New Michaels store
Courtesy of Michaels
Just as the digital takeover of our daily lives seemed inevitable—nearly 60% of Americans say they spend 5 hours or more per day in front of their screens—people are hitting a wall. Digital fatigue is real and accelerating. Some 53% of adults want to reduce their online time, including 69% of digitally-native Gen Z and 58% of Millennials, according to YouGov.
Instead, they are turning to analog real-life experiences: playing records, reading real books, doing jigsaw puzzles, hosting game nights, themed potluck dinners, crafting circles, book clubs, backyard movie nights and other IRL family and friend get-togethers. These analog activities lift the human spirit, build more lasting personal bonds and stimulate creativity in ways that digital experiences can’t.
One category benefiting from this shift is the hobby and craft market. Business Research Insight reports that over 70% of U.S. households purchased some arts and craft product last year, including 61% of parents purchasing educational and creative crafts for their kids.
In a $56.3 billion global market projected to grow 5.6% annually through 2035 to reach $92 billion, hobby, toy and game retailers were the fastest-growing segment in U.S. retail during the first six months of this year—up 23% to nearly $12 billion. This follows a 14% year-over-year hike to $23.8 billion in 2025.
Michaels, the nation’s largest craft and hobby retailer with some 1,400 stores across the U.S. and Canada, is riding that wave and preparing for even greater growth with a new, more experiential store design now rolling out across the chain.
“We’re seeing substantial mega-trends in consumer behavior toward analog hobbies and in-person celebration—hands-on activities that are tangible, personal and authentic—which obviously favors us,” shared CEO David Boone.
“What’s fascinating and encouraging is we’re seeing it across all age groups and demographics, including growth in male customers. And each age group is expressing it differently, but it all comes down to people wanting to reduce screen time and do things together. We’ve been transforming the company over the last few years to meet that shift,” he continued.
Purpose Driven For Creativity And Celebration
Boone joined the privately held Michaels in early 2025, coming from a six-year run as CEO Staples Canada and before that managing financial services for major U.S. retailers at TD Bank. His mandate: to transform Michaels from an ordinary craft and hobby store into an extraordinary one. As all exemplary retail leaders do, he started by talking with the customers.
The research showed customers had a deep appreciation for the Michaels brand, its products and its service staff, “but we were falling short at providing an experiential and inspirational store experience,” he said.
It also revealed new ways customers were expressing their creativity, providing clear opportunities that Michaels could fill in areas like knitting, sewing and party celebrations. “We put together the macro trends—people wanting more inspiration, plus some new departments—and decided a new store concept was called for,” he added.
Leaning Into Needle Crafts
Not long after Boone arrived, Michaels acquired the intellectual property and private labels of the bankrupt Joann chain, opening the door for major expansion into knitting, sewing and needle crafts.
Michaels then rebuilt its entire fabric experience by fully integrating it into its omnichannel model. Instead of stocking bolts and bolts of fabric selections, Michaels now offers a Swatch Bar, presenting thousands of fabric swatches customer can touch, then order through the mobile app via a QR code or with help from store staff, with their selection shipped to their homes.
Michaels’ fabric Swatch Bar
Courtesy of Michaels
The in-store Knit and Sew Shop now anchors the center of the new Michaels stores, with fabric selections now available at 90% of existing stores. And for this September’s National Sewing Month, Michaels stores will host weekly community sew-up events on Tuesday evenings, open classroom sessions on Wednesday nights and other sewing-themed events.
Needlepoint, in particular, is emerging as one of Michaels fastest-growing categories, with searches for “needlepoint kits” up nearly 500% over the last six months.
Expanded Emphasis
Fine Arts is also getting star treatment, featuring expanded paint and watercolor supplies and paint-by-number kits. Paint party kits are increasingly popular, as is diamond art—a mashup of cross‑stitch, paint‑by‑numbers, and mosaic art that uses a printed adhesive canvas and colored resin “diamonds” applied with a wax-tipped stylus.
Michaels stores are also expanding custom framing services, kids’ crafting and party supplies, including a balloon bar, and an event space for birthday parties, community events and craft classes.
Michael’s kids crafting department
Courtesy of Michaels
Experience Bars
To further boost customer engagement, it has added five interactive experience bars to allow customers to design low-cost gifts and personal expressions, including a Candy Bar for gift bags; a Favor Bar to create party favors; a Charm Bar to craft bracelets and necklaces; a Patch Bar for the booming patch trend to personalize backpacks, hats and clothing; and a Marker Bar to customize watercolor or acrylic markers in various colors, sizes and tips.
Michaels’ Charm Bar
Courtesy of Michaels
To date, five U.S. stores now fully reflect the new store model, including a just-opened location in San Antonio, with more transformations rolling out across the chain.
Community Based
What’s particularly notable for a retailer of Michaels’ size is how it is preserving a community-craft orientation. “One of the things we’re installing is this big community board, which is going to let customers know what’s happening in the store, what’s happening in the local community around creativity and celebrations,” Boone explained.
Instead of a chain-wide digital announcement board, Michaels is installing chalkboards in every store where its creative staff can post notices. “The crafting community in Idaho Falls is very different from that in Chelsea, Manhattan so we are giving our folks a way to show pride in their community and store location by letting them communicate directly.”
Crafting’s Prime Season Starts Now
For serious crafters, the hobby season never stops. But for occasional crafters—and those picking up a new hobby—the months between August and December are prime time. Last year, these five months accounted for 60% of total hobby, toy and game store sales and sales rose 18% over the previous year.
Michaels reports that searches for “Summerween” to get an early jump on Halloween celebrations jumped 530% over previous year. In response, it is launching its largest Halloween crafting collection yet, called “Hobbyween.”
“Summerween is about celebrating Halloween early, but Hobbyween is about celebrating it more creatively,” CMO Stacey Shively added. “Consumers are embracing the longer Halloween season as an opportunity to discover new crafts and build hands-on traditions together.”
Adding to the Halloween fun, Michaels is introducing Halloween mystery craft kits, tapping into the popularity of blind boxes. The range of themed kits include diamond art, paint by number and more.
Crafting Is For Everyone
Michaels is staying on the front foot as the passion for analog crafts continues to explode. For the past two years, it has released a “Creativity Trend Report,” drawing on internal sales and search data, along with consumer surveys. It has plenty of data to work with given that 70% of American households are active in the category and Michaels boasts over 70 million loyalty members.
The 2026 report highlights:
- 86% sales increase in painting kits and guided craft kits
- 50% growth in needle crafting kits
- 40% increase in natural yarn and yarn accessories
- 28% uptick in diamond art sales
- Double-digit increase in paper crafting sales.
“Helicoptering out, we are growing across all age groups, each for different reasons. Grandparents lean into holidays, other celebrations and crafts for the grandkids. Parents want more family time together. And for the younger Gen Alpha and Gen Z, it is more about personal expression. But it all goes back to one thing: people want less screen time and more real life,” Boone concluded.
At its core, analog crafting is more than a hobby. It’s a swing back to a more grounded, human-centered way of living. Hands-on creativity gives people a way to slow down, reset their minds and reconnect with others. Michaels is positioning itself squarely at the center of that shift.
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