Jack Bush joins Michaels Stores

Discount Store News, July 22, 1991

Jack Bush Joins Michaels Stores

IRVING, Texas -- Jack Bush has joined a premiere U.S. crafts specialty chain--Michaels Stores--as president and chief operating officer.

Bush is a veteran discount executive, most recently as executive vp, operations and stores for Ames, and as president of Rose's Stores.

Bush succeeded Donald Thomson who was hired as Michaels' president last August. Shortly after joining Michaels, Thomson was diagnosed with cancer but will still work as a director and consultant while undergoing treatment.

"I am very excited about getting into the crafts business," Bush told DSN in an exclusive interview from Bermuda where he was vacationing before returning to his new home in Texas.

Michaels Stores reported sales of $362 million for 1990, up from $290 the previous year. Store count rose to 137 from 122 during the same period. A total of 141 stores are projected to be in operation by the start of 1992.

Michaels set a new industry precedent last year when it debuted an instructional crafts television show. The Michaels Arts & Crarts show ran weekly from October 1990 to June 1991 and is expected to be resumed about a year from now, possibly in conjunction with a mail order catalog. The show was run primarily on the Lifetime cable station. Some TV sales were tested on the shows including limited product lists that applied to the kind of projects that were being aired.