MUNCIE, Ind. — After more than a decade, the Michaels arts and crafts store along McGalliard Road is closing.
A sign posted on a front window of the store — in the Muncie Marketplace development adjacent to Dick’s Sporting Goods and west of Muncie Mall — says, “We’re closing this location only.”
A Michaels employee said the store is scheduled to close on March 20. She declined to say how many people are employed there.
The store has offered 13,000 square feet of crafts and arts supplies and home decor.
It opened in November 2014. Its grand opening featured then-Mayor Dennis Tyler taking part in ribbon-cutting festivities and Ball State University mascot Charlie Cardinal.
In recent days, Joann, another national store chain that features arts and crafts, announced plans to close more than half of its stores, including several in Indiana.
The longtime Joann store in the Northwest Plaza is on the list of Joann properties set to close.
An official date for that closing has apparently not yet been set. A local manager referred all questions to Joann’s corporate headquarters.
The Joann store in the Northwest Plaza opened in the mid-1970s. For a time, there was also a Joann Fabrics store in the Southway Plaza.
Joann is undergoing bankruptcy proceedings for a second time in a year.
In recent months, a Big Lots store, near the Joann store in the Northwest Plaza, also closed.
Douglas Walker is a news reporter at The Star Press. Contact him at 765-213-5851 or at dwalker@muncie.gannett.com.
