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Post by coloradocropper on Apr 17, 2021 3:29:51 GMT
As much as I didn't want to believe it, I think TM is phasing out crafts. I was really hoping I misunderstood from the TM employee. I'm glad I got in when the getting was good. So many things in my studio have a TM price tag. The Academy manager said they weren't getting rid of crafts. The aisle is now really sad and very narrow. They can't even fit the cart in there with the craft items. I guess time will tell. They might see that it was one of their best sellers and go back to more items. I know the food section was also downsized too. Maybe they are trying to get rid of the smaller priced items as much as possible. ETA: Thankfully JoAnns put their designer lines on sale 10/$2 and the embellishments were 50% off too. Great prices for new lines. Optomistically, I guess you can call it that. However, I think the writing is on the wall. |
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Post by scrapaddict702 on Apr 17, 2021 12:10:59 GMT
My store's manager was at the register when I went in this week. Asked her straight up what was going on. They are being scheduled to reduce crafts by 12% a month... As much as I didn't want to believe it, I think TM is phasing out crafts. I was really hoping I misunderstood from the TM employee... I don't think it is phasing out as much as downsizing. The Academy manager said they weren't getting rid of crafts... It seems the shrinkage is company-wide, although uncertain whether the ultimate goal is elimination of the papercraft aisle/section at select or all stores. You may have noticed Echo Park Collection Kits under new arrivals at ACOT. Note all of these kits have item numbers ending in TM (& many have 2021 copyright dates), which indicates they are reprints of older lines specifically for TM (per 950nancy in a TM thread several months ago). Therefore, it seems TM either couldn't (financially) or chose not to buy (or at least not at the volume EP expected) these paper packs, which cannot be good news for TM papercraft shoppers. EP has done reprints for TM for years. The item code has TM at the end of them (you can find the extras at the expo for sale, too). They used to make kits for hobby lobby, too...indicated with an HL. |
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PaperAngel
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Post by PaperAngel on Apr 19, 2021 22:34:45 GMT
No new items stocked this week. A clerk indicated the entire delivery has been unpacked & didn’t include any crafts. ...(A store manager) said that items will no longer have the four step clearance prices and that items that aren't selling well will just go to a red sticker and put in a clearance area. They won't get marked down further. As part of last week’s month's aisle reset, craft-related clearance items now occupy ~1/4 of the craft section that was downsized to only one side of an aisle. This week all of the purple/pink/orange/yellow stickers on clearance items have been replaced with red stickers. The clerk walking by, whom I asked about the status of the truck, confirmed the elimination of the different colored sticker/gradual reduction clearance model & that the red sticker price is final. |
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Post by 950nancy on Apr 19, 2021 23:00:32 GMT
No new items stocked this week. A clerk indicated the entire delivery has been unpacked & didn’t include any crafts. ...(A store manager) said that items will no longer have the four step clearance prices and that items that aren't selling well will just go to a red sticker and put in a clearance area. They won't get marked down further. As part of last week’s aisle reset, craft-related clearance items now occupy ~1/4 of the craft section that was downsized to only one side of an aisle. This week all of the purple/pink/orange/yellow stickers on clearance items have been replaced with red stickers. The clerk walking by, whom I asked about the status of the truck, confirmed the elimination of the different colored sticker/gradual reduction clearance model & that the red sticker price is final. Yes, my manager said they are trying to get stuff out the door faster and will be moving clearance to another place in the store. We'll see if that happens. |
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PaperAngel
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Post by PaperAngel on Apr 20, 2021 0:39:32 GMT
Yes, my manager said they are trying to get stuff out the door faster and will be moving clearance to another place in the store. We'll see if that happens. Before last week month, the back walls beside rugs had numerous large white/red clearance signs & were packed with clearance items from the entire store. Last week month the back walls were filled with furniture, & clearance items had been dispersed throughout the store by department with each clearance section marked with a small red/white sign. Since I often forgot to check out the store’s clearance walls & imagine other customers did as well, perhaps the current set up with clearance in the same aisle will boost craft sales/inventory turnover. |
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Post by 950nancy on Apr 20, 2021 0:58:21 GMT
Yes, my manager said they are trying to get stuff out the door faster and will be moving clearance to another place in the store. We'll see if that happens. Before last week, the back walls beside rugs had numerous large white/red clearance signs & were packed with clearance items from the entire store. Last week the back walls were filled with furniture, & clearance items had been dispersed throughout the store by department with each clearance section marked with a small red/white sign. Since I often forgot to check out the store’s clearance walls & imagine other customers did as well, perhaps the current set up with clearance in the same aisle will boost craft sales/inventory turnover. My manager told me they were going to do this several months ago. I can't remember what he said the discount would be just that there would only be one discount for each item. Did you see the percent of the discount? |
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scrapnnana
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Post by scrapnnana on Apr 20, 2021 3:00:26 GMT
I stopped by TM today while DH was doing cardiac therapy. I did find a 25 sheet pack of Authentique that was worth buying. It had small bats on one side, tiny spiders and a pattern on the other. It was $5, so definitely more expensive than it would have been a year ago, but it will make some fun cards, and both sides of the paper are going to be used (unlike some 25 sheet packs). I also picked up three 8.5x11 Bazzill cardstock packs in less common colors, but they are colors that I am sure I will use. The last item I got was a Sizzix thinlets die that makes a two toned treat box with a die cut rose pattern, although the rose is optional. It was $10, but I think that I can use other dies with it for almost any occasion I think it will be really versatile.
