Hobby Lobby plans Feb. 13 opening

Hobby Lobby is expected to open Monday, Feb. 13, in Kalispell, offering 55,000 square feet of retail space featuring craft and home décor products.

The new store is located on Old Reserve Drive, off U.S. 93 North in the Spring Prairie Commons commercial development. It will employ 35 to 50 people who will earn $15.35 per hour for full-time work and $10.23 per hour for part-time associates.

“Once you visit Hobby Lobby, you will see that we are very unique, offering the widest variety of merchandise in the craft and home decor market under one roof,” said John Schumacher, assistant vice president of advertising. “We’re tremendously excited about becoming a part of the Kalispell community.”

Hobby Lobby has more than 700 stores across the United States. Each store offers more than 75,000 crafting and home decor products, including floral, fabric, needle art, custom framing, baskets, home accents, wearable art, arts and crafts, jewelry making, scrapbooking and paper crafting supplies.

The Oklahoma City-based corporation began as Greco, a miniature picture-frame company in 1970. When David Green moved his business from the family garage to a 300-square-foot retail space in 1972, Hobby Lobby was born. It is now the nation’s largest privately owned arts and crafts retailer.

In 2016 Hobby Lobby opened 56 new stores, including eight relocated stores.

Plans are in the works to open 60 new locations and hire 1,700 to 2,500 new employees in 2017. In Montana, Hobby Lobby currently has stores in Billings and Helena.

Store hours will be Monday through Saturday from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. All Hobby Lobby stores are closed on Sunday.

For more information about Hobby Lobby, weekly specials, coupon offers, store locations and online shopping, visit hobbylobby.com, download the mobile app or follow on Facebook at facebook.com/hobbylobby.

Features editor Lynnette Hintze may be reached at 758-4421 or by email at lhintze@dailyinterlake.com.