Jo-ann's vs Michaels??? *UPDATED*

[darncat]

Hello All,

 

I have a question for all you savy shoppers. I live in an average size town and we DO NOT have a crafting store (walmart doesn't count). The nearest store is about an hour away. This weekend my family is going to a town that does have many crafting stores for my mother's birthday. I'm not driving so I don't really want to ask to stop at more than one store, and other family members have places they want to stop at so... Here is the question, If you had to choose which store to stop at would it be Jo-ann's or Michaels? If I were driving I might go to both but with the gas prices it's better to car pool. And the next time we will be up there might not be untill November for my b-day. To help with the choice, I need: eyes, hooks, YARN, nap raiser brush and what ever I can get my hands on Any input would be great, plus I just got a 40% off coupon for Michaels. But If Jo-ann's is better I will go there. I've never been to either store so I have no idea which one is better. HELP!!!!!!!!

[ChicagoHooker]

Depends on the location, but Jo-Ann usually has a bigger yarn selection than Michaels. At least that's been my experience.

[ankey]

I've found that Michaels has a way larger selection of yarn than Joann's. All the Joann's I've been to only have 2 rows of yarn or less while all the Michaels stores have at least 5 rows of yarn and tons of crochet supplies in my city. But I'm guessing from the post above that it depends based on city... That's just my experience. Michaels also has more yarns on sale and they have clearance yarn bins! I have not seen anything like that at Joann's.

[ChicagoHooker]

Ankey --

 

Isn't it weird that our experiences are flip-flopped? I honestly think it's a regional thing for some reason. For instance, my Jo-Ann's just added two more aisles of yarn and now there are new types they didn't carry before. Whereas the yarn aisles at the Michaels stores in my area seem to be shrinking.

[JCB]

Personally, I'm not crazy about either Michael's or Joann's. However, our Joann's has a large fabric/notions dept as well as yarn and other craft supplies. Michael's is more of a general craft store.

 

Lately I prefer A.C.Moore's yarn selection, but that may be because it's a longer trip for me than the other two and I don't get there often.

 

Joan

[ChicagoHooker]

Actually, my preference above all other chain stores is Hobby Lobby. Much larger selection than either JoAnn or Michaels.

[mythunderbird]

i think it depends on what kind of store it is, i know the one i work at is a joanns superstore and we have at least 4 double sided rows of yarn and a much nicer selection than michaels does, joanns also has the same sales and clearences as michaels does, in fact some times they have 50% off the clearence price , 2 times a year they have that, i recently last month was able to get over 500.00 worth of yarn for abut 65.00, i love those kind of sales lol, i have gotten a few things at michaels such as recently i bought mode ode tickertape yarn, normally 7.99 a skein and i got it for 1.00, the thing with michaels is, is that sometimes you have to watch the sales close cause i saw some on sale that was actually more expensive than the reg price , the yarn did not have a price on it and the sign had it listed as far more than what it should have been had it been 70% off like it said. i think either one could be what you need, but personally if i had to choose, it would be joanns:manyheart good luck and happy shopping

[Krystal16]

Here, JoAnn's has a better selection of HIGHER END and novelty yarns than Michael's. BUT JoAnn's selection overall is smaller, and MORE EXPENSIVE!!! For the same yarns, JA can be up to $1 more per skein.

 

As for general BASIC crafting supplies, I'd go for Michael's. If you want something that's more "trendy", then definitely JoAnn's.

 

FYI - Michael's and JoAnn's will accept each other's % off coupons. Michaels WILL NOT accept any coupon other than an in-ad coupon, no printed from Internet or copied coupons.

 

If you can take other family members IN THE STORE with you (to JoAnn's), then you can print extras from online and each could take a coupon with them. (One coupon per customer per day).

 

JoAnn's has an online coupon, just have to find the link....

[shebear]

One thing you need to know just in case you're a sewer. Michael's doesn't have fabric and JoAnn's does. And I agree with mythunderbird, I get better sales at JoAnn's......if you find a superstore JoAnn's go there......they're huge.

[cupcake]

I dont have eithor! I envy your choices..

[Homebody]

Boy are you confused now! I'd like to add that in our part of the US Hobby Lobby & A. C. Moore are not an option. As for JoAnn or Michaels, it depends on the store. If I go north 20 mins. JoAnn's has more, if I go south 20 mins., JoAnn's has nothing. It used to be Michaels carried the most yarn. Now each store carries a smaller supply and a slightly different variety of the brands. As was stated above, for craft supplies-shop Michaels, for sewing-shop JoAnn's, for yarn it's a toss up. Today I shop JoAnn's. Tomorrow?

 

Anyway, have fun spending money and enjoy your trip. Go with a list and maybe they will let you run in both!

[PBLKNP]

Where I live, JoAnn's definitely has the larger yarn selection...although my favorite is AC Moore.

[ankey]

Just got this in an e-mail: One reason you may want to choose Joann's over Michaels this weekend is that they are supposedly having a big sale in all stores this weekend. They're calling it their "super weekend sale" and you can find info on their website under Sales Flyers. They also sent me a 40% off coupon in the e-mail which I've never received before, yay!

