AC Moore being absorbed by Michaels

[Bailey4]

I am so DISAPPOINTED.  I've been shopping at AC Moore for my yarn since I learned to crochet over 10 years ago.  For years I got my 18" dolls for the donation there.  I have bought lots of art supplies for various relatives there the selection was great and the prices were reasonable especially when they had sales. 

I've never had much luck shopping at Michaels.  We will be getting a Hobby Lobby in Jan but I was hoping it would be an addition not a subtraction to the availability of yarn.  While I do like Hobby Lobby's yarns they do tend to be a bit pricier than what I was buying at AC Moore. 

It's hard to see a favorite store go.

[LegalWoman17]

Bailey, keep in mind that Hobby Lobby has their yarn on sale for 30% off every other week.  That's when I buy yarn from them.

[Tampa Doll]

I don't have an AC More near me, but I hate to see places disappear.  

I have not shopped in Michael's for a long time.  I get disappointed every time I go in there.

I  most of my stuff on line.

[ReniC]

I'd be thrilled and thankful if I had just one Big Box store in my town. I have one LYS and Walmart. That's it. A small Joann's and a Hobby Lobby (which I haven't been to yet) is 30 miles away. The closest Michael's is 60 miles away. Everything else is 100 miles away or online only.

[Granny Square]

Sorry to hear that.  Ages ago we used to have 2 craft stores in my town (this was in the San Francisco Bay area, so even if the closest one was 1 or 2 towns over we aren't talking great distances); one was Lee Wards, forgot the name of the other one--Lee Wards was bought out by Michaels (not sure about the other but it vanished at the same time) Michaels was definitely not an improvement.   

[USpolishgirl]

I do not have AC More either, never been to one.

I have two Michael's about 20 min. from me. Those stores are small. I do have Hobby Lobby about 30 or 40 min. from me. BUT again it is small. And Joann store here is very tiny, not much of anything there!.

I been shopping on line for my yarn for many years. On line they have many more choices and shipping at Joann is not that bad. Sometimes is only $2.99 or even FREE.. There are some other places that sell yarns, their shipping charges are very expensive, they are robbing people blind!.

One of them is Mary Maxim. Since I started crocheting few years ago, I bought only 3 items from them and that was because they sent me a big discount. Last time I wanted to buy from them 2 tiny baby dolls 3" tall.. I think the price was about 8 bucks each or so. I thought that was way overpriced. I was going to buy them anyway. UNTIL I got to checkout time. They want to charge me for those 2 tiny dolls over 15 bucks for shipping. That was when I got "pist" at all of that and left everything in my cart.

Those businesses getting huge discounts on shipping, they do not pay even half of the price  they charge "regular" costumers.  Shipping those 2 tiny dolls would not cost them more than $2.50. I guess for them it was not enough to make a big profit on those dolls.  They thought they need to make EXTRA  few 100's% profit on shipping. I just do not like businesses/people like that, they are shameless!. That is why I do not shop there.

Anyone who ships about 5 items (boxes or envelopes) per week can apply to open a business account at UPS or FED-EX  and probably some other places. You will see, your prices for shipping will drop about 2/3 off regular price. From what I heard you do not really need to get that Tax exempt ID number to open that business account for shipping, just need to say you are a business. 

ALL those bigger businesses they get a LOT more discount than 2/3. Those businesses are in a position to even bargain with those shipping company's, making good deals for them. I just thought I will let you know about those big discounts on shipping. That is for those who are shipping stuff often, maybe for donations..?.  Lately shipping charges went thru the roof.

For instance to ship a wreath in a box 24x24x8" to Boston shipping cost is $43.00, that is a LOT.  Having that business account for shipping  same thing cost will drop to $14.00. For the same size box, same weight, same address/zip code.  That is a big saving, $30.00 on one box.

 Happy Thanksgiving to Everyone!

Krys 

[Bailey4]

5 hours ago, ReniC said:

I'd be thrilled and thankful if I had just one Big Box store in my town. I have one LYS and Walmart. That's it. A small Joann's and a Hobby Lobby (which I haven't been to yet) is 30 miles away. The closest Michael's is 60 miles away. Everything else is 100 miles away or online only.

Technically there are no yarn stores in town. Wal-Mart is closest being the next town over. Everything else is a 20-30 minute drive depending on traffic but it's always been that way. I have never expected to have a yarn store in my back yard. However losing the best to a chain that barely sells yarn smarts.

AC Moore wasn't the closest but it had the best selection and prices.

I've been buying online for years especially for the lighter weight yarns. Sadly I noticed the last trip I was there AC Moore was carrying more light weight yarns that I'd previously had to order online. I was thrilled as the prices were good, no shipping, and no waiting to start a project.

Michael's has been useless for yarn. I get a better selection at Wal-Mart which isn't saying much.

One Joann's has a decent yarn selection but the prices tend to be the highest in the area unless you only buy the sales. The other has almost no yarn mostly fabric.

[pineknott]

Michael's is getting greedy and over pricing their stuff their own brand of yarn started out at 1.99,to me thats a good price,its been  between 3.49 and 4.00 recently,all the others AC Moore Hobby  Lobby,JoAnn's are over in Va.Beach 45-60 minutes away

I did find some nice Nicole brand yarn,seems nice,good for scarves when I went there last week,I've only have been to that store  2 times

[TATS]

I buy alot of my thread at thrift stores. But if I want a quantity for a large project I buy at knitting warehouse on line. Their prices are not too bad & shipping is not too high.  https://www.knitting-warehouse.com/ They have sales pretty regularly. I also live 35 miles from nearest town, there is a Joann's but agree their prices are high. 

[Bailey4]

11 hours ago, TATS said:

I buy alot of my thread at thrift stores. But if I want a quantity for a large project I buy at knitting warehouse on line. Their prices are not too bad & shipping is not too high.  https://www.knitting-warehouse.com/ They have sales pretty regularly. I also live 35 miles from nearest town, there is a Joann's but agree their prices are high. 

I used to buy quite a bit from Knitting Warehouse but their shipping prices went up dramatically and I stopped buying from them.  I liked them because they had a great selection of stuff I couldn't always get online at JoAnn's and they were the first place I went when I was starting a project and I needed yarn I couldn't get locally.  However, their shipping has made me seek alternatives like Knit PIcks who often have shipping deals and fairly reasonable prices on the lighter weight yarns I can't get locally.  They aren't a great alternative for my acrylic needs and Joann doesn't fill that need the way the used to either.

Edited November 28, 2019 by Bailey4

[TATS]

On 11/28/2019 at 10:31 AM, Bailey4 said:

I used to buy quite a bit from Knitting Warehouse but their shipping prices went up dramatically and I stopped buying from them.  I liked them because they had a great selection of stuff I couldn't always get online at JoAnn's and they were the first place I went when I was starting a project and I needed yarn I couldn't get locally.  However, their shipping has made me seek alternatives like Knit PIcks who often have shipping deals and fairly reasonable prices on the lighter weight yarns I can't get locally.  They aren't a great alternative for my acrylic needs and Joann doesn't fill that need the way the used to either.

Thank you for the info. I don't buy much thread, I have enough to last my lifetime & then some. I will check out Knit Picks next time I am shopping for thread.