I spent far less than I used to spend there, even though prices have gone up, and I left with far fewer items. I have less spending money these days. It’s probably my last trip to TM for another long while. The craft aisle is definitely smaller and more sparse, even since my last visit a few weeks ago, when I stopped by but spent nothing at all.
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PaperAngel
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Post by PaperAngel on Apr 20, 2021 3:03:09 GMT
My manager told me they were going to do this several months ago. I can't remember what he said the discount would be just that there would only be one discount for each item. Did you see the percent of the discount? When clearance was integrated into the aisle last month, it consisted only of newly-added clearance items with 12/20 dates (e.g. EP Mega Bundles, EP Mega Sticker Packs, & Authentique collection kits, all regularly $14.99/each) marked with purple/20% off stickers. The red clearance stickers are also 20% off (ie $12.00 on the EP Mega Bundles, EP Sticker Packs, & Authentique collection kits left). Uncertain about older items, since this store doesn't appear to have any! If the red sticker is final as reported, then it seems no item will be marked less than 20% off its original (recently-inflated) TM price in the future. Note the other store nearby has neither added to its clearance wall nor marked items on clearance with colored stickers in months, maybe over a year now, yet the same items are on clearance there as at other store locations (so prices must be programmed into the system company wide rather than at the store level). It is a surprise to both the customer & clerk when an item rings up less than the sticker price! |
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Post by 950nancy on Apr 20, 2021 20:18:25 GMT
My manager told me they were going to do this several months ago. I can't remember what he said the discount would be just that there would only be one discount for each item. Did you see the percent of the discount? When clearance was integrated into the aisle last month, it consisted only of newly-added clearance items with 12/20 dates (e.g. EP Mega Bundles, EP Mega Sticker Packs, & Authentique collection kits, all regularly $14.99/each) marked with purple/20% off stickers. The red clearance stickers are also 20% off (ie $12.00 on the EP Mega Bundles, EP Sticker Packs, & Authentique collection kits left). Uncertain about older items, since this store doesn't appear to have any! If the red sticker is final as reported, then it seems no item will be marked less than 20% off its original (recently-inflated) TM price in the future. Note the other store nearby has neither added to its clearance wall nor marked items on clearance with colored stickers in months, maybe over a year now, yet the same items are on clearance there as at other store locations (so prices must be programmed into the system company wide rather than at the store level). It is a surprise to both the customer & clerk when an item rings up less than the sticker price! Our new scrapbook clearance items are 20% off. They did have the red sticker. With the high prices of some of the kits, I wonder how long they will sit. They had a lot of items the were only in the store a few months. My manger told me that they will just get a list form corporate and someone will pull the items and the dates don't matter anymore. He mentioned that a few months ago though, so I wonder if that will happen in the long run. |
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PaperAngel
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Post by PaperAngel on Apr 20, 2021 21:23:43 GMT
Our new scrapbook clearance items are 20% off. They did have the red sticker. With the high prices of some of the kits, I wonder how long they will sit. They had a lot of items the were only in the store a few months. My manger told me that they will just get a list form corporate and someone will pull the items and the dates don't matter anymore. He mentioned that a few months ago though, so I wonder if that will happen in the long run. It appears nothing new has been added to the clearance area since the reset at the end of last month. Rather, the small generic purple stickers, indicating 20% off, that had been on the clearance items were simply replaced this week with large red stickers bearing the actual price (eg $12.00 on EP Home Alone Mega Bundle) which does not seem like the best use of employees’ time! Perhaps the company downsized craft areas in anticipation of reduced customer interest due to relatively higher regular prices & a standard 20% off clearance. It’ll be interesting to see what’s next... |
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Post by 950nancy on Apr 20, 2021 22:27:42 GMT
