Week 122: Selva Coffee House & Goodbye Joann

Week 122: April 27th-May 3rd, 2025

As a lifelong craft-lover, February's news of Joann filing for Chapter 11 and closing all stores was devastating. However, when you think about the liquidation sales that come out of a major retailer like Joann closing? Sign me up. The possibility of a good sale (and when I say good, I don't mean a lowly 10-30% off... I'm talking like 60+...) on anything is always appealing, and especially when it has to do with craft supplies and fabric.

San Diego, unfortunately, is seriously lacking in the craft and fabric store department. There are Michael's stores here and there, but as we all know, Michael's historically has not sold fabric at the same level as Joann. In San Diego, we only have three Joann locations: one in the East in El Cajon, one more central in Point Loma, and one a bit more north in Poway.

I decided to go to the Joann in Point Loma, as it was the closest to me and was near Selva Coffee House, which I will tell you about later. It was a gloomy day, and the vibes inside the store weren't much better.

The Exterior of Joann with a big CLOSING sign

Even the fixtures are for sale!

Empty Shelves

Very low inventory in stock

A lot of the aisles in the back of the store weren't lit up, and a lightbulb was flickering in one of them. A handful of other people were slowly wandering through the shelves and picking through whatever was left. I did a few laps around the store and didn't see anything worth getting. Apparently, they will continue to get new shipments with a variety of inventory items from their warehouses each week, so it could be worth it to return in the future. However, this trip was not very fruitful, as most of the stuff left on the shelves wasn't worth buying even after their 50-80% markdowns.

After the disappointing and slightly depressing adventure through Joann, I headed to Selva Coffee House for a pick me up. Selva Coffee House is a very trendy coffee spot right at the I-8 freeway entrance in Point Loma that shares a building with Terra Bella Nursery.

It was super busy, but I got lucky and grabbed a parking spot right in front and went inside. There was loud music playing throughout the building. I think they just picked a random "Today's Top Hits" playlist, because I heard a bunch of different genres. I had to weave through a bunch of people, dogs, strollers, kids, and plants to get to the line.

The line was long, but moved fairly quickly. There were a bunch of different items to browse as I waited in line, but I was mostly distracted by a very adorable cat who made itself comfortable on a basket. After I ordered, I wandered around the massive warehouse space and looked at a bunch of plants.

There was a section of the nursery that had a sign that read "Something Fun Coming Soon!" which was intriguing. It kind of looked like a DJ booth, so I wonder if they are leaning into the trendiness of cute drinks, plants, and DJ music to get even more young people to come.

There was a massive line of drinks on the pick-up counter that were a mix of online orders and long-forgotten drinks. I think the mix of the loud music, chatter from all of the people waiting for drinks, and large space made it hard to hear when they called your name. I stuck around close to the counter so I would be able to get my drink right away. I was getting so impatient and hangry that I almost became a Karen, but thankfully they called my name and handed me my burrito and my drink. I ended up waiting a ridiculous amount of time for my "Queenie" drink and my plain bean and cheese burrito (over 30 minutes!) but I guess it is all part of the experience. I will give them credit though, because there were at least 20 employees (all women, I might add!) who were absolutely cranking out drinks and food like a well-oiled machine.

The Queenie was made with matcha, milk, ice, and strawberry cloud cream. I got mine with oat milk and was thrilled that they didn't upcharge for it. My burrito was surprisingly good, but I might have just been so hungry that anything would've tasted great.

I'd definitely return to Selva, but not on a busy weekend morning. If I was a plant person, I would probably go there for plants too, but I've managed to kill even the hardiest of house plants I've had, so I'll stick to faux plants for now.

See you next week.