All The Stores That Happily Accept Competitor Coupons
A couple weeks ago my wife was checking out at our local Michaels store and noticed a lady in front of her whip out a JoAnn coupon from her purse and hand it to the cashier. She was like, “Wow, that’s cool! I didn’t know you could do that.” She came home and told me about her findings, and suggested I write a blog post about what other stores accept coupons from their competition. So…being the amazing (and smart) husband that I am, I did exactly what she told me to do. I spent some time, both online and on the phone, figuring out what other retailers will accept coupons from the competition. Here’s what I discovered…
Dick’s Sporting Goods
So I couldn’t find much online about the Dick’s Sporting Goods competitor coupon policy so I decided to give my local store a buzz.
I told the guy that I had a 20% off Sports Authority coupon (which I actually do) and asked if they’d accept it.
He said, “We’ll price match them anyways, but if the item you’re looking to buy is the same price or higher in our store then we’ll accept the 20% off coupon.”
Golf Galaxy
Golf Galaxy joins the ranks of top retailers now accepting coupons from competitors.
As part of their best price guarantee they will gladly accept coupons in-store from the following stores:
Dick’s Sporting Goods, Edwin Watts, Golf Galaxy, Golf Mart, Golfers Warehouse, PGA Tour Superstore, Roger Dunn, TGW and Van’s.
Home Depot
Home Depot does have a competitor coupon policy in place, but certain locations are more lenient than others.
I actually read on this forum that some Home Depot locations will accept a 20% off any 1 item coupon from Harbor Freight, even though the 2 retailers do not carry any of the same brands.
It is always worth a shot, but often the coupon will have to be from a local store that carries the same exact item you are trying to purchase.
Your best bet is to be extremely friendly and polite and speak with someone in a management position when trying to use a Harbor Freight coupon at Home Depot.
JoAnn Fabrics and Crafts
JoAnn’s will take coupons from Michaels, Hancock Fabrics, and Hobby Lobby.
They also let you use more than coupon per purchase.
So if you have a 40% off any 1 regular-priced item coupon from Michaels, Hancock, and Hobby Lobby, you can use all 3 if you are buying at least 3 items.
The one major exclusion is that JoAnn will NOT accept a competitor’s coupon good for an item they don’t carry.
For example, you can’t use a Michaels coupon when buying fabric at JoAnn’s since Michaels doesn’t sell fabric.
Lowe’s
If you find that a local competitor has a sales flyer or coupon which would beat the Lowe’s price, just bring in evidence and not only will they match the price, they’ll beat it by 10%.
The one major caveat is that the competitor’s price cannot be a clearance or sale price, it must be their “every day” regular price.
Menards
The Menards coupon policy is definitely one worth knowing if you shop there regularly. They’ll happily accept coupons from local competitors.
It is up to individual stores to determine what qualifies as a “local store” but it should definitely include Home Depot, Menards, Lowe’s, and Ace Hardware.
The one caveat is that competitor’s coupons will not be accepted on sale or clearance items and the most savings they’ll allow is 10% which is kinda weak.
Michaels
Michaels will happily accept competitor coupons from the following retailers: AC Moore, JoAnn Fabric and Crafts, Ben Franklin, and Hobby Lobby.
The cool thing about Michaels is they’ll let you use more than one coupon per transaction.
So for example, if you have a Joann coupon good for 40% off any 1 item, you can use it with a Michaels printable coupon good for 25% off your entire purchase.
Keep in mind that the item you got for 40% off will be not be eligible for the 25% discount as well.
It is also worth noting that Michaels will not accept competitor coupons good for a flat percentage off your entire order.
They won’t take a 25% off your entire order coupon from Ben Franklin but they’ll happily accept a 50% off any 1 item coupon.
Office Depot
Office Depot will honor competitor’s coupons at the local store level according to the their Price Match Policy.
In other words, they want to make it really confusing.
Although I waded through the boiler plate and discovered they will accept local competitor coupons for exact match products that are not on sale at the competing store.
Major retailers whose coupons they will accept include Office Max, Staples, Costco, Best Buy, Kmart, Sears, Target, and Sam’s Club.
PetSmart
From reader Jason, “PetSmart will honor competitor coupons (competitor is defined as a local retailer with a physical location).
They also price match any local retailer for the same identical item (even Walmart).
