Hobby Lobby

Though smaller than some of the other big craft retail chains, Hobby Lobby is growing rapidly into a regional crafts powerhouse. It now has stores in 30 states and make more than a billion dollars annually. Not bad for a store that started with 300 square feet in Oklahoma City 34 years ago!

The History of Hobby Lobby

David Green, founder and CEO of Hobby Lobby, began in the business by selling miniature picture frames. That business was started in 1970 and Green’s first store opened in north Oklahoma City in 1972. IN 1973, he moved to a storefront with more than 1,000 square feet of retail space, and the company hasn’t stopped growing since.

Hobby Lobby stores can now be found in 30 states, mostly in the south, west, and Midwest, and the corporate home of Hobby Lobby has grown to a 3.4 million square foot manufacturing, distribution and office complex, still located in Oklahoma’s capital city.

Hobby Lobby’s Affiliates

Hobby Lobby has six affiliated companies, not all having to do with crafts. Mardel, founded by Green’s son, Mart, is a retailer of Christian books, music, office supplies and other materials. It has 21 stores in five states.

Hemispheres is a home furnishings store. The first opened in Oklahoma City in 2001, and there are now five locations in three states. H.L. Construction is an affiliated company that builds Hobby Lobby Stores, while Hong Kong Connection is the company’s supplier for Chinese goods. Bearing Fruit Communications is a Christian media firm that produces documentaries, movies, public service announcements and other information promoting Christianity.

Finally and most importantly for our purposes, there’s Crafts, Etc., which distributes craft supplies to Hobby Lobby and other retailers. If you want to shop online from Hobby Lobby, you’re actually shopping with Crafts, Etc., which we’ll talk more about in a minute.

Hobby Lobby Stores

A Hobby Lobby store is a lot like a Michaels Crafts or a Joann Crafts. Inside you will find departments such as seasonal decorations and crafts, cards and party, candle and soap making supplies, scrapbooking, models, jewelry making, kids crafts, art supplies, framing, fabric, yarn, floral and gifts.

Hobby Lobby stores vary widely in size and the number of items available. My local store just underwent an expansion that allowed them to carry more items and have a much more user-friendly store.

Hobby Lobby locations also vary on the number and variety of in-store classes that are offered. My local store has very few classes other than cake decorating, while one in a bigger city in Oklahoma has classes almost every day. The store locator can help you find a store near you and see if there are any classes being offered that month.

Hobby Lobby has weekly sales that are really great and often include seasonal merchandise. A great way to save money when you aren’t in a hurry is to watch the ads to see when the supplies you need are on sale. The ads often include a coupon for 40 percent off any single item, which you can use for your more expensive purchases that are not on sale.

The main thing that sets Hobby Lobby apart from the other giant craft stores is that it is the store’s nationwide policy to be closed on Sundays. Hobby Lobby is a Christian organization and they believe that people should be home with their families on Sundays, not out buying craft supplies. Whether you subscribe to their beliefs or not, Hobby Lobby has a wide selection of craft supplies at good prices, which draws in customers the other six days of the week.

Hobby Lobby Online

As I mentioned earlier, Hobby Lobby’s website links directly to Crafts, Etc. instead of providing its own online catalog. The downside to this is that not all items are available for purchase online, and things that are on sale in the store are not on sale online.

Still, if you didn’t live near a Hobby Lobby and were looking for a particular craft item, the Crafts, Etc. catalog might be enough for you. They have more than 20,000 items on offer and most are shipped within two or three business days. I like to check out the website if I’m looking for something I don’t know if they’ll have in the store. If I can find it on the site, odds are I can find it in my local store (though of course the catalog does not reflect everything in the store and not everything is sold in every store).

On the Hobby Lobby page itself, you can find projects, many of which are related to holidays. Be aware that the projects are all in PDFs, which does not make for easy browsing, but does get you nice big pictures of the finished crafts.