Michaels

I came to this location after I wiped my local Michaels out of black rit dye. This location is older, smaller, and a little cramped. Some of the aisles are much narrower than an average aisle and taller which makes me a little skittish LOL. We waited in a big line up while only two check outs were open, wished it was a bit faster for the 10+ of us waiting in line. Easy parking, and organized just too small in my opinion.

Like everyone else, I find this store pretty pricey. The one thing I do go back for again and again is their silk flower arrangements. Their artist, Joanne, is fantastic and her arrangements are usually reasonably priced (plus they go on sale often). I have several of her pieces in my home and have given several more as gifts.
Want something in particular in a silk arrangement? Just ask her. She’ll make it to order. I once brought her a bunch of wisteria, fern fronds, and a macramé hanger and asked her to makes something pretty. The result is hanging in my bedroom and I still love it 5 years later.
As for crafting supplies and framing, I know they’re expensive but they’re often better quality than you can get at WalMart or other department stores. I guess it depends how important your project is to you.
Personally, my only real irritation is that the line-​ups can be long and slow-​moving some days. Other days/​times, they’re fine. Timing is everything!

Large sized, which is nice, hard to find stuff, which is less nice, good selection, somewhat inflated prices. For a one stop craft shop it serves it’s purpose when I’m in a pinch, but honestly my biggest problem with the place is it seems consistently understaffed. It’s usually always hard to find someone to ask a question and the inevitable lineup at the cashier is typically less than efficient. It would be nice if they could hire more staff.

typical good size box store.
maybe never noticed, but there are craft art classes for kids in private room, nice touch for those parents here.
unfortunately, i saw Hello Kitty ribbon for gift wrapping, why…
also offer decoration services for weddings, events, etc.

Customer service has always been decent, although it would be nice if they had more employees. Price wise, no. You can get much cheaper art supplies at Opus for the same quality (if not better).

Overwhelming.
Overpriced.
Overindulge.
Overcoupon (is that a word? It should be with some of the customer I’ve seen here…)
Over it.
If you want to pay more for a lot of stuff that you can find at Walmart, Staples, Target, etc., then visit Michaels. And, maybe it is because I am not super crafty, but the sections in this store make about ZERO sense to me, as do the way the aisles are setup. Plus, I asked for help finding glue sticks (the ones for glue guns) and low and behold they are not kept with the other glue. Why? Beats me!
Then you get in line and wait, and wait, and wait for the people in front of you to use all 47 of their coupons. There must be a more streamlined process than what they currently do.
Michaels? I am over it.

This Michaels is located in a somewhat busy mall, with horrible entrance/​parking.
As with all Michaels, they have really nice selection of anything related to crafts, but they are very very pricey.
Unless you are using those 40% off coupons (which I think you can use for only one item) most of the items in the store are just really expensive (the 40% coupon brings it down to a «that’s what it should cost about. not cheap but fair» price)
I wish they’d reduce their seasonal stuff (which all other stores carry) and focus more on the special niche stuff that they actually are supposed to be about (e.g.: instead of carrying Christmas trees, which are more expensive than other stores to begin with, why not try to carry more Christmas-​themed cupcake/​cake molds or other decorations that don’t overlap as much with gazillion other stores?)
This is not a place you go to when you are trying to score a bargain.
It is a place that you go to when you absolutely need something related to crafts and could not find it in superstore/​walmart/​zellers/​dollar store/​other places…
btw, Daiso in Richmond has a lot of craft related stuff, and so does the Dollar store @ Coquitlam Centre. Try those places first if you are not super picky.
But Michaels is the place to go to if you are looking for the top of the line stuff, at top of the line prices.