Michaels

Oh Michaels, you certainly are for the artsy fartsy types! I’ve had super creative friends who were scatterbrained and couldn’t find a thing in their desk, purse, car, closet, cabinet, etc… etc…etc. I guess that’s why I love you but I just can’t stand it anymore… :-)
This morning I received an email announcing $ 5 for poinsettias that are normally $ 14.99. TODAY only!!! YES!!! Score! I’ve been waiting for these to hit the sale rack, and so I rushed over this morning to peruse your aisles to find my treasured Poinsettias… and I circled and circled, double checked my phone, and circled some more… Finally, I spotted a few mixed in with other items, but they were listed at 50% off. Huh? This is poinsettia season, all of the Christmas-​y stuff is on the shelf waiting to be purchased & there are poinsettias all over the store at all different price points, but which ones are the advertised ones for $ 5???
Checked the florals again and UNDERNEATH a display found a stash, but again listed as 50% off. (Scratching head now…) What to do??? Oh, there’s an employee — but oh no, when I asked if she worked there, she gave me a strange look — oops, a big mistake asking another customer… sigh, checked my phone again, yes!, these have gotta be them! So I grabbed a bunch and headed to the register where I knew I could find an «employee». She scanned the barcode for me and confirmed the $ 5 price. And when I mentioned that I couldn’t find the $ 5 sale sign, all the poor cashier could do is say something to the effect that oh, it’s probably because they have them located at different locations all over the store… I ended up purchasing a BUNCH of them, but I’m still scratching my head…
Michaels, you would sell many more if you could only post the $ 5 sign correctly for your «daily» special…

The good news is that if you wear a Fitbit, you can log lots of steps just looking for your items. I circle. I circle. I circle again. So poorly organized and crammed with stuff everywhere. –«It’s craft store-​meets Kohl’s –meets yard sale». Difficult to find anything beyond scrapbooking supplies and who does that anymore? Floor associates to help? No, none of those. The only associates I see are people who run the registers.
They do have an online 50% coupon (per one item, per day) all the time if you take the time to locate it. Just pull it up on your smartphone and they’ll scan it.
But with the unorganized, cluttered, understaffed store, plus disastrous construction on 59, (not to mention a tiny parking lot) I only come here if absolutely desperate.

With no competition nearby, it is hard to compare.
They seem to have a good selection. Staff is very friendly and will chat you up. When you ask where something is, they just don’t point however walk you to it. I always like that.
Prices seem reasonable for what they carry.

This really isn’t my favorite store on the planet, but when I’m in need of some picture frames or something crafty, to Michaels I go. Especially since I will never, ever, set foot in a H*bby L*bby.

Michael’s has a good variety of merchandise, I’ll give it that. I’m usually able to find what I need (picture frames, ribbon, scrapbook paper, etc.) and when I don’t find it, I don’t ask — I go somewhere else.
The employees are just cogs in a corporate wheel here, so don’t expect to come in here with some fabulous Pinterest project outlined in your mind and think that everyone will know exactly where to find double-​sided sparkle glue stick snowflakes or whatever.
They are also working on their own personal clock, apparently. I stood in line and then proceeded to the register when the customer left. The girl turned off her light and looked at the ground as if to ignore me. Then she looked up into the air and snapped at waiting customers, «I’M ON MY LUNCH.» She could’ve handled that better.
They’re strict about their coupon policy (one per PERSON, per DAY!), which is fine. But when I inquired about this with the cashier before I even paid, she was super snotty about it like I was trying to pull off some great heist.
I don’t care for this location, I prefer to go to Oswego and would recommend that store especially if you need a specialty framing job. But since the Naperville store is close to work, it is easy for me to stop in and get what I need.

I’m not a very crafty person. I often get inspired to make something (thank you, Pinterest) but most times it turns out rather lame. Well, the crafting bug bit me this past weekend and so I set out for Michael’s to pick up the necessary items to make a wreath for my front door. We had a somewhat «holiday» one I made last year, and I was tired of looking at it. I planned on make a Mardi Gras themed wreath (yes, another idea inspired by Pinterest).
Under most circumstances, I don’t care for this store. As others have said, the staff here have attitudes. I personally haven’t had to deal with them, with the exception of the cashiers. Most of the time I come here, get what I need, and get out. Another issue with this store is the patrons. Seriously, some lady came whipping around a corner with a cart, nearly slamming in to me. Rather than apologize, she shot me a LOOK and took off. Talk about rude.
I find the layout of this store a bit confusing. I felt like I circled it twenty times looking for various items. Of course when you need assistance, not an employee can be found. Another shopper even came up to me asking if I knew where something was, as she couldn’t find anyone to help her.
On the bright side, my wreath turned out pretty well!

