We believe Michaels is where creativity happens. With 1,262 stores (consisting of 1,145 Michaels stores in the 49 states and Canada and 118 Aaron Brothers stores) as of May 31, 2014 and $4.6 billion in sales in fiscal 2013, Michaels is the largest arts and crafts specialty retailer in North America. We also operate a market-leading vertically-integrated custom framing business.

Our mission is to inspire and enable customer creativity, create a fun and rewarding place to work, foster meaningful connections with our communities and lead the industry in growth and innovation. With helpful store associates and a broad selection of merchandise combined with compelling in-store events and online content, we believe we offer the most complete arts and crafts experience and are the preferred destination in the industry.

Our stores are at the heart of our customer engagement strategy, showcasing our artistic and creative products while providing an opportunity for our store associates to interact with customers and help them develop creative ideas. We carry a broad and deep assortment of approximately 36,000 stock-keeping units ("SKUs") in arts, crafts, scrapbooking, floral, framing, home décor, seasonal offerings and children's hobbies that enable us to satisfy the diverse needs of our customers. We have also developed a robust online platform which promotes social networking, and includes expert tips, project ideas, marketing content and information on upcoming store events.

In recent years, we have capitalized on our market-leading scale to create a team and infrastructure dedicated to designing, sourcing and delivering high quality, on-trend merchandise, including a growing number of products under our portfolio of private brands. Our private branded products, which represented approximately 48% of total Net sales in fiscal 2013, are only available at Michaels and allow us to further differentiate our merchandise while enhancing product margins. We are also able to use our scale and market leadership to identify and secure exclusive third party products. We believe our compelling store experience and broad product offering distinguish us from our competitors and position Michaels as the leading brand that defines arts and crafts.