Additionally, they will also price match their own website, which often has lower prices than those in the store.”
Walmart
The big ol’ Walmart will take your competitor coupon if, and only if, it falls into the following categories.
From the Walmart website: Must be a specific item for a specified price, for example, $2.99. Can be a buy one, get one free (BOGO) coupon for items with a specified price.
Must have a valid expiration date and are acceptable in black and white.
The big no-no’s are as follows: Dollars/cents off coupons at a specific retailer. Percentage off competitor coupons. Buy one, get one free (BOGO) coupons without a specified price and double- or triple-value coupons.
Ask the Reader: Did I miss any stores? Drop me the 411 in the comments section below, thanks peeps.
By Kyle James
Photo credit to Nicholas Eckhart.
I started Rather-Be-Shopping.com in 2000 and have become a consumer expert and advocate writing about out-of-the-box ways to save at stores like Amazon, Walmart, Target and Costco to name a few. I’ve been featured on FOX News, Good Morning America, and the NY Times talking about my savings tips. (Learn more)
Home Depot will also meet and beat by 10% on any identical item.
Thanks, this was very helpful. I commend you for listening to your wife 🙂
I’ve never been to a Michael’s that allows you to use more than one coupon per transaction. You can had them a single coupon for your purchase, either Michael’s coupon or a competitors. When I shop there, I try to get one item per trip (if possible) and figure out who has a current “50% off one item” coupon. It’s a pain. And they haven’t been kind about “can you ring me up separately for each item?” even if there’s just two items. YMMV.
JoAnn’s policy allow one “any item” coupon per item you’re buying AND one “entire purchase” coupon atop it all. So if you’re buying 6 non-sale things, you can hand them 7 coupons. The entire purchase coupon can be the “15% off” style or the “$5 off $30+” style.
Also, the Michael’s and Hobby Lobby in my former home town both carried fabric, so JoAnn’s would accept those for fabric-only purchases. Here, however, if I’m only buying fabric @ JoAnn’s, they won’t take any Michael’s nor Hobby Lobby coupons. That will depend on local inventory, apparently.
For this reason, I’ve almost entirely stopped shopping at Michael’s since I save so much more using coupons @ JoAnn’s.
Just 2 days ago I used 2 coupons at Michaels. I had a 30% off the entire purchase and a 40% off 1 item coupon. I had already given the cashier the 1st coupon and I asked her if I could also use the 2nd one. She said, “We can try” and she scanned it. The computer accepted both, so it worked!
every Michael’s store is different, which is EXTREMELY frustrating. You just need to go hoping for the best re: competitor coupons, but expecting the worst.
I’ve looked and asked (by calling) for a formal policy re: accepting competitor coupons, because there are more Michaels in my areas than Joanns, and they just basically don’t have one (if they tell you they do, don’t believe them. Trust me, there’s no consistency. Some shoppers might find that locally, all their stores follow the same policy — but that’s DEFINITELY not true here in the DFW area).
I think it has much to do with the cashiers than the store some of them are very pleasant will go the extra mile … some are just so rude they wont even let you talk Bad costumer service thats all
I used to work at Joann’s and if a cashier tells you that a competitor coupon can’t be entered because it’s a total % off, they are full of crap, because I have done that for customers in the past. But I was also that cashier/cut counter worker that would personally take time to show older customers how to find coupons on their smart phones and emails. I had older ladies that were always telling me that I was doing the Lord’s work when I did that.
I’ve been working at Michaels for more than 2 years now and I can tell you that my store will only except coupons from Aaron brothers, hobby lobby, and joanns (It has to be a local competitor for that store) so each store will vary depending on competitors around that location. And yes you can use 2 coupons; one 40% off a single regular priced item and a 20% off entire purchase. But the coupons are very specific, so please read them. A lot of the time it will be 20% off of only REGULAR priced items (I’ve been yelled at because it didn’t take it off sale items and had to point out that it even states it wont). So please if you have any questions just ask a cashier apon arrival and they’ll tell you what coupons can be used that day. Have a good day y’all!
How about hobby lobby ooooo and you said some take 2 coupons can they both be competitors coupons or have to be one and one
Michaels will not accept competitors coupons for the total purchase. They only accept coupons for a single reglar price item, up to 50%.
