A Word About Michaels

Oh Michaels... I think I have kept you in business for the last six months. I worked at a location for a year, I did store set up and I know all the ins and outs of the system.

That being said, I have a huge rant about you, you SOB!

1. Why can't you carry the same product in more than one location? In the nearest city, there are two locations, lets call them A and S. At A, yesterday, I bought a few stems of flowers and was short one stem. It was on sale for 60% off, so I assumed you carried that line at S since it was on sale and in the flyer. I wanted another type of stem and since S always has a bigger selection of flowers (don't get why since it is a smaller store), I went there. S did not have any flowers I needed, not even the brand, and I ended up going back to A. I hate how if I want flowers, picture frames and paper I typically go to S, while if I want beadwork, vases, decorative supplies or cake products, I have to go to A. On top of that, how come you have a smaller selection of flowers at location A with totally different flowers at S?! Can you not carry the same merchandise!?

Which brings me to point two.

2. WHY DOES IT COST MORE?! Today I was looking for ribbon and found myself wandering into the bridal section. Do you remember all that ribbon I bought?

Yeah, this stuff.

See the black ribbon? It is translucent in the middle with solid edges. See it? It cost me $0.33 for a spool. At Michaels. In the ribbon aisle. Seriously. Mind you, I bet there is only 5m on there, but whatever. It is regularly priced at $1.29. Today in the bridal section I saw the SAME ribbon, likely a bigger roll... for $14.99!!! It would have to be OVER 58 metres to justify that pricing!! I don't get it. I felt it, and it was even the same quality. No idea.

3. Why does a sale at store A not transfer to store S, even though they are in the same city? I'm not talking about flyer sales (although that is true if there is a product that one store carries and another doesn't) as much as I am talking about clearance merchandise. I've seen this with a lot of things, but the one that sticks out the most to me is with hand stamp pads. These are pads made for kids that are giant washable ink circles. Great for crafts. The regular priced ones were $6.99, but the green and black at location A were on sale for $0.69. I cleared them out. At store S, they were $6.99. When I asked why, they had no answer.

4. Finally, I'm not sure if this is still the case, but why can't you guys order things in? I mean, seriously. I remember working at Michael's in a town where the nearest location besides ours was over a 4 hour drive. You won't be skipping around with that! Anyways, this bride was in full panic mode because she was short three invites and we were sold out-- for 7 weeks. She came in EVERY DAY after work trying to get her hands on the invites, but they never came in. Our manager explained to us, and her, that they hand no control over inventory, rather it was controlled by demand at head office. Not sure if he was just a jerk (he really was, which is why I quit), or if it was true, but being a bride I realize how horrifying that is.

For now, I'm back to finishing menus and cleaning the house. So much to do and so little time! Tomorrow will be filling vases (cause clearly I don't torture myself enough!).

Wish me luck!

Miss. Sunshine