Information

[mgehrke]

I was last in Michael's in December & scrap section was as huge as always & still just inside the door.  I love Recollections stuff - often better priced than similar things elsewhere.  And all 3 (M, J, HL) usually have tons of stuff 40% off plus weekly coupons for 40% off 1 item - definitely less expensive than Archiver's, it's weird seeing so many people who think Michael's is the most expensive!

Laura when did your Archiver's close??  The emails that go out look national, not local - advertising the increasing clearance prices (now 85% off!), last crops, etc.  I thought all the stores were closing tomorrow.

I'm glad to hear there's more MME at the chain craft stores now; hopefully that trend will continue.  Oh I also saw a recent ad for Tuesday Morning and they had 2 scrap brands that I thought were out of business - Chatterbox (!) and Heidi Grace I think - somebody found a stash somewhere, lol!

 Here in MN, one of our largest ones at Mall of Amercia closed back in October. We heard about it right after Scrapfest was over. I believe a few others closed around that same time. But you are right, the remaining stores are closing tomorrow.

[Elannah]

Kind of a silly Canadian question but how long does it take to drive 20 miles? I have a Michaels about 15 minutes drive from my house and I only go there a couple of times a year. I had an LSS but I had to take the highway for 20 min or so and find the place (it was out of town and I never go to that part of town unless to go to Costco). Costco you turn right. The LSS you turned left and it is somewhere in behind the Little Thai Place restaurant (but I could never find it so I went once and they closed in November).

I think if I had to drive any more than say 5 minutes it would be too far to drive for an LSS. Shipping is high but that is just a fact of life. If I buy in my province everything is 12% sales tax. I am pretty sure if I pay shipping on a $200 order my shipping will be about that much too. Plus I get exactly what I want. It may not be cheaper but in the long run it works out perfectly. 

I do miss having 2 LSS within 7 min of the house. Those were the good old days. Scrapbooking near me isn't as popular as it used to be and the economy can't support two of these kinds of business. 

In the 2000s there was the HUGE Atkins craze where everyone gave up bread and most of the bakeries closed up. Now people are seeing bread as OK as long as it has some seeds in it. Tons of new bakeries have opened up in my area exactly where the 2 LSS were and are selling out by 1 pm. (I don't eat bread if I can help it) but it is very popular so what comes around goes around. Same with sushi. I thought sushi was kind of a dying fad and people were looking to other Asian cuisine. Well they were but somehow at least 20 new sushi establishments have opened in the last 8 years or so. I don't live in a big city by any means but every few months yet another sushi restaurant opens. I know Gaijin like sushi (I can say Gaijin as I am one of them) but that much? Probably not.

 

[letumom]

Today I got coupons in the mail from M's!  I've lived at this location for 4 years, less than 2 miles from the nearest store, and this is the first time I've ever received coupons in the mail.  Usually I have to download them.  But they expire next weekend.  Good thing I just got a shipment from ACOT, or I would really be tempted to go buy something.  Oh wait, I could go get an organization cube or two.  LOL!

[Art_Teacher]

Kind of a silly Canadian question but how long does it take to drive 20 miles? I have a Michaels about 15 minutes drive from my house and I only go there a couple of times a year. I had an LSS but I had to take the highway for 20 min or so and find the place (it was out of town and I never go to that part of town unless to go to Costco). Costco you turn right. The LSS you turned left and it is somewhere in behind the Little Thai Place restaurant (but I could never find it so I went once and they closed in November).

I think if I had to drive any more than say 5 minutes it would be too far to drive for an LSS. Shipping is high but that is just a fact of life. If I buy in my province everything is 12% sales tax. I am pretty sure if I pay shipping on a $200 order my shipping will be about that much too. Plus I get exactly what I want. It may not be cheaper but in the long run it works out perfectly. 

I do miss having 2 LSS within 7 min of the house. Those were the good old days. Scrapbooking near me isn't as popular as it used to be and the economy can't support two of these kinds of business. 

In the 2000s there was the HUGE Atkins craze where everyone gave up bread and most of the bakeries closed up. Now people are seeing bread as OK as long as it has some seeds in it. Tons of new bakeries have opened up in my area exactly where the 2 LSS were and are selling out by 1 pm. (I don't eat bread if I can help it) but it is very popular so what comes around goes around. Same with sushi. I thought sushi was kind of a dying fad and people were looking to other Asian cuisine. Well they were but somehow at least 20 new sushi establishments have opened in the last 8 years or so. I don't live in a big city by any means but every few months yet another sushi restaurant opens. I know Gaijin like sushi (I can say Gaijin as I am one of them) but that much? Probably not.


 

LOL...I have to drive 15-20 miles to get anywhere!  My work is 16 miles away and the nearest LSS is 18 miles away.  I can drive 7 miles to a Wal-mart or other grocery store.  

