Crafts retailer Michaels to fold Aaron Brothers into main stores

GaryPageau ,

Michaels Companies will shutter 94 Aaron Brothers framing and art supplies stores, planning to make Aaron Brothers a “store-within-a-store” within its 1,300 craft stores in the United States and Canada.

According to its quarterly earnings report, the company will rebrand its “Framerspointe.com” custom-framing website to AaronBrothers.com.

In fiscal 2017, Aaron Brothers net sales totaled approximately $110 million and had no material impact on the Company’s operating income. The Company expects the after-tax cost of implementing these changes will be in the range of $37 million to $42 million. The Company anticipates the vast majority of the cost will be recognized in the first quarter of fiscal 2018. The Company expects the after-tax cash impact of the changes to be minimal.

Michaels acquired then-71 store retailer Aaron Brothers in 1995.

 

 

 

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Gary Pageau is principal of InfoCircle LLC, continuing his marketing communications career. InfoCircle LLC is a marketing and communications consulting firm, specializing in business-to-business markets. For nearly 25 years, he was with PMA International, serving most recently as Publisher, Content Development and Strategic Initiatives. His primary responsibilities included overseeing the Association’s editorial department, marketing research unit, education and corporate relations department.