I hope it's ok to jump in here, I used to post a bit here and life got in the way...
Michael's policy is that their ads appear in papers that are delivered with in 25 miles of a store. I was 27.5 miles from a store, the people down the street got ads, I didn't, because they were with in that 25 miles. I wrote to them several times and even asked at the store and got nothing in return.
Finally one day I was in the store and there was a district manager there, she told me that all the stores have flyers in the back to just ask for one. They are supposed to hand them out ONLY if asked for one. A few times I had to raise a bit of a stink but I got them.
Now I am within 20 miles of another store they opened so I get 3 ads on the weekend. Which my daughter and I fight for.
I am really convinced that Michaels does not care about it's customers... some of the store managers might care... but the corporate people don't. People are going to shop at the stores if they get the flyers or not. And another thing that I've found out is that all Michael's stores are not equal. I visited one a while ago that had everything you could imagine and yet the two within my area say that they "don't carry" the same items and can't get them.