Michaels

Michael’s is great for all your arts and crafts needs. Plus, they have other decorative items for the home and garden. But the prices are just outrageous. Every little piece of paper or plastic is marked up many many times over the true value. I hope they come into their senses and drop their prices, but I have my doubts, seeing they have become a ravenous publicly traded entity.

Went to the Michaels location at William Kitchen Road in Scarborough in February to purchase items for my sister’s 50^th birthday party. One thing I wanted was a beautiful frame to do a collage of her party as a gîft. Went to the framimg section and asked a gentleman is there was anyone working in that department. Out came this lady who looked like she was in a bad mood. I started to ask questions about framing etc. Her answers were abrupt and almost to the point of making me feel stupid. After about 5 minutes, I decided from going to a $ 150 frame to a cheaper one just to terminate my interaction with her. I purchased a frame for less than $ 50 off the shelf. Wrote an email to their corporate office about this incident and received a call back from the store manager apologizing. Hey, it was your loss of a huge sale. Go to another Michaels if you want customized framing as the lady working there should not be working in customer service.

Unbelievably rude manager. I got a sharp «what’s your question» when I inquired about a very expensive machine I wanted to purchase. When she flatly told me it was sold out she mumbled, «that’s the 8^th person today». Wow. Cause I really care how many people have «inconvenienced» you in your customer service job. Unbelievable.

I’m new to Toronto and thought this michaels would be similar to ones in the states. It was not, it was completely understaffed and miserable.

I ended up here as per the recommendation of the Chef who teaches the course I am taking at a local culinary school. The recommendation that brought me here was that even though they don’t specialize in cooking utensils it everything under one roof kind of place.
I had luckily brought a pic of the items I wanted to buy and just grabbed an associate to help me out. The sales person was very helpful and asked others for info if she couldn’t figure out where something was (always a good sign IMO). There prices are at par for standard items when compared with other major chains and higher for some things but I think its worth visiting as you can get stuff done in one go. Besides the location is next to one of my fav shopping spots (CostCo) so that helps. The returns were very straight forward without fuss or questions asked.

I came here looking for supplies to fix some jewelry that had broken on me. I was able to find what I was looking for, due to the MASSIVE jewelry-​making section.
This store has almost everything you need to be a weekend crafter… lots of jewelry making stuff, a giant scrapbooking section, tons and tons of picture frames. My only gripe is that it’s a bit expensive. Also, service was kind of vaguely semi-​hostile, as if I were interrupting something important. The lady in line with me remarked that leaving the place is always such a chore, because the line up to cash out takes so long. I had to agree.
Unfortunately, they seem to have bought up all the other craft places in the area (and possibly city).

Expensive, but I still like going in and browsing. My purchases here are minimal, but they when they have sales they’re usually good ones. I got a bunch of beautiful frames recently that were ½ price (regularly $ 70.00+) and some neat craft kits for the G-​Kids. They keep the checkout line moving pretty good and the staff is friendly. It;s expensive, but you just have to watch for the sales.

For wedding invitations assembly, there was not much here. Yes, they have all the supplies like tape glue ribbon but SO expensive. See the rest of the stores on the list where I got everything.
The first time we were here was looking for paper, but I found a much better deal at Spicers. Today we came in looking for adhesive options for ribbon and the paper. There were double sided tape (but cheaper at Staples) and different types of glue adhesive (simliar to the dry white out dispensers). They all range from $ 11 – 16 each and for 120 invitations we would have needed like 10 of them.
They do have a double sided tape dispenser though, which we didn’t see in Staples or any other store.
There’s also a variety of ribbons, but unless you’re going with something super fancy, no need to buy here. We found tons in this place in chinatown.
In the end, we left empty handed and thinking worst case, we go to staples and spend $ 50 on double sided tape. That is until we found the solution at the dollar store! $ 1 !!
IF you’re buying stuff here, however, for things other than invitations, be sure to check out their website for coupons. Today there was a 40% coupon!

This Michael’s location is the most convenient for me so I end up at the store more than I’d like to. The prices are much higher than other art and craft stores. They also do not offer a student discount, whereas most other art retailers do. They do, however, offer a coupon, which is good for one item. This is convenient if you’re purchasing one large item. Then it brings down the cost to a reasonable amount that you’d see in a different store. If you’re purchasing many little items, go somewhere else or wait for a better coupon. Download the app for electronic coupons and you can also scan items to check prices.
The staff are hard to find in the store, so if you have any sort of question at all, you should definitely call ahead or risk walking around for over half an hour. The staff are pleasant enough, but the overall customer service level barely makes the cut in my books. The obligatory «thanks» at the end of the transaction is usually so ingenuine that I’d rather hear nothing at all.
To end on a better note, the selection of various supplies Michael’s carries is fairly wide. The products appeal from the everyday, to the serious crafter.