I tried to come up with one nice memory of Michaels Craft stores, but sadly none exist! So I guess I will share my favorite moments that keep my sister and I laughing when we talk about them.
As with all Michaels, they were pushing everyone out the door well before closing time. I was overcharged on a few items, which is also typical for all Michaels. I called the store after realizing that they charged me for an item that I didn't get that was over $8 (anything over $7 on an overcharge annoys me enough to actually make a phone call to let them know about it) but it was six minutes after they closed, and no one would answer the phone and they didn't have a recording or a way to leave a message which is ridiculous to not have a recorded message at least providing the address and business hours. I called three times, just in case, they were on another line, but I am sure they had already rushed out the door, since they had the place locked up and no one else was allowed inside when I was leaving at 7:52. I thought it was a bit odd that they also pull all of their outside sale bins inside at 7pm making it impossible to actually see anything in the entire front area where they crammed them inside the door. I really wish they could stop the announcements about when the store closes every five minutes for the last hour or TWO that they are supposed to be open, and focus on helping make the cluttered store a little easier to walk through, as well as checking the sale signs for accuracy (huge issues with items ringing up correctly every single time I have been there)
I was in a Michaels last year around Christmas time that made this announcement at 6pm,
"The time is now 6pm, Michaels will be closing in two hours, please make your final selections and bring them to the register at this time" I thought it was a joke, but they made the announcement every ten minutes until I was so annoyed that I got the hell out of there! My cart was full at that point, so I parked it by the register that the repeated announcements were coming from. I thought I would help them pass the time between announcements by putting all of my $200 or so dollars worth of merchandise away since I would be buying it at Joann's instead!
When I buy something from a sale bin with three signs listing the price of the item, and then get charged more at the register, and told by the cashier that "the signs must be old" and she "doesn't know why they are still hanging", MAYBE IT WOULD BE A GOOD DECISION TO REMOVE THE SIGNS AT THAT POINT, but they didn't, because when I had to return that evening to get my son something for a school project, they were still hanging even though the cashier refused to let me buy them at the price they still had on them. If you need some help with management, and customer service, I would suggest researching successful entrepreneurs and their business models for a guide before losing the rest of your customers to Hobby Lobby and Joann's, or maybe some brilliant entrepreneur who comes along and builds the best craft store imaginable, but throws in something that all three craft stores seems to lack; EXCELLENT, FRIENDLY, CUSTOMER SERVICE!! Sam Walton, founder of Walmart, said, "There is only one boss. The customer, and he can fire everybody in the company from the chairman on down, simply by spending his money somewhere else." He knew the importance of providing good customer service, and as a business, you probably should too!