[Flasher]

I was last in Michael's in December & scrap section was as huge as always & still just inside the door.  I love Recollections stuff - often better priced than similar things elsewhere.  And all 3 (M, J, HL) usually have tons of stuff 40% off plus weekly coupons for 40% off 1 item - definitely less expensive than Archiver's, it's weird seeing so many people who think Michael's is the most expensive!

Laura when did your Archiver's close??  The emails that go out look national, not local - advertising the increasing clearance prices (now 85% off!), last crops, etc.  I thought all the stores were closing tomorrow.

I'm glad to hear there's more MME at the chain craft stores now; hopefully that trend will continue.  Oh I also saw a recent ad for Tuesday Morning and they had 2 scrap brands that I thought were out of business - Chatterbox (!) and Heidi Grace I think - somebody found a stash somewhere, lol!
 

My Archiver's (North Olmsted, Ohio) closed on October 20. 

[Ayla]

Kind of a silly Canadian question but how long does it take to drive 20 miles? I have a Michaels about 15 minutes drive from my house and I only go there a couple of times a year. I had an LSS but I had to take the highway for 20 min or so and find the place (it was out of town and I never go to that part of town unless to go to Costco). Costco you turn right. The LSS you turned left and it is somewhere in behind the Little Thai Place restaurant (but I could never find it so I went once and they closed in November).

I think if I had to drive any more than say 5 minutes it would be too far to drive for an LSS. Shipping is high but that is just a fact of life. If I buy in my province everything is 12% sales tax. I am pretty sure if I pay shipping on a $200 order my shipping will be about that much too. Plus I get exactly what I want. It may not be cheaper but in the long run it works out perfectly. 

I do miss having 2 LSS within 7 min of the house. Those were the good old days. Scrapbooking near me isn't as popular as it used to be and the economy can't support two of these kinds of business. 

In the 2000s there was the HUGE Atkins craze where everyone gave up bread and most of the bakeries closed up. Now people are seeing bread as OK as long as it has some seeds in it. Tons of new bakeries have opened up in my area exactly where the 2 LSS were and are selling out by 1 pm. (I don't eat bread if I can help it) but it is very popular so what comes around goes around. Same with sushi. I thought sushi was kind of a dying fad and people were looking to other Asian cuisine. Well they were but somehow at least 20 new sushi establishments have opened in the last 8 years or so. I don't live in a big city by any means but every few months yet another sushi restaurant opens. I know Gaijin like sushi (I can say Gaijin as I am one of them) but that much? Probably not.

 

Depends on whether it's highway or local streets, but i work 20 miles from my house and can make it door to door in 25 minutes, mostly highway driving. An average ballpark (again, account for variations of what roads you're using) is to say one mile per minute. City streets are slower, highways are faster. Does that help?

[cort]

We have a Michaels, and the scrap section is quite large. What I don't like about them is that they have built their own Reflections line and made everything look like the usual scrappy names we are used to...even packaged the same. I haven't been in Hobby Lobby in ages, but I always found them good for embellies, not so good for paper because it's either all in packs or the lightweight paper, and I am an admitted paper snob. Joann';s again....good for embellies, not so great for paper for much the same reason. I am spoiled though...if I want paper, there is a local stamp store that has a limited selection of nice papers (mostly geared towards stamping projects, but she has a wonderful selection of Tim Holtz and Graphic45), and I have 3 extremely nice LSS within a 20 mile radius. Plus ACOT....I live in scrappy heaven lol. There were 2 Archivers downstate, but not close enough nor better than what I have locally so I've been to one of them twice, and the other one never!


 

Michaels buys the big name stuff with the companies' permission and repackages it as Recollections and renames paper collections. One that are usually a year or two old. A lot of AC paper packs and the like. Same with some MME stuff.

Ahh!! That explains it. But I guess I still wish they were honest about it and left the original manufacturer name on it! lol
 

Ok I realized that with a paper pack or two one time...didn't realize that they did that but i was like "hey that is the same darn paper"  I thing the difference was one was 12x12 and one was 6x6 or 8x8.  I have a feeling my M's is getting ready to do a re-set because there are some sections of embellies on clearance.

[CarrieG]

I know we are not talking about JoAnn's but I was in there this morning....needed some yarn........
mine has an OK scrapping section.....but has a huge tim holz section which drives me nuts....lol  I noticed today they are bringing in 7gypsies.........which looked just like the TH stuff pretty much that never seems to sell...LOL
I would love to tell them what they REALLY should be carrying.sigh

[Krystle]

That's sad, but not surprising to me.  The in-store selection has been poor for a while now, and I get my scrapbooking supplies almost exclusively online.