I’m not surprised at others’ reviews of this store. My experience was a combination of horrible employee attitude and the framing department’s incompetence. I had decided on my frame and matte in March, but decided to wait for a better framing coupon to come out since the coupon at the time was for the ‘other’ side of the frames selection. Sometime in April I get a good coupon so I head into the store, and another person was working there than who was there in March. Krys, the ‘senior framer’, as she kept referring to herself, kept insisting on a different frame and saying the print was Asian. Well, I thought it was woodsy. She referred to my preferred frame as ‘barnyard’ style, which I did not appreciate. She was noticeably unhappy with my selection and was basically acting like ‘I’M the SENIOR FRAMER, MY art instincts should be what you go with so I can move on to the next customer.’ Well lady, everyone’s style of art is different and you shouldn’t push yours so heavily onto others. So I put in the order and headed out.
A couple weeks later I get a call saying the frame is ready. When I go into the store, Krys isn’t there but someone else pulls my frame out. Upon inspection, I see crumbs of some type underneath the glass! They weren’t necessarily food crumbs, but some kind of larger, very noticeable pieces of junk. The guy there insists, again, that Krys is the SENIOR FRAMER. And I say, well there are crumbs under the glass! And he asks if he really wants me to take the frame apart to get them out, and at this point my head is about to explode. So I say yes…
He opens up the frame. Upon further inspection, I see that there is quite a bit of one side of the picture covered up underneath the matte! I ask him about it and he just refers to Krys being the senior framer again. I’m like OK. I want you to completely take this out of the frame and I’m going to SHOW YOU how much of the picture is covered up. He’s obviously annoyed at this point, but I’m paying HOW MANY hundreds of dollars for this thing!!! It ends up being 3/​8″ covered up on the left side, which is too much considering this should be professional, custom framing.
I get a call from Krys about 10 days later asking about the measurements. Why is took so long to follow up, I don’t know but it was not appreciated. She asks me if I WANT the matte to show the fade line that was caused by the other frame that used to be on it. I’m just thinking, wow you are such a passive aggressive b*tch but I say NO, that’s is not what I’m going for. I tell her I will just come in before we reorder anything so that we can make sure it is correct. She also kept going on about her being the ‘senior framer’…
I go in over the weekend and luckily Krys isn’t there. I had decided that I want nothing to do with this anymore, I don’t trust them and I just want my money back. I speak with the store manager, Chris, and she insists we go speak with Anita, the framing manager who is in today. Anita is very kind and realizes the mistakes Krys made with the measurements. She insists we can fix them and have things reordered. Chris offers a discount so I accept it.
I picked up my piece yesterday and it is great. Unfortunately Krys was the one who was there and when I asked to take the measurements (I really don’t trust these people anymore at this point), she SNARLS at me and just points to the measuring tape on the counter. I measure, sign the paper work, and just say ‘At least there aren’t any crumbs on it this time.’ What a c*nt !!
Never, ever going there again for framing. This whole experience has soured me to the entire store. Pathetic. If what I told to Chris, the store manager, didn’t make her think to fire Krys, then there is no way in he-​double hockey sticks I am ever going there again.

Every time I come in here it’s attitude from the staff. I’ve had multiple negative experiences here. I asked if they sold baseball card holders (y’know because they sell baseball holders in store and they seemed big on displaying things). The employee doesn’t even look at me and says in the snottiest voice ever, «No, we wouldn’t ever carry something like that!»
Sorry my baseball cards would class up your hideous dried flower arrangements. I should’ve learned my lesson about a year ago when the cashier refused to check on a price on a photo album and basically said the price in the register is right and they cannot change it.
There are better locations than this one. Don’t bother.

Right now, I’m not a happy customer!
I placed an order for a frame several weeks ago in February and was told it should be ready by 1^st week in March (which was at least 3 weeks already). I also paid a pretty penny for the frame and job– so I expected that the time they said would be honored. Until now, March 12^th, still no call, so I called them. They told me that the frame IS in the store, but now all that’s holding things up is that THEY have to mount and frame my piece IN the store and they don’t have enough employees to be working in the back to frame it! SERIOUSLY??? She said all their people are working the counter (taking orders) but no one is free to work in back to FRAME those orders??? Um can we say BAD BUSINESS!!?
I’m giving them until the end of this week to finish the job. I think it’s ridiculous that I paid IN FULL ($ 200+), yet I’m made to keep waiting bc they don’t have «enough employees» to work on my order…

One thing I really like at Michaels is the fact that you can find tabletop picture frames that are not two inches wide all around (have you seen frames lately? HUGE! One takes up half a shelf); they have been my go-​to for this product for a while.
However, the staff at this location really need to rub a few brain cells together. Let’s not put two frames in the same bag without any paper wrapping or another bag between them because a) one can scratch the other and b) glass can break! When I pointed this out to the girl at the register she looked at me like I’d announced that I just landed my spaceship.
I realize this is not the most stimulating job, but in this economy someone would be glad to have it, so step up a bit.
In general, Michaels doesn’t have the same range of craft stock that they used to, I feel. I’m just not drawn to shop here for my supplies the way I used to.
Overall, I’ll still visit this store for certain products, but I hope the service will grow more skillful in their craft.

I’ve had numerous pictures framed here, and they do a good job. Just remember to never go without one of their frequent 50% off coupons — they do this enough that there’s really no reason to every pay full price, which I think tends to be kinda high. But they do have a good selection of mats and frames, both wood and metal, and the people who operate the framing counter are pretty knowledgable and helpful… which is important to keep people like me from making stupid decisions.
One note: to the woman who was able to keep a straight face when presented with my signed copy of Joseph Griffin’s «The Surrender», and who commented that I should use a silver/​gray mat, because «it will match the silver in the Death Star… and RoboCop»…will you marry me?

This store is not as big as Hobby Lobby or Super JoAnn, but they have a great deal of 99 cent wooden crafts that JoAnn doesn’t. Trust me I know, I spent all day today running around to craft stores looking for wooden eggs for a teaching project. They also have a decent selection of beads by the strand and heat activated swarozski crystals.