Our new scrapbook clearance items are 20% off. They did have the red sticker. With the high prices of some of the kits, I wonder how long they will sit. They had a lot of items the were only in the store a few months. My manger told me that they will just get a list form corporate and someone will pull the items and the dates don't matter anymore. He mentioned that a few months ago though, so I wonder if that will happen in the long run. It appears nothing new has been added to the clearance area since the reset at the end of last month. Rather, the small generic purple stickers, indicating 20% off, that had been on the clearance items were simply replaced this week with large red stickers bearing the actual price (eg $12.00 on EP Home Alone Mega Bundle) which does not seem like the best use of employees’ time! Perhaps the company downsized craft areas in anticipation of reduced customer interest due to relatively higher regular prices & a standard 20% off clearance. It’ll be interesting to see what’s next... Went in today and there wasn't anything for scrapbooking in their truck. The manager said the red clearance stickers will get reduced one more time and then it will all be tossed. Wonder if it will go to 40 or 50% next. |
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Post by scrapaddict702 on Apr 21, 2021 2:28:03 GMT
I usually go to my store on Mondays...didn't go last week and didn't feel worried I'd missed anything like I would typically feel...haven't gone yet this week either, but with all sorts of crap going wrong today (the funnest of which being someone stealing the plates off of one of our vehicles...with appointments filled for all 90 days they schedule out for, it'll be a lot of fun to deal with), shopping probably isn't the wisest decision even if they did get stuff in. Bought a couple hundred dollars in clothes this weekend which is more than I spend on myself clothes wise in YEARS usually, but it was sorely needed and still needed...my anxiety tends to work in such a way that anytime I splurge and do something spendy I worry that something goes wrong immediately after because it's become a fairly reliable constant. At this point, the events of today aren't doing much to help me believe otherwise. I didn't worry this past weekend, but the next time I think about doing some feel good shopping that I wouldn't normally do, I'll be back to questioning what I'll be punished with for doing so. At least I bought all of my must haves from the new J's collections before all of this happened so I have no guilt over that shopping, lol.
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Post by scrapperal on Apr 21, 2021 4:11:04 GMT
Went to Tuesday Morning after not being there for months. The craft section was combined was combined with the stationary section, so what used to be a couple of rows has been reduced to a one. And there wasn't much there. I did buy some alcohol inks to try.
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Post by wendifful on Apr 27, 2021 4:22:15 GMT
I got there two days later than normal. I found a few Simple Stories packs that I really liked. I also bought the Thickers at $3.99 (not happy about the price), but they were 2 bucks cheaper than online. When I priced what I got online, it was $26. I paid $16 with no shipping cost. So I saved $10, but I really have to like the pack to want to buy it. You didn't happen to see Kate and Ash, did you? , not sure if you were just looking for the 25-piece paper packs, but Peachy Cheap has a big Kate & Ash bundle today. I saw it and remembered someone on 2Peas mentioning the line, so I found your post and wanted to share. |
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PaperAngel
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Post by PaperAngel on Apr 27, 2021 5:54:20 GMT
A clerk at one store confirmed no new papercraft inventory again this week.
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Post by mcjunkin on Apr 27, 2021 14:40:29 GMT
A clerk at one store confirmed no new papercraft inventory again this week. Same here. For the last two weeks. |
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Post by 950nancy on Apr 27, 2021 14:43:58 GMT
A clerk at one store confirmed no new papercraft inventory again this week. Tuesday is my day to venture north to one of our local stores. I might skip it today. |
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Post by auroraborealis on Apr 27, 2021 16:49:23 GMT
You didn't happen to see Kate and Ash, did you? , not sure if you were just looking for the 25-piece paper packs, but Peachy Cheap has a big Kate & Ash bundle today. I saw it and remembered someone on 2Peas mentioning the line, so I found your post and wanted to share. Thank you so much!! I just started buying some of the Kate and Ash I still wanted (that's I'm no longer hopeful TM will carry) with an online order this weekend (one more order from another store to go.) This PC deal was lovely big bundle of Kate and Ash--thank you so much for this great heads-up.  |
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Post by wendifful on Apr 27, 2021 17:49:22 GMT
auroraborealis , not sure if you were just looking for the 25-piece paper packs, but Peachy Cheap has a big Kate & Ash bundle today. I saw it and remembered someone on 2Peas mentioning the line, so I found your post and wanted to share. Thank you so much!! I just started buying some of the Kate and Ash I still wanted (that's I'm no longer hopeful TM will carry) with an online order this weekend (one more order from another store to go.) This PC deal was lovely big bundle of Kate and Ash--thank you so much for this great heads-up. You're welcome! I know what it's like to fall in love with an older line that's harder to find, so I wanted to share!  |
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Post by coloradocropper on Apr 28, 2021 1:51:22 GMT
Another dry week. I don't think I saw anything new.