But yes if you have a total purchase coupon from michaels (including military, teacher, and aarp discount) it can be used with either one michaels or one competitor’s Single item coupon.
I work at Michael’s, and just today I cleared with a manager to use a “x% off entire purchase” coupon from JoAnn’s for a customer, along with a “x% off of a regular item” coupon from both us and JoAnn’s in the same transaction. Used the same in-app “x% off of regular” coupon in a seperate transaction for the customer’s friend, but eh.
I think our corporate policy has that standard to avoid coupon abuse and give employees some support when dealing with exceptionally rude customers, but also some are accepted at a manager’s discretion. In my case, they asked the manager before they even went shopping around and fit to me. It might also be because we don’t have have any “x% off entire purchase” coupons active this week.
Personally, I try Every coupon a customer gives me, mainly because if they had a good experience, they will come back to my store.
I use competitor total purchase coupons at my local Michael’s all the time.
You did not address hobby lobby policy on coupons from their competitors
That’s because they don’t take them
Publix accepts one competitor coupon per customer per day…but you have to check list at store or ask customer service associate, my store will only accept kroger coupons 🙁
My friend used to work at Michaels not too long ago. I always went shopping there with her cause of her discount and she knew everything that was going on that week. The coupon policy can be confusing. So she explained to me and told me that you can use more than one coupon in the same transaction BUT ONLY if they are different coupons for example a 40% one regular priced item, a 25% for entire purchase or a coupon that has a specific % of for SPECIFIC items. You can use them all at once the system won’t say no. Another thing you can’t use two of the same coupons for example a 40% and 50% off one regular priced item are considered the same thing. And a 25% of all REGULAR priced items or 25% entire purchase INCLUDING SALE items is also the same cause it’s off the entire purchase still. It all varies on what the manager of the store approves or doesn’t. The managers at the store my friend worked at said to make sure the customer is happy and satisfied. Again the system won’t stop you from using more than one. They just say you can’t to avoid people abusing coupons and if the person says no you can always do another transaction. I think I remember her saying you can only do 2 separate transactions though.
I have found that their coupon policy sometimes varies a lot depending upon the area you live in. If the hobby and craft industry is going well and Michaels is the only store in your area, they will be more strict about who’s coupons you can use and what combination they will accept, but if you live in an area like I do, where we have two Michaels, a Hobby Lobby and an AC Moore within five miles of each other, they are usually very lenient. Just be friendly and don’t raise a fuss if your cashier isn’t ready to work you with you on any given day….you could be ruining it for the rest of us!
Today, September 5th, 2016, Hobby Lobby does not take competitor coupons, I got a blank look when I told them that which means whoever wrote this probably should verify it again
Petsmart will honor competitor coupons (competitor is defined as a local retailer with a physical location). They also price match any local retailer for the same identical item (even Walmart). Additionally, they will also price match their own website, which often has lower prices than those in the store.
Thanks for the great tip Jason, I’ll add it to the article!
Michael’s that i have been to do not take multiple coupons unless they are offer more than 1 at a time. They also only accepted coupons from competitors if they were a 40% or 50% reg. Priced items. Im not sure what their corporate policy is but you think that all would have the same policy which clearly is not the case. I have had employees break the rules once or twice and allow me to use more than 1 but they are almost as strict as hobby lobby.
With Michaels, it’s definitely store by store, and even cashier by cashier. Our Westlake Village, CA store is always friendly and helpful with coupons, whereas our Moorpark store is almost always awful, with unfriendly and unhelpful workers. One cashier there told me I couldn’t use two different types of coupons (which I knew to be false), and then even told me she was the manager when I asked for one, which I found out was a lie. Called later for the actual manager, who explained that multiple coupons can be used if they are different (I.e. one is a % off a single item and one is a % off total). That was about a year ago. Currently, I’m told every time that Michaels will only accept competitor coupons if Michaels also has the same coupon available at that same (which defeats the benefit for the customer of taking competitors coupons).
ShopRite also accepts other Grocery store coupons.
You didn’t mention Target.
Sadly, as of March 2020, Michael’s no longer accepts competitors’ coupons. 😩 However, they will still match competitor pricing, if you bring in the ad. But I’m still bummed about the coupons.
https://www.michaels.com/coupon-policy/ca-coupon-policy.html