Michaels

Giant store!
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I had to pick up some edible paint and acrylic paint. Hope I don’t get them mixed up. Anyhow, this place is enormous; it’s the biggest Michael’s I’ve been in. They have everything — lots of good stuff — very inspiring. If you have kids and need ideas on things to keep them busy, this is a great stop. Make your own candy, dip pretzels, paint birdhouses or shelves, all kinds of arts and crafts. And lots of stuff is on sale or 20/​30% off. Plus the sunday paper had a coupon to get one item ½ off. So, win-​win!

Michael’s Arts and Craft store sells almost everything an artist is looking for — floral and décor (e.g., holiday themed décor, candles, baskets, etc), beads and jewelry supplies (e.g., bead strands, cording, finding, storage, tools, etc), art supplies (e.g., canvases, easels, paints, paintbrushes, sketchbook), baking supplies (e.g., pans, cake decorating kits, candy molds, gift packaging, etc), basic party supplies, yarn and knitting /​crochet accessories, and more.
In addition to weekly coupons, Michael’s Arts and Crafts store has some good promotions. Some promotions included 55% off Home & Platinum Wall Frames, 3 for the price of 1 Artist;s Loft brand Level 2 & 3 Gallery Wrapped Canvas, and 66% off 1 custom framed piece or 70% off 2 or more custom framed pieces (limited to the Hampton Collection). While in the Custom Framed department, I decided to get a quote for framing a 18″ x 24″ acrylic painting on a canvas. With the current promotion, it would be about $ 80 for a standard frame or $ 105 for a deluxe frame with a 2 weeks turn around time.

Every time I go to Michaels I remember why I would rather shop almost anywhere else, and last week’s visit was no different. The checkout lady was friendly and cheery, but that just can’t make up for the inconvenience of the rest of the experience.
Here are the problems, and both seem typical of every Michaels I’ve been in:
(1) the store is so vast, and there’s NO help anywhere except possibly at the customer service desk, which is about ¼ mile from the place where you need the help. If you can’t find it, tough luck. Since it’s painful for me to walk, I often don’t get what I need.
(2) The checkout lines. I don’t think I’ve ever not had to wait at least 5 minutes to check out, and often longer. Last week I was not wearing a watch but when I got in line there were 6 people ahead of me and I’m certain I waited over 10 minutes.
I gave it 3 stars rather than less because the selection of stuff is OK (except for the yarn much of which looks picked over) .Unfortunately, I just had to get something that day, and Michaels was the most convenient to the other errands. So now I’ve promised myself, once again, never to go there again.

Ok, so Michael’s is playing the coupon game that A C Moore plays. Just try to find something in this store that doesn’t somehow manage to be exempt from their 50% off coupons. Today was a new one for me. I got to the checkout and «Wendy» told me that the coupon, once again, did not apply as «everything that I bought was on sale.» I said, no surprise there and then I discovered that the price on the back of a coloring book that I purchased was the exact price that was on my receipt. I questioned the clerk and now she tells me, «well this is an outside vendor’s item and our coupons do not apply to those.» Well, why would a customer know that something was for sale from an «outside vendor?» Never heard this one before. AND, I was also told that the coloring book was considered an actual book which you also can’t use a coupon for. There isn’t even any words in this coloring book so what is this all about??? I told the clerk this was all quite a gimick on their part. She just said, «next customer over here please.» Another store obviously not concerned with customer service.

My husband wishes I wouldn’t like this store as much as I do, he thinks I have my own craft store in my craft room, but I LOVE michaels. I have my fingers in everything from scrapbooking, to crystalizing shoes, to floral arrangements and everything else I can come up with. Their prices are always way lower than A.C. Moores, but pretty comparable to Jo An Fabrics.
There are always good deals to be had, and oh the clearance. how I love the. The staff is always helpful and happy.
My only wish is that they brought back the classes. They do wiltons cake decorating, but nothing else right now.
I tend to shop there two to three times a week during the holiday season, infact I have it on my to do list to pick up supplies to make easter cards today!
TIP: To avoild the traffic, say on the highway into mass, take the first exit that lets you come back up the highway and use the exit thats on the border, I don’t know the number. Saves time and frustration. Simple solution.

Sometimes I feel like being crafty! I’ll head over to Michaels to browse and get some ideas.
Michaels is an arts and crafts superstore with a pretty good selection of all sorts of supplies for that fun project. The store has plenty of colorful flowers, decorations, activity kits, knitting supplies, books, art supplies, paints, paper, cake decorating, stickers, beads, felt, glues, frames, scrapbooking, baskets, toy kits, and much more. Michaels has plenty of Disney items such as Hannah Montana and High School Musical, and the BEDAZZLER kit for which allows me to decorate my clothing and other items with COLORFUL RHINESTONES. Disco Stu is back in the building!
The prices here are decent with lots of percent off specials. I always use Sunday ads, which usually have a 50 percent off any one item coupon, a great deal! The staff is helpful in finding me the products they have in stock, but there are some items that they just flat out don’t carry in the store. For example, I wanted blank white mousepads to create neat gifts for «my friends,» but I had to order them on my own from the manufacturer. For sh-​ts & giggles, they don’t carry the «scratch and sniff stickers,» you know the ones the grade school teacher put on your quiz or homework when you did well. However, I can find plenty of general drawing supplies in stock including architect drawing kits, engineering scales, and hard stock paper.
Overall, Michaels is a good store to pick up activity kits for the kids and general supplies for a fun and creative projects such as homemade Halloween costumes, school projects, cool party décor, and very colorful posters. For special supplies and items, I’ll order from different vendors or go to specialty shops such as an artist supply store, hobby shop, or a cake supply store.