Thursday, September 2, 2021

What's the Deal with Michaels?

 Michaels stores seem to be having a terrible supply chain issue this year.  I have checked them all frequently and have been amazed at the lack of stock.  Having talked to management, I have been informed that it just hasn't all arrived.  Here are some pictures - slim pickings and empty shelves.




And Pink - what is with the pink?  They did that last year too.


Now contrast that with the banal fall section for the Halloween haters and you'll see the supply chain is working just fine.

Is it an anti Halloween conspiracy?  I don't know - what's your theory???
 

14 comments:

  1. Maybe the right wingers that work there are boycotting a pagan holiday.

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    1. We absolutely have some of that in this community as I am near Colorado Springs - the fundie capital of the universe.

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  2. I keep hearing that the pandemic is still causing substantial supply-chain disruptions, although it's surprising that they haven't adapted to it by now. There are often shortages of things in stores.

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    1. It is such a fragile house of cards isn't it?

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  3. Looks like they're trying to sell old stocks. But at least you've got some Halloween display of sorts: it hasn't arrived here yet anywhere, as far as I can tell.

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  4. When I see stores cutting back on inventory like that, my first thought is that they're teetering on the brink of bankruptcy.

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    1. I think they would sell it as Halloween is hot baby - really hot this year.

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  5. There are a lot of issues with the global shipping channels at the moment. CNN has an article from August 23rd and how it may impact Christmas sales, but it's already impacting things across the board. We wanted to get new C9 bulb light stringers for our gutters for this Halloween/Christmas from a major online Christmas light retailer and they don't have the same size stringers that we bought from them several years ago in stock this past year. They told us "end of September", which is too late for our Halloween endeavors because we put the lights up for Halloween around the first day of fall and then swap out the Halloween colored bulbs for Christmas colored ones around Thanksgiving. We'll order new ones as soon as they're available for future use, but we're going to have to use the old stringers again this year and just hope they hold up for another season.
    https://www.cnn.com/2021/08/23/business/global-supply-chains-christmas-shipping/index.html

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    1. Yes - I know it is bad but why doesn't it impact all that fall crap unless as Guillaume said, that fall stuff is just old stock.

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    2. Maybe it has less to do with supplies and more to do with fundamental Christians' hostility towards Halloween? I don't want it to be the case, mind you, but it's an hypothesis. Here Christmas stuff shows up earlier in shops, especially big chains, and even in September and October they can be more visible than Halloween stuff.

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  6. Michael's must have more stuck in ports than most stores. Michael's did add new stock to the web site and I nabbed some things yesterday. Click on Halloween Decor and then search by new arrivals. There is a little cauldron that sold out before I could check out. The Labor Day sales mean this is likely the last Weeknd to buy things online before they sell out. Too late to get things to the stores so I imagine Michael's new inventory will only appear online.
    Christmas is also impacted with supply issues. Seasonal decor is ordered a year in advance and last year retail had trouble finding factories that didn't shut down or disappear completely.

    Groceries are a bit more worrisome. I have 3 case orders of soy milk canceled on me in the last month. I find it fascinating the things that have just disappeared now that old warehouse stock is exhausted. My real horror story is my make-up is now out of stock and not coming back! LOL

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    1. I guess we will all have to learn to live with less.

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  7. We stopped into a local Michael's over Labor Day weekend. Picked up a few Halloween decorations of interest for inside the house and while checking out we mentioned coming back another time to see if they had anything else new out and the cashier said that what's already out is all they've got for the season! We went over to the Party City in the same plaza and the Halloween props and decorations that were out were sparse as well.

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