A.C. Moore Arts & Crafts

A.C. Moore Arts & Crafts was a regional arts and crafts retailer that served customers across the northeastern United States. The chain focused on everyday creative needs, stocking a wide range of supplies for painting, knitting and crochet, beading, scrapbooking, school projects, and seasonal decorating. Stores were designed to be easy to navigate, with clear sections by craft type so shoppers could move quickly from inspiration to purchase.

The company grew into a meaningful competitor in the specialty arts and crafts space, operating 145 stores as of November 2019. While its founding year is not widely documented, A.C. Moore built its business over decades as a value-oriented alternative to larger national brands. A notable milestone came as the company reached its full regional build-out in the Northeast, concentrating locations in established shopping centers and suburban retail corridors where it could draw consistent repeat traffic from hobbyists, families, and teachers.

In the five years leading up to its closure, A.C. Moore operated against a backdrop of rapid change in specialty retail. Larger chains were investing heavily in e-commerce, omni-channel services, and national branding, while regional players faced mounting pressure on margins and store productivity. A.C. Moore continued to run its physical stores as its primary channel, but the broader shift toward consolidation in the category limited its ability to expand or reposition its footprint.

On November 25, 2019, A.C. Moore announced that it would close all 145 stores and wind down operations. As of November 2019, this marked the end of the chain as an independent retailer and opened a period of change for many of its leased locations. Shortly after the closure announcement, The Michaels Companies agreed to acquire A.C. Moore’s intellectual property, websites, and one distribution center for $58 million, and to take over the leases for 40 store locations.

For landlords, brokers, and developers, that transaction mattered in two ways. First, it removed a mid-sized specialty tenant from the pool of active retailers, underscoring the vulnerability of regional chains that lacked national scale and digital capabilities. Second, it allowed Michaels to backfill selected A.C. Moore stores, preserving occupancy and customer draw in certain centers while freeing the remaining locations for re-tenanting or redevelopment. The deal effectively transferred a portion of A.C. Moore’s real estate footprint and customer base to a stronger national operator, contributing to further concentration in the arts and crafts category.

Since the acquisition, A.C. Moore has not returned to active retail operations. The Michaels Companies has integrated the acquired assets into its own platform rather than reviving the brand or using it as a vehicle for new store growth. For commercial real estate stakeholders reviewing historical tenant rosters or assessing center performance through the 2010s, A.C. Moore stands as an example of a once-active regional anchor that exited the market as larger players consolidated share and selectively absorbed its locations.