Fully reimagining what fuels the joy of creativity and celebration.
Michaels
A rare market shift created whitespace only Michaels had the authority to own. We helped accelerate their next chapter of growth.
Project Details
Client: Michaels
Category: Arts & Crafts / Retail
Location: Canada, United States
Scope: CX Strategy, Store Design, ActivationSituation
When JOANN Fabrics and Party City (US) liquidated within weeks of each other in early 2025, they left a significant gap in the market. Consumers felt it immediately. Other retailers recognized the opportunity and were mobilizing fast. Michaels had something none of them could replicate: a longstanding authority in creative retail that gave it a credible right to win in both fabrics and party. These weren’t opportunistic adjacencies. They were already woven into Michaels’ core offering and the occasions its customers were shopping for. When Michaels acquired the JOANN IP, that right became cemented. The question was no longer whether to move. It was how fast.
Discovery
The research surfaced something more fundamental than purchase behaviour. The categories Michaels carries are easy to label as hobbies, but for people who knit, sew, paint, and host — these are passions, and central to self-identity. In a world of accelerating screen time and increasingly automated experience, the pull toward hands-on creativity and shared, tactile moments is growing. Michaels was positioned to own that shift.
The opportunity was just as clear: customers were ready to shop by project, by occasion, by creative intent, and the store had room to meet them there. Reorganizing around how people create and celebrate, rather than how categories were traditionally merchandised, unlocked the next logical step in every visit: the full basket Michaels was positioned to earn.
The insight that oriented everything: Michaels’ customers were looking for a place that understood what creativity and celebration meant to them.
Shift
FROM Another Arts & Crafts Store → TO Fueling the Joy of Creativity & Celebration
Build
We moved in two phases, with momentum built into both.
First: get Michaels into the market before the window narrowed further. We designed and launched the Knit & Sew Shop and Party Shop as distinct in-store destinations, ownable, service-led, and built around a core insight: customers in these categories are looking for inspiration and expertise, not just products. The Knit & Sew Shop’s Cut Bar and the Party Shop’s Balloon Bar were proof of a new service model that no product-and-price competitor could replicate. Both shop-in-shops launched fleetwide across more than 1,200 North American stores in under six months.The results came back fast and set the terms for what came next: the first next-gen Beacon store and the boldest expression of Michaels’ new purpose.
We built eight customer-centric merchandising worlds, each organized around how customers shop, create, and celebrate. Every world carries a distinct look and feel designed to reflect the emotional character of its category, creating immersive, identity-affirming experiences that give customers a compelling reason to choose a physical store. Signature moments like faux bouquet building stations, party favour bars, vendor-led Experience Zones turn browsing into discovery. Elevated service offerings, including expanded framing, and new BOPIS infrastructure, convert transactions into relationships. An always-on calendar of community programming turned every store into a local hub for creativity and celebration, not just a place to shop, but a place to belong. Every merchandising world, service model, and signature moment came together in Beacon, one space the whole business could see, believe, and scale.
1. Uncovered that Michaels' customers shop as creators, makers, and hosts.
Research revealed something more fundamental than purchase behaviour.
For people who knit, sew, paint, and host, these aren’t hobbies. They’re central to self-identity. That reframe, from product categories to creative occasions, gave every strategic decision that followed a clear, human anchor and reorganized how Michaels saw its customers.
2. Reimagined Michaels as the definitive home of creativity and celebration.
Eight worlds, each built for a different creative occasion.
The Beacon store brought it all to life. Eight customer-centric merchandising worlds, each with its own distinct look and service model, built around how customers create and celebrate. Signature moments like bouquet building stations, party favour bars, and Experience Zones turn every visit into something worth the trip.
3. Launched 1,200+ shop-in-shops, then built Beacon, the next-gen experience.
Speed was built into the strategy from the start.
The Knit & Sew Shop and Party Shop were designed in four weeks and launched across 1,200+ North American stores before the window could narrow. The Balloon Bar and Cut Bar gave both shops a service model no competitor could replicate.
Engagement Leads
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