REPORT OF INDEPENDENT PUBLIC ACCOUNTANTS                            Exhibit 99.1

To the Advisory Committee of Jo-Ann Stores, Inc.
Savings Plan 401(k):

We have audited the accompanying statements of net assets available for plan
benefits of Jo-Ann Stores, Inc. Savings Plan 401(k) (the Plan) as of December
31, 2000 and 1999, and the related statement of changes in net assets available
for plan benefits for the year ended December 31, 2000, as listed in the
accompanying index. These financial statements and the schedules referred to
below are the responsibility of the Plan's management. Our responsibility is to
express an opinion on these financial statements and schedules based on our
audits.

We conducted our audits in accordance with auditing standards generally accepted
in the United States. Those standards require that we plan and perform the audit
to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the financial statements are free
of material misstatement. An audit includes examining, on a test basis, evidence
supporting the amounts and disclosures in the financial statements. An audit
also includes assessing the accounting principles used and significant estimates
made by management, as well as evaluating the overall financial statement
presentation. We believe that our audits provide a reasonable basis for our
opinion.

In our opinion, the financial statements referred to above present fairly, in
all material respects, the net assets available for plan benefits of the Plan as
of December 31, 2000 and 1999, and the changes in its net assets available for
plan benefits for the year ended December 31, 2000, in conformity with
accounting principles generally accepted in the United States.

Our audits were made for the purpose of forming an opinion on the basic
financial statements taken as a whole. The supplemental schedules of assets held
for investment purposes (Schedule I) and schedule of 5% reportable transactions
(Schedule II) as listed in the accompanying index, are presented for purposes of
additional analysis and are not a required part of the basic financial
statements but are supplementary information required by the Department of
Labor's Rules and Regulations for Reporting and Disclosure under the Employee
Retirement Income Security Act of 1974. The supplemental schedules have been
subjected to the auditing procedures applied in the audits of the basic
financial statements and, in our opinion, are fairly stated in all material
respects in relation to the basic financial statements taken as a whole.




Cleveland, Ohio,
June 13, 2001.


                                          /s/ Arthur Andersen LLP