Hobby Lobby facts for kids
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Hobby Lobby store in Onalaska, Wisconsin
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Formerly
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Hobby Lobby Creative Centers |
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| Private | |
| Industry | Retail |
| Founded | August 3, 1972, in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, U.S. (as Hobby Lobby Creative Centers) |
| Founder | David Green |
| Headquarters |
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
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U.S.
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Number of locations
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1,001 |
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Area served
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United States |
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Key people
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| Products | Arts and crafts supplies |
| Revenue |  $7.9 billion (2023) |
| Owner | Green family |
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Number of employees
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43,000+ (2020) |
Hobby Lobby Stores, Inc., formerly Hobby Lobby Creative Centers, is an American retail company. It owns a chain of arts and crafts stores with a volume of over $5 billion in 2018. The chain has 1,001 stores in 48 U.S. states. The Green family founded Hobby Lobby to express their Christian beliefs and the chain incorporates American conservative values and Christian media.
History
In 1972, David Green opened the first Hobby Lobby store in northwest Oklahoma City. Green left his supervisor position with variety store TG&Y to open a second Hobby Lobby in Oklahoma City in 1975. He opened an additional store in Tulsa, Oklahoma the next year. Hobby Lobby grew to seven stores by mid-1982, and the first store outside Oklahoma opened in 1984. When Green expanded the scope of the business to include furniture and high-end cookware during the early 1980s, it led to losses as the economy slowed. He returned to an arts and crafts emphasis and by late-1992, the chain had grown to 50 locations in seven U.S. states.
As a Christian-owned company, Hobby Lobby incorporates American conservative values and Christian media. David Green, the son of a preacher, declares on the Hobby Lobby web site, "Honoring the Lord in all we do by operating the company in a manner consistent with Biblical principles." Similar to Chick-fil-A, all stores are closed on Sundays to "allow employees time for family and worship," according to signs posted on the front doors of their retail stores.
Hobby Lobby announced on September 14, 2020, that the company's full-time minimum hourly wage would be raised to $17 effective October 1, 2020, increased from the $15 minimum wage established in 2014. It continued that trend by raising the minimum full-time hourly wage to $18.50, effective Jan. 1, 2022, while increasing its part-time minimum hourly wage by 18% to $13. Hobby Lobby says it has raised its minimum wage twelve times over the thirteen years through 2021.
Retail strategy
As of 2023, Hobby Lobby has 1,001 stores in 48 states (every state except Alaska and Hawaii).
Hobby Lobby typically seeks to rent big-box facilities, such as previously occupied supermarkets, hardware stores or Kmarts in mid- to high-income suburban areas. This allows Hobby Lobby to save 50–70 percent on an older, existing building lease as compared with constructing a new retail space, which they view as critical to their competitive advantage in the arts and crafts industry. Their stores range in size up to 90,000 square feet (8,400 m2), and they draw customers from a 10–15-mile (16–24 km) radius.
