The death of retailer AC Moore is the saddest retail story of all (Opinion)

We’ve told a lot of stories about all of the big retailers that have closed over the past four or five years and we all know the reason: the way people shop has changed dramatically and there are very few retail chains that could withstand the competition of being able to order stuff in pajamas and have it arrive the next day. While I don’t think we will ever see a retail-free environment there are still a lot more stores that will be closing in the coming years.

AC Moore is different because it doesn’t say as much about how people shop as it does about how people live in general. Compared with other major retail outlets closing, it has less to do with what online shopping has done. It has to do with the changing attitudes of people and the families. AC Moore was all about crafting, sewing, creating art and those tend to be non plugged-in family oriented activities. There is so little time for family time anymore… especially when it’s not spent in a car driving around to sporting events.

Making your kids Halloween costumes, helping your children out with holiday crafts, making homemade candies, working together for your son's science project and those creative endeavors are pretty much done. Now of course I don’t want to discount those people who still participate in crafting and just buy their supplies online. After all, it is easier to find crafting materials online and much cheaper when you buy them from China.

The thing about AC Moore is that it was the experience of walking in together with family members to figure out what activity you were going to do together. I know that this is probably hard for non-artsy crafty people to understand, but the closing of AC Moore says more about people and families than it does about the retail industry. It is an aspect of child rearing and family togetherness that I and many others of my generation will miss.

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