[Suebee42]

Yep, got my e-mail coupon today. I hadn't gotten one in a while... I thought they forgot about me (and I work there! ). LOL!

 

Yeah, this weekend is a big sale... the only yarn I -noticed- was Fun Fur for $2.50 instead of the regular $3.29.

 

As for Jo-Ann's vs Michaels, it depends on what type of Jo-Ann's there is. The traditional (small) stores don't have a lot, but the superstores bave tons. You can look up the store on the web site, via the store locator... if there's a link for a class schedule, then it's a superstore.

 

The Michael's closest to me is a smaller store, but there is a bigger one a few towns over... so even the Michael's stores vary from store to store.

[AuntyM]

You can shop online at Jo-Ann's and use your coupon too.

[ankey]

the coupon they sent me said "in-store only"

[birdlady1]

Here, in Colorado, Michael's is a little cheaper than Joann's on many yarns by as much as 50 cents a skein. But I think Joann's has more in the way of supplies, books, etc. and even yarn. Still, I drove 15 miles to a Joann's Superstore (bypassing a Joann's that was five miles away), hoping to find Paton Canadiana yarn and they didn't have it (they only carry it online apparently).

 

Bottom line, I'd go to the store where I had a coupon. In either case, you'll have a ball!

[Suebee42]

the coupon they sent me said "in-store only"

 

Yep, the e-mail coupons are separate for each "venue" -- online and in-store. They send out online coupons, too, though.

 

The online coupons are usually from "Jo-Ann.com," where the regular ones usually reference the sale they are for. The in-store coupon I got today was "from" "Jo-Ann Super Weekend Sale." LOL!

[wendyb532]

I think it will depend on your area. In my town, actually a small city, we have a Local Yarn Store, a Michael's and a Joann's . Our Local Yarn store has tons of lovely , but expensive yarns but few if any crochet patterns as it caters to knitters ( don't they all?), Michaels has a nice selection of yarns and coupons all the time, where as our Joann's has yarn but not as much as Michael's and few if any coupons. I find Joann's online to be a much better deal and if I am willing to travel a few towns away from mine A C Moore has a lot more yarn than all the stores ( except for the LYS) and also has weekly coupons in a paper I get , also the Joann's a few towns away is much nicer than my local Michaels as well. You will just have to look at both and decide. I would call Joann's and ask if they will honor the Michael's coupons , ours does so that might help you out as well.

 

Wendyb532

[Suebee42]

ALL Jo-Ann stores honor Michael's and AC Moore coupons, as long as they are used on an item that both stores sell (in other words, you can't use a Michael's or AC Moore coupon on fabric, as they don't sell fabric.).

 

Any store that is NOT accepting them is not honoring company policy. Bad store! *slap*

[crochetingmomof4]

I would choose JoAnn's solely based on the fact that they have the most lenient policy regarding coupons. You can go with 4, 5, even 6 coupons and use them all in the same transaction (1 coupon per item) as long as each coupon is from a different source. So you could use 1 JoAnn's coupon from the Sunday paper, one from the JoAnn's mailer, one from your email (I have one I can email you if you need it), and then you can use 1 Michael's coupon...whatever you've got that is in the same town.

 

Edited to link you to the printable coupon (JoAnn's email coupon) that you can also use this weekend.

http://www.joann-mail.com/J0422k7r/coupons_only.html?r=0441548260

[lisaekh]

In Allentown, Michael's has a better yarn selection, but I think they've redone the JoAnn's since the last time I was there, so it may have gotten better.

 

Lisa

[Shellybrook]

I'm also sure its a regional thing. I have a Walmart about 2 miles away...its got a pretty decent selection, however Michaels about a half mile further away has a slightly better selection and "Homespun" prices are better at Michaels. THEN there is a Joanns across town...I was thoroughly disatisfied!!! AC Moore is about 30 miles away, but I haven't been there since I've taken up crochet...so my thoughts are...Call both stores and make inquiries about their inventory. Then decide.

 

[goldi316]

I'd like to add that in our part of the US Hobby Lobby & A. C. Moore are not an option.

 

There are 11, possibly 12 Hobby Lobby stores in Michigan. Not being familiar with that state, I can't tell where in the state they all are or how scattered, but you might want to take a look at the list on their website. You can click on your state on the map here and it will bring up the list, with addresses, of all the stores in your state. There might be one near you that you weren't aware of.

 

As far as JoAnn or Michaels, I have been boycotting Michaels for some time now because they are sooo stingy with their coupons and ads! As far as inventory goes, it varies widely from store to store for both chains. You might want to check ahead of time to see where they are, I have found in some places that they are relatively close to each other, sometimes even in the same shopping center, so both might still be an option for you. Won't hurt to check!

[Portia]

I'm in the Milwaukee area, and we have several of both stores, most JoAnns that are small, don't have a big selection, the Micheal's are all the same, BUT,and yes BUT.... The JoAnn SUPERSTORE is really the best in my opinion, I'm a major thready and shop there quite often and check out the other stores all the time as well. I'm going to check out a Ben Franklin's Craft store soon too in a town nearby, everyone says they have yarn others don't have.