The Hancock Fabric Store has become the #2 US fabric chain (behind Joann Fabric, also reviewed on our site). With sewing, scrapbooking, and quilting becoming more and more popular, the company now emphasizes all home decorating projects. Hancock Fabric (originally opened in 1952), has a large selection of high quality fabrics for both beginners and professionals. Since 1992, the store has emphasized its mail order business as an Internet retailer. They publish at least 4 full color catalogs (of approximately 100 pages each) a year.

Lately, Hancock Fabric Stores made news when they presented patients at St. Jude's hospital with lap quilts hand-made by volunteers across the county as part of the 2004 Quilt of Dreams promotion. The original quilts used as its centerpiece the ideas and artwork of some of the patients at St. Jude's Hospital. Thousands of the quilts were showcased during a month-long exhibit. Over 3,400 quilts were made during this fund-raiser. After the exhibit, the artists could enter the hand-made quilts in the Quilt of Dreams contest where originality and the best use of theme were part of the rubrics. After the event, all quilts were given to St. Jude for either patients gifts or for additional fund raising purposes. Refer to our "Hancock Fabric Resources" section for more information on the Quilt of Dreams event and the Hancock Fabric Store.