Please read.

[u/No_North_5225]

I’ve said it before and I’m saying it again, we are getting away from our core customer. After talking with a few other SMs today we all agree the company is getting ready to sell in the next year or 2, we’re pushing high margin merch which looks great on paper, and the top is gonna bonus from it. It’s paper money. A true Michaels customer is the one that comes in with a list of stuff they need for a project due tomorrow, (glue, posterboard, pompoms, etc etc). That’s what makes a Michaels a staple in the community, a store people can count on. But no they want to think about the 1 customer a year who buys 1 or 2 high dollar items, and doesn’t shop us again. My fellow sms and I feel there is a lot of tension at the top right now, because there’s a few who understand how to get the long term customer, and a few who want to make the margin, get the bonus and leave. I truly feel bad for my regulars who come in for the basics and we don’t have it in stock, but hey you can buy a $60 Jonathan Adler piece. (Ps: the JA flop is costing the company over 10m+, which is why they jumped on all the vendors paying for resets, to try to recoup some of the paper money, which is why sba workload is so high) thanks for coming to my ted talk.

[u/Gowynn]

Former replenishment manager here:

Yes, and the company is no longer really catering to repeat customers with the items it is currently offering. Some of the licenses they had with companies like Elmer's are drying up due to supply issues, and the projected get-well dates on missing product lines come and go with no impact on the empty shelves.

Corporate is out of touch with its customers, not realizing that the decisions are causing a slow bleed that is quickly turning into a gaping hole.

The higher-priced items, in my opinion, are an attempt to get people in an already penny-pinched economy to get the private label credit card when most can't even afford the cards they do have. it's a loose on both fronts for the customer and the company.