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Post by 950nancy on May 5, 2021 17:07:02 GMT
Had about 1/3 of a cart today in my store. There were a few Spellbinders dies, some markers, some photo storage and maybe 25 vinyl rolls. My manager opined on there not being a lot of crafts because so many people were stuck at home for so long that there weren't many extras to sell to the buyers at TM. Other than boxes of Echo Park and Karen Foster, there hasn't been a big excess of paper products. Hopefully he is right and time goes on, there will be more in stock.
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PaperAngel
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Post by PaperAngel on May 5, 2021 19:28:08 GMT
After a couple weeks of nothing, the only noticeably new items in the papercrafting section this week were a handful of Spellbinder dies, several American Crafts markers, & 8.5x11 ($4.99/ea) & 12x12 ($7.99/ea) 40-ct single color cardstock packs from Violet Studio (which was labeled as a Crafters Companion brand).
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scrapnnana
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Post by scrapnnana on May 6, 2021 3:18:17 GMT
I have stopped by the last few weeks. I have seen a few new things each time, but the key word is “few.”
I asked today about it, and the manager said they got about 100 items for the craft/stationary aisle, and she said that was “typical.”
I mentioned that it seems to be less than in the past, and she tried to pass it off and play dumb. She said she hasn’t heard anything about downsizing crafts, but she’s been there a long time. I recognized her, even with her wearing a mask. I’m sure that she knows they are getting less. She tried to distract, change the topic to the items on sale, and if I’d found them, and I said that I had. (They were plainly marked and took up a good portion of the aisle that used to have more products. I wasn’t trying to pick a fight, just get an honest answer. Maybe she doesn’t really know, but I didn’t feel like she was being straight forward about it.
They have gotten new craft items, but very little.
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Post by Linda on May 9, 2021 1:34:23 GMT
I was in the city today so stopped at TM - the craft aisle has been moved and is more sparse but still seems to be about the same shelf space as before. I didn't see much that interested - there were a lot of EP kits (the bigger multipacks) and Violet Studio cardstock packs and some but not a lot of single paper packs. A few stamps and dies, a handful of Authentique and Bazzil...
I got two dies on clearance for 2.97 each - a WRMemoryKeepers Icon set (6 small cookie cutter dies - heart, star, thumbs up, camera, typewriter and map pin) and a QK 4x4 camera - and a packet of Bazzil - a pretty yellow 'daisy'
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FurryP
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Post by FurryP on May 9, 2021 2:09:26 GMT
I got a lamp and one of those cute colorful pool/patio metal side tables, but nothing crafty. I really like my lamp though.
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Post by 950nancy on May 12, 2021 2:44:52 GMT
I got there too early today and the shipment was huge according to the employees. The manager said there were crafts, but not a lot for paper crafts from what he remembered on the invoice. We're headed to Florida for a week this weekend and I know I will have a ton of pictures, but I bought about 3 albums worth of stuff for our last vacation, so I probably don't need to buy a thing.
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PaperAngel
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Post by PaperAngel on May 12, 2021 3:46:05 GMT
I stopped by before closing last night & was told the delivery had been unpacked but not stocked yet. The clerk also said she didn't recall seeing any papercrafting items in the storage room, but advised I check back today. With the gas shortage here, I'm not making another trip to TM this week.
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Post by coloradocropper on May 12, 2021 15:35:29 GMT
I saw a bunch of cardstock from a company with a V name. Left with nothing.
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PaperAngel
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Post by PaperAngel on May 18, 2021 1:11:27 GMT
It appears no new items were stocked in the papercrafts section again this week.
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Post by coloradocropper on May 19, 2021 22:12:52 GMT
Looks like a huge shipment with full carts lined up in the back. Hardly anything scrapbooky though. I saw the WRMK flower storage thing. That was about it.
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