Can You Buy The Works Art Supplies Online? What Changed in 2026

June 17, 2026

Can You Buy The Works Art Supplies Online? What Changed in 2026 | Discount Art Supplies

Written by Paul Worrall

If you’ve been trying to order art supplies from The Works online and finding the website won’t let you checkout — you haven’t done anything wrong and the site isn’t broken. The Works closed its online shop on 20 March 2026 with immediate effect and converted their website to browse-only. You can still see the products, but you can’t buy them. Here’s what happened, what The Works still offers, and where to buy similar art supplies online right now.

Quick Answer

Can you buy The Works art supplies online? No — The Works stopped online sales in March 2026. The website is now browse-only. You can only buy in store at one of their 500+ UK locations.

Looking for alternatives? Hobbycraft, Crafty Arts and Amazon all sell comparable products online. See recommendations below.

What Happened to The Works Online Shop?

On 20 March 2026, The Works announced it was shutting its online shop with immediate effect and reverting to a browse-only website. The announcement came in a trading update from TheWorks.co.uk PLC and was described as a strategic decision rather than a crisis response — though the underlying reasons make clear the channel had been struggling for some time.

The Works cited two specific problems. The first was operational: the company had experienced repeated failures with two successive third-party delivery partners, which had made the channel unreliable for customers and expensive to run. The second was financial: online sales had been loss-making and accounted for less than 10% of group revenue. When a channel contributes less than one pound in ten and loses money on every order, the business case for continuing it is genuinley difficult to make.

The economics of selling low-price products online are brutal. A canvas that retails at £4.99 in store can cost £3.95 or more to deliver — before you factor in packaging, warehousing, returns and customer service. At those margins, online is often a route to losing money on your best-selling lines rather than growing the business. I’ve spent sixteen years in art supplies and craft retail and I’ve watched this calculation trip up more than one retailer. For a value retailer like The Works, where the whole proposition is price-accessible products, the maths simply didn’t work.

The City’s reaction tells the real story: The Works’ share price jumped 13-19% on the day of the announcement. Investors weren’t worried — they were relieved the loss-making channel was being cut. The company also upgraded its earnings guidance on the same day, from £12.7 million to £15 million for the 2027 financial year.

What Does The Works Still Sell?

The Works website remains live as a browse-only platform — you can see their current product range, check what’s in stock and find your nearest store, but you can’t add anything to a basket or check out. All purchasing now happens in store.

The in-store range remains broad: art supplies including acrylic paints, watercolour sets, canvases, sketchbooks, pencils and colouring materials; craft supplies; books; stationery; toys; and seasonal products. The range that made The Works popular for affordable art and craft basics — cheap canvases, starter paint sets, colouring pencils, kids’ craft kits — is all still available. You just have to go there in person to buy it.

With over 500 stores across the UK, The Works has good national coverage. Use their store finder to locate your nearest branch before making a trip. Our city guides cover The Works alongside other art supply options in York, Cardiff, Cambridge and elsewhere.

Does The Works Have a Discount Code?

Without an online shop, conventional discount codes at The Works no longer apply in the way they would for an online order. In-store, The Works runs regular promotions — 3 for 2 deals, buy-one-get-one offers and seasonal sale events — which are the primary way to save money there now. The The Works website and their social media channels are the best places to check for current in-store promotions before you visit.

The Works does not currently operate a loyalty programme or a student discount scheme that applies in store. If you’re looking for an art supplies retailer with a strong student discount, Hobbycraft offers 10% via Student Beans and 15% via Blue Light Card — our Hobbycraft discount code guide covers everything.

Where to Buy The Works Art Supplies Online — Alternatives

If you were relying on The Works online for affordable art supplies and craft materials, here are the best online alternatives covering the same product territory.

Hobbycraft is the most direct like-for-like alternative — a broad range of art supplies, craft materials and creative hobby products at accessible price points, with online ordering, Click and Collect from 100+ UK stores and fast delivery. Check our Hobbycraft discount code guide before every order. Student discount (10%) and Blue Light Card discount (15%) both available.

Crafty Arts covers a similar range of art and craft supplies online with free delivery over £40 and up to 80% off in their warehouse clearance section. Use code WP10 for 10% off your first order — see our Crafty Arts discount guide for full details.

Amazon covers the commodity end of the art supplies market — canvases, basic acrylic sets, sketchbooks, coloured pencils — at competitive prices with fast Prime delivery. For budget basics, it’s often the cheapest option available online.

Craft Buddy is worth knowing about for the craft kits category — Crystal Art, paint by numbers and Forever Flowerz are all areas where The Works had a presence and Craft Buddy now fills that gap with higher quality versions. See our Craft Buddy discount code guide for current savings.

For price comparison across all major UK art retailers in real time — so you always find the cheapest option before you order anywhere — use our price comparison by brand and price comparison by category tools.

Is The Works Closing Stores Too?

No — The Works closed its online shop but its 500+ physical stores remain open and are central to the company’s strategy going forward. The decision to exit ecommerce was explicitly described as a move to focus investment on the store estate rather than a sign of broader financial trouble. The upgraded earnings guidance issued on the same day as the online closure announcement suggests the business is in reasonable health — just committed to a store-first model.

The Works has been a fixture on UK high streets since 1981 and shows no sign of reducing its physical footprint. If anything, the removal of the online loss-making channel frees up resource to invest in the in-store experience.

The Works Art Supplies — Quick Summary

Can I buy The Works art supplies online? No. The Works closed its online shop on 20 March 2026. The website is now browse-only.

Why did The Works stop selling online? Loss-making channel, delivery partner failures, and less than 10% of revenue contribution made online unsustainable.

Are The Works stores still open? Yes — 500+ stores across the UK remain open. Use the store finder.

Does The Works have a discount code? No online codes — look for in-store promotions via their website and social channels.

Best online alternatives: Hobbycraft, Crafty Arts (code WP10), Amazon, Craft Buddy.