WATERVILLE — Hobby Lobby, a family-owned craft and home decor business that says it looks to the Bible for guidance, expects to open a store in early March at Elm Plaza off Main Street, bringing 35 to 50 jobs to the city.
Those jobs will pay $15.70 per hour for full time positions and $12 an hour for part-time, according to a company press release Thursday announcing the opening date.
Kelly Black, the company’s director of advertising, said in the release that Hobby Lobby is “tremendously excited about becoming part of the Waterville community.”
“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,” she said.
Construction at the former Kmart site at Elm Plaza has been ongoing since last fall as Hobby Lobby prepares for its March opening. The store will take up a 50,000-square-foot space next to Hannaford.
The Waterville store will be open 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Saturday.
With corporate offices in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, Hobby Lobby is a privately-held national retail chain store. It carries items including arts and craft supplies, fabric, cards, wedding and party items, baskets and holiday merchandise, according to its website.
Dave Welsh, right, and Steve Williams install vinyl soffits while working at the Hobby Lobby store under construction in Waterville on Thursday. Morning Sentinel photo by Rich Abrahamson Buy this Photo
Hobby Lobby, which currently has stores in Auburn and Bangor, lists its values on its website as “honoring the Lord in all we do by operating in a manner consistent with Biblical principles.”
The city last year issued electrical, plumbing and building permits to Hobby Lobby, Waterville Code Enforcement Officer Dan Bradstreet said in November.
Now, the largest privately-owned arts and crafts retailer in the U.S., Hobby Lobby Stores Inc. started in 1970 as Greco, a miniature picture frