This is not my typical kind of post, but I'm a bargain shopper and I've learned all the ins and outs of scoring deals on craft supplies. This may not be new info for experienced chain craft store shoppers, but I've had several conversations with friends that suggest to me my knowledge needs to be shared! There's no sense in paying full price when you don't have to.
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Michael's
Michael's is my go-to store for most supplies, but I almost never pay full price for anything. They publish coupons in Sunday newspaper ads almost every week and also send printable coupons each week when you sign up for their e-mail list. You can only use the 40% / 50% off coupons on regular priced items, but occasionally they will publish 15% / 20% coupons for your whole purchase (sale items included) or an extra percentage off a certain category of items (like frames, beads, etc.). They also give you coupons along with your receipt when you make a purchase. On several occasions, my store has let me use more than one 40% off coupon (on separate items, of course), but it seems to depend on the cashier.
Michael's has a lot of clearance, some good deals, some not. It's usually scattered all over the perimeter of the store.
Jo-Ann Fabric and Crafts
Jo-Ann is starting to rival Michael's in my frequency of visits. In addition to fabric and sewing-related stuff, they have a lots of paper crafting supplies and many other basic craft supplies. Jo-Ann also has weekly 40% / 50% coupons in Sunday newspaper ads. And if you sign up for their mailing list in the store, you will get mailers with coupons. And then there's the e-mail list coupons. Really, I have Jo-Ann coupon overload.
I don't know if it's a chain-wide policy or not, but my store will let you use one coupon per item as long as the bar codes have different numbers. It's worth asking!
Jo-Ann also has a remnant bin with fabric remnants marked down 50%, but that's really not much of a deal when you can use coupons to get the same price on fabric from the bolt. But I've discovered sometimes when that particular fabric is on sale, a remnant will ring up at 50% off the sale price.
At Jo-Ann, I've found clearance prices on non-fabric items aren't that great. You can find better deals on regular price merchandise and use a coupon. But they have a great selection of marked-down "Red Tag" fabrics, and sometimes even the Red Tag fabrics will be on sale at 50% off. That's where you can find the $2-3/yd. stuff.
Hobby Lobby
Hobby Lobby is a bit spottier than Michael's or Jo-Ann with their coupons. They usually publish them about every other week in our local newspaper. They rarely publish a stand-alone ad; it's usually buried in the newspaper itself. They also have coupons on their website sometimes.
Hobby Lobby does have great sales, though. And if something isn't on sale, just wait a week or two and it will be. They are terrible with their clearance mark downs though. Again, you can get better deals buying regular price merchandise with a coupon.