal amount of the cheesy adornments that Michael’s specializes in. However, I have been there a dozen times because they always seem to have the necessities I need for projects around the house to include: adhesive spray, elastic, fabric dye, glues, glue guns and sticks, threads and even an upholstery staple remover. I’d be more inclined to classify Hancock Fabrics as a hit or miss craft store.

Ladies were extremely helpful. knowledgable of the products they sell. Made a quick trip out of what could have been otherwise horrible.

Ok selection. I go here because it is close and the other two fabric stores are 40+ minutes away. But mostly there is such horrible tension in the store between employees and poor customer service that I dread going here. There are two older white women who are usually at the cash registers, I think they are managers – they give off such an unfriendly and rude attitude to me every time. I’ve heard them yelling at or publicly criticizing other employees. The other employees, usually ethnic (maybe from India) are kind and helpful, giving feedback about my projects and ways to make it better. There are a couple young teen girls working there too – also very sweet and helpful. I hope that things change. I wouldn’t complain if this was a one time experience, but since it has happened so many times, it is time to speak up.

Over the past six months and more than a dozen visits, the customer service at this location has been consistently atrocious. Regardless of day/​time or who is working, there is an overall lack of professionalism and complacent attitude regarding anything resembling work. Most recently an employee brushed me off when I asked for help finding something, and then went into the employee area in the back of the store and complained about me asking for help — loudly enough to be heard throughout the store. The employees are not familiar with their own inventory, both in regard to what they have in stock or where it might be located. My expectations of this place have become so low that I’ve started dreading needing to make a trip here. As others have mentioned the options for buying fabric in Alexandria are limited. Unfortunately, from now on I will drive the additional 5 – 10 miles to get to another store and avoid this place. It’s awful.

For sewing enthusiasts living south of the City of Alexandria, this is the only fabric/​sewing shop close to home.
True, there is not enough fabric variety for the sewing of quilts, formal wear, and home decorating. However, for general sewing and crafting needs, this Hancock Fabrics store is sufficient.
The piece goods this Hancock sells holds up over time. I have sewn, and still wear, many clothing items using material I have purchased from this shop.
The only items this reviewer recommends that you not purchase from Hancock are sewing machines and sergers. The last sewing machine I bought at this Hancock was a poorly made low-​end Bernina that was constantly in need of repair.
This Hancock also offers sewing machine repair service, which is not recommended. This reviewer took a mechanical sewing machine to this store for maintenance work and was not pleased with the results.

Love the variety and the cleanliness. But why are the women so bitchy and inconvenienced? Maybe I will ope my own friendly fabric store :-)

Lots of variety and classes. Friendly staff.

One of the most useful stores for the things I make: fleece items, children’s clothing, crafts, window treatments, and decorations for Halloween and Christmas. Although I go to specialty stores for heirloom-​quality fabric, all of my heirloom projects benefit from Hancock’s notions, tools, and often threads, beads, and buttons.
The place always has a sale on something, so it’s best to pay attention if you keep a fabric stash. The staff is helpful, especially if the store is not crowded when you arrive. If I need to have fabric or trim cut, I try to go at less crowded times: weekday mornings, or in the hour before the store closes.

I can’t give Hancock’s 4 and a half so I’m just moving it up to 5. Out of the 3 fabric stores that are my main choices for fabric in NoVA this is my favorite. G street has nice designer stuff if I could afford to pay $ 15 a yard, but I can’t. JoAnn’s at seven corners has like NOTHING, and I rarely find things I like that are under 9.99 a yard, but I can get the same thing at Hancock’s for about $ 5. Also Hancock’s notion wall wins me over, there are few things I cant find on there wall, and the things I cant find are things that are no longer made, due to fewer people sewing. So most of my fabric for sewing comes from here and Walmart.

While there is not a lot of fabric store options in NOVA, I give Hancock 4 stars. They have a wide variety of fabrics that appeal to me and I love their staff. I am a new to sewing, so when I ask questions at Joannes, the staff look at me like I am wasting their time. At Hancock, they ask questions back, try to understand and help.
Their prices are ok, but if you are a VIP card holder (or whatever), you get coupons that take even MORE off.
So not the best, but it works.

I wasn’t terribly impressed with Hancock Fabrics. I found JoAnn’s (near Potomac Mills) to have a much wider selection of NICE looking fabric. Don’t get me wrong — Hancock fabrics definitely has tons of selection — if you like 1970s paisley corduroy, Scottish-​style kilt tartan wool, or Sesame Street themed cotton. Well, I don’t like that stuff. It doesn’t work well with my mod, stylish (poorly sewed) projects. Not my style. Go to JoAnn’s for better looking stuff — I know, I know, they’re a chain, but sometimes chains are chains because they have the best stuff, know what I’m sayin?