20 Things You Didn’t Know about Michaels Craft Store

Michaels

For anybody that loves arts and crafts, Michaels is one of the best stores to spend a day in. You definitely could spend the whole day in there and many people have wished they would win a shopping spree so they could get everything they wanted. For people who have a love for arts and crafts or a desire to decorate their home, it’s one of the greatest stores that’s ever existed. If you want to know more about it, read about 20 more unique things about the store below.

1. It’s the largest store of its type

If you think that you see a Michaels store on practically every corner, it might be because you probably do. When it comes to stores that cater to arts and crafts, this is easily the largest stores in existence with regard to the number stores that it has. More about the exact numbers will be discussed in the following paragraph but suffice it to say that when compared to any of the competition, the Michael’s chain completely dwarfs anything else that’s out there. Its closest competitor is Hobby Lobby, and a distant second is Jo-Ann’s. Nevertheless, Michaels has far more stores than either of these chains and it also has large facilities that are capable holding plenty of products and giving shoppers room to move around.

2. There are more than 1,200 stores

The chain has 1,262 stores to be exact. Most of those are labeled as Michaels stores, but a lot of customers don’t know that the company also has two other stores that are run by the same company. One is called Pat Catan’s, of which there are 34 stores and the other is called Aaron Brothers, which used to have 118 stores. That left 1,145 Michaels stores. However, the company more recently made a decision to close most of the Aaron Brothers stores. Today, there is only a handful of these stores left. The rest have either been reconfigured as traditional Michaels stores or sold out right.

3. The stores sells its own private brands

Michaels is well known for selling its own brands. As a matter of fact, it sells no less than 10 brands that are owned by the corporation itself. Some of those brands include names like Craft Smart, Artminds, Artist’s Loft and Creatology, just to name a few. The great thing about the store brands is that you can get them for a lower price and the products are every bit as good as anything that you would find in any other location.

4. Its headquarters is based in Texas

It only makes sense that the headquarters would be in a place like Irving, Texas, especially when you consider the history of the store. After all, Michaels got its start in the state so you wouldn’t really expect the headquarters to be anywhere else. Irving is a city that is continuously growing and more and more companies are coming into that area. Therefore, it provides everything that the corporation needs to operate their many stores across the country and even in other areas. At the same time, it also honors the remarkable history of the corporation by keeping it close to its roots.

5. There are literally tens of thousands of products inside every store

Chances are, you feel like the kid in the candy store every time you walk into Michaels. If you love anything that involve arts and crafts of virtually any type, they have something there for you. As a matter of fact, each store has more than 40,000 products available to its shoppers at any given time. That’s a staggering number. The very thought that it all involves something crafty is enough to send most shoppers into craft nirvana. It doesn’t matter if you’re into jewelry making, painting, sewing, glass etching, t-shirts, or anything else, they have products there that you would have a difficult time finding anywhere else.

6. They’ve been doing business since the 1970s

The very first store opened in 1973. One of the more interesting things to know about Michaels is that it all started with a single store that was run by a family. You might say that Michaels is the epitome of the American dream. It started out as something small, realizing a dream to own a store of their own and support members of their own family and it turned into such a large success that they now have more than 2,000 stores in operation. It’s a success story of the best type and they continue to expand, even to this day.

7. The store has more than 30,000 employees across the United States

That number is actually closer to 31,000. Obviously, when you have so many stores in operation, you need to have a lot of employees in order to make sure that everything runs smoothly at each location. That being said, there aren’t really that many retail companies that employ people in the tens of thousands. Granted, you have your Walmart stores and things like that but this is a specialty store. That makes it almost unheard of to employ that many people. Needless to say, Michaels goes a long way toward helping other people realize their own dreams by giving them an opportunity for work in an atmosphere that they love.

8. It enjoys an annual revenue of more than $5 billion

As of 2016, the store’s annual revenue was just shy of 5.2 billion dollars. Even after taxes, the store was able to enjoy a profit of slightly more than 378 million dollars. Keep in mind, this is after they’ve paid for everything that they need to pay for in order to continue operating. That includes paying leases and insurance, utilities, purchasing inventory and paying their employees. That’s a staggering amount of money and to think that they were able to make that profit in a single year shows you how many shoppers they have at their stores on a daily basis. As a matter of fact, most people that love arts and crafts consider Michaels to be there go to store and they shop there frequently.

9. The company has been publicly traded since the early 1980s

It probably doesn’t surprise you that they are publicly traded on the stock market today, but they have been since 1984. This is something that does surprise a lot of individuals because it wasn’t as prevalent to be publicly traded back then as it is now. In addition, it all comes back to the fact that this is a specialty store. Most of these types of stores just don’t do enough business to be traded publicly but Michaels has always managed to find a way to overcome any obstacles that were present.

10. At the time, they had less than 20 stores

One of the things that might interest you is that when they did decide to go public in 1984, they only had 16 stores in operation. That’s precisely why it all came as such a big surprise to many people at the time. Nevertheless, they were doing a tremendous amount of business in those 16 stores and they had their sights set on doing much more. Apparently, the people at Michaels always had big dreams and they weren’t afraid to put themselves out there in order to achieve them. Needless to say, it’s a method that’s worked very well, indeed.

11. By 2008, they had 1,000 stores

In 2008, they opened their one thousandth store in Texas. Since they got their start in the state, they wanted this landmark store to be opened there as well. Having 1,000 stores is definitely nothing to shake a stick at but it’s amazing to think that in the 10 years since they opened the store, they have more than doubled the number of stores that they have.

12. They also offer classes for crafty individuals

One of the more interesting things about Michaels is that they frequently offer classes for anyone to take. Some of the classes are geared toward children and others are for adults. It doesn’t matter if you’re interested in learning how to sew, how to make jewelry, or how to decorate a wedding cake, they have classes that can accommodate those needs. They usually don’t cost very much, typically only the cost of the materials required. The best part is that you get one-on-one guidance from someone that really knows their stuff and you get to keep the product you made when the class is over.

13. When Hancock Fabrics went out of business, Michael’s acquired their property

A few years ago, Hancock Fabrics went out of business and Michaels decided that it was time for them to move in. The store was going out of business anyway, so Michaels offered to purchase their property with the option of turning each former Hancock Fabrics location into a Michaels store or selling the property. Part of the deal also included purchasing the email list for former customers of Hancock Fabrics, allowing Michaels to have direct access to at least the email contact information for those customers. They paid extra money in order to receive these email lists and then used them to send out mass emails to the defunct store’s former customers in hopes of convincing them to start shopping at Michaels instead.

14. The company eventually expanded into Canada

Michaels doesn’t just have stores in the United States. They also have stores in Canada. As a matter of fact, they have stores in 49 of the 50 states across the US and in Canada as well. As previously mentioned, they only have one or two competitors in the United States in the form of Hobby Lobby and Jo-Ann’s and there’s only one store in Canada that is even remotely capable of competing, called DeSerres.

15. They don’t just offer products for arts and crafts

People might argue this because virtually everything they sell might be considered arts and crafts, especially in the purest sense of the term. Regardless of why you’re there, you’re getting products that you can use to create your own vision of something greater. That being said, they have all kinds of products for the home and even for special events, so if you’re in the market for a great gift at a baby shower, a Bachelor or Bachelorette party, or a birthday, this is a great place to look if you want to find something that’s unique. While they do focus very heavily on arts and crafts, you can find products there that are already made. If you’re not the crafty type, you don’t have to make everything and you can find some great gifts there that you won’t find anywhere else.

16. The store is also a go to destination for wedding planners

The store even has its very own section that’s just for wedding items. You can find virtually anything to decorate a cake, create the perfect shower, or to use as decorations for the reception. No matter what you’re looking for, you can almost bet that Michaels has it in stock.

17. It’s a great place to find imitation foliage that looks real

If you like to give your home a fresh look but you don’t want to deal with the hassle of transplanting and watering real flowers all the time, this is a great way to do it. The imitation foliage at Michaels looks real. It is most definitely not that overly waxy, plastic-looking type of stuff that you find at some other stores.

18. They always have good ideas to decorate for every holiday

It doesn’t matter if you’re talking about Christmas, Halloween, or the 4th of July. Michaels always has a special section that’s just for the upcoming holidays and you can find all kinds of adorable items there that will really make your decorations pop.

19. It’s a great place to find unique gifts for kids

If you’re in the mood to find some unique gifts for kids, this is a great place to shop. They have a whole section that’s just for this type of thing and these are not the type of gifts that you’re going to find at Walmart, Target or some other big box store.

20. Some of those gifts are even educational

One of the most unique things about the store is that some of the gifts you can pick up for kids have an educational flare. They can learn about outer space, chemistry or geology through some of the kits that are for sale there at the store. It gives them the opportunity to conduct their own scientific experiments and see how things work for themselves. It’s also a great way to potentially spark their interest in something new.

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