Hobby Lobby Shrinking?

[storewanderer]

Went into Reno unit. Numerous empty aisles- pretty much all of Christmas is gone except for a couple barely stocked aisles and they are trying to get Spring seasonal out. It seems like most of the "furniture" category is... just flat out gone.

I did notice the Christmas items and new Spring items now have bar codes on the price stickers. I didn't buy anything to see if they were scanning.

The other interesting thing is they have tall shelves above the main shelves on most of the aisles of the core craft categories for overstock- these are 3-high in Reno. Those shelves were 5% stocked throughout the store at the most.

The other interesting thing was the various center aisle 4 sided island type displays, they used to have those basically two put back to back so they formed a square. They broke them up so now there are two smaller rectangle shaped island type displays spaces further apart. The net here is they took away probably 40% of the shelf area from these displays. This is a recent change, there is gunk all over the floor from the shifting of these shelves throughout the entire front walkway of the store around seasonal and also over on the opposite side of the store toward floral and frames.

Also the rest of the store was pretty poorly stocked in core categories.

[ClownLoach]

Went into Reno unit. Numerous empty aisles- pretty much all of Christmas is gone except for a couple barely stocked aisles and they are trying to get Spring seasonal out. It seems like most of the "furniture" category is... just flat out gone.

I did notice the Christmas items and new Spring items now have bar codes on the price stickers. I didn't buy anything to see if they were scanning.

The other interesting thing is they have tall shelves above the main shelves on most of the aisles of the core craft categories for overstock- these are 3-high in Reno. Those shelves were 5% stocked throughout the store at the most.

The other interesting thing was the various center aisle 4 sided island type displays, they used to have those basically two put back to back so they formed a square. They broke them up so now there are two smaller rectangle shaped island type displays spaces further apart. The net here is they took away probably 40% of the shelf area from these displays. This is a recent change, there is gunk all over the floor from the shifting of these shelves throughout the entire front walkway of the store around seasonal and also over on the opposite side of the store toward floral and frames.

Also the rest of the store was pretty poorly stocked in core categories.

They've had bar codes for years on seasonal, but it's only for use at the warehouse. Still not used at store level. I think it's absolutely ridiculous.

[storewanderer]

They've had bar codes for years on seasonal, but it's only for use at the warehouse. Still not used at store level. I think it's absolutely ridiculous.

Shows you how long since I bought something there in seasonal...

I think scanning is coming to the stores...

Also noticed they put in the newer Verifone pinpads. Don't know if they turned on Contactless yet since I didn't buy anything.

[HCal]

Not to turn this into a political discussion, but I know a few people in California who said they would not shop at Hobby Lobby after the Supreme Court case. I wonder if that plays a factor in this. I'm sure it resulted in a boost in business in the south and more religious areas, but it may have harmed their sales in urban areas.

[Alpha8472]

Hobby Lobby is not very popular in the San Francisco Bay Area. You often see very few customers. The Dublin, California store was always empty of customers. I don't know how it managed to stay open all of these years.

I found the store to be very mediocre. There was a ton of stuff, but it just seemed like a big garage sale of kitschy junk. It was very disorganized. Most of these items aren't very appealing. The atmosphere of the store was very stuffy. It is sort of a store where mostly senior citizen ladies would shop.

[storewanderer]

Not to turn this into a political discussion, but I know a few people in California who said they would not shop at Hobby Lobby after the Supreme Court case. I wonder if that plays a factor in this. I'm sure it resulted in a boost in business in the south and more religious areas, but it may have harmed their sales in urban areas.

I know people who said that too and the quit shopping there for six months then forgot about it and went back and have never talked about it again.

I don't think the case in itself has impacted their business. Not any more than how they do business already would have impacted their business.

I think other things such as religious elements built into their product assortment, and not being open Sunday, may turn off some customers.

[storewanderer]

Hobby Lobby is not very popular in the San Francisco Bay Area. You often see very few customers. The Dublin, California store was always empty of customers. I don't know how it managed to stay open all of these years.

I found the store to be very mediocre. There was a ton of stuff, but it just seemed like a big garage sale of kitschy junk. It was very disorganized. Most of these items aren't very appealing. The atmosphere of the store was very stuffy. It is sort of a store where mostly senior citizen ladies would shop.

I wonder why they are relocating at all and not just closing Dublin and moving on?

They seem to do well around Sacramento. They do fantastic in Reno; I cannot believe how well they do. I never thought we had that kind of demand for that kind of store in the market day in and day out (Michaels nearby also stays busy and the Jo Ann also always has traffic).

[veteran+]

Not to turn this into a political discussion, but I know a few people in California who said they would not shop at Hobby Lobby after the Supreme Court case. I wonder if that plays a factor in this. I'm sure it resulted in a boost in business in the south and more religious areas, but it may have harmed their sales in urban areas.

Most anyone I know will not shop there (so they say) but I doubt it materially affected the company.

I'm usually an outlier on most things but I have a will of steel when I decide about something like this. To this day I will not shop at Walmart, Dollar type stores, Chick Fillet, In & Out and others. There is nothing that I have to have or I will die type scenario that will cause me to give them my dollars.

[storewanderer]

Not to turn this into a political discussion, but I know a few people in California who said they would not shop at Hobby Lobby after the Supreme Court case. I wonder if that plays a factor in this. I'm sure it resulted in a boost in business in the south and more religious areas, but it may have harmed their sales in urban areas.

Most anyone I know will not shop there (so they say) but I doubt it materially affected the company.

I'm usually an outlier on most things but I have a will of steel when I decide about something like this. To this day I will not shop at Walmart, Dollar type stores, Chick Fillet, In & Out and others. There is nothing that I have to have or I will die type scenario that will cause me to give them my dollars.

There are plenty of alternatives to those retailers.

I'm waiting for you to come around on Grocery Outlet though. Once you get a good operator store convenient to you, you will be shocked. I am shocked I came around. They do not sell expired products anymore.

[veteran+]

Noted, but I doubt there will be one near me within a 5 mile radius anytime in the near future.

And with traffic I don't see me traveling farther out to "take a chance" on one singular store being acceptable.