Michaels — Local services in Germantown

I appreciate the folks at Michael's (hey Rebekah!) filling an urgent helium balloon order earlier than I expected!

The closing of Party City left a hole in my heart that Michael's is slowly trying to fill. Before becoming a parent and an active PTA President, I could not have imagined how much time, money, and energy I would spend acquiring bunches of helium balloons. I consider myself a bit of a mylar balloon expert at this point.

Yes, you can get helium balloons at Dollar Tree at cheaper prices, but the balloons at DT are affixed to the string with tape only. Encounter one gust of wind on the way to the car, and your new balloons escape skyward whilst you hold their limp strings in your hand.

Michael's knots their ribbon to the balloon. Feel free to hop, skip, and jump to your car without a care!

Dollar Tree will charge you extra for a balloon weight. Michael's includes balloon clips with their helium balloon orders. Not anything fancy, but it's enough weight to keep balloons from escaping the car when you open the door.

The true deal breaker for me, though, is the ability to order a bunch of balloons in advance and pick them up at a specific time. In my over-scheduled life, I don't have spare time to wait in line and watch people inflate balloons.

If you go to DT, first you'll wait 15 minutes for the single store clerk to be free, then the clerk will tell you that your first choice birthday balloons have all sold out. You will then spend another 10 minutes picking substitutes that you're only half happy with, and, once you've made your decision, the clerk gets called away for another 5-10 minutes.

Finally the clerk is free again and starts inflating your balloons, only for you both to discover that the helium tank is empty.

So now you've wasted 35 minutes of your time, because you wanted to save $1 per balloon.

Will that exact worst-case scenario happen at DT every time? No, but there's a 50/50 chance that the balloons you want are sold out, or the helium tank is empty, or the balloons will fly away in transit to your event.

If you study probabilities, you know that this translates to a roughly 50% to 87.5% chance that you will fail the mission to get the perfect bunch of balloons for your event. And failure--as a mom, as a host, as a PTA soldier--is not an option.

Michael's will be my go to balloon source for the foreseeable future because it's 7 minutes from my home, reliable, decent quality, and I can order in advance.

ADDED BONUS: You can actually have balloons delivered to your destination for an additional cost and more advance notice.

For the record I

Horrible experience over the past few days. Embarked on a photo coaster project for the holidays. My list was exact. Staff - not knowledgeable. I asked the two women at the empty counter (at 8 a.m. so only a handful of shoppers) who was helpful with crafts. They said they both were. So I asked, what was the difference between several types of the Mod Podge. Both looked at me and said, “I didn’t know there were different kinds.” I ask if they can find someone to help me. They call a woman, she said no. So the guy they send over is completely clueless. I just keep reading.

Staff, Cont’d. ... Next I ask if they have an adhesive sealant. Two of the store crew said, “No. We don’t sell that. You need to go to a sports supply store or Home Depot.” That sounded strange to me because every blog, advice site, etc. suggested that Michaels would be best. ... After returning home with a product that was absolutely USELESS, I researched again. Voila! There is a Mod Podge version of the sealant — and according to Google, it’s in stock at said Michaels. I return only to find it on the bottom shelf, all the way in the back.

The Starbucks Trash — When I arrived in the morning, asking all those questions, I noticed an empty Starbucks cup. Someone had a great frosty drink at some point. I pointed it out to gentleman, thinking that one of the staff may have stopped off for a treat on the way to work. “Nah,” he said. “That’s been there.” ... Not, let me toss that, or oh that shouldn’t be there ...he walked away and left it. When I returned to the store that evening — around 7pm, the cup was still there in the same space. I snapped a pic.

Needless to say, I’ve had a much better experience at other Michaels stores. I do hope that they hire some informed...

I am writing to express my disappointment with the customer service I received from Jace, a cashier at Michaels store yesterday afternoon. I went to Michaels to purchase some supplies for a craft project. When I got to the checkout counter, Jace was very rude and unhelpful. She did not greet me or ask me how I was doing. When I asked her if she could help me find a specific item, she rolled her eyes and said, "I don't know where anything is." She also did not offer any help and said “ if you have any questions or problems google it”. I do believe that she hates her job and she doesn’t have any interest to learn about her job. Also, she was in the middle of my transaction; put my stuff away and worked with the other person:( I’ve never ever seen this behavior and bad customer service all around the world. I was very disappointed with Jace's attitude and lack of customer service. I will not be shopping at Michaels again if she is still working there in spite of the fact that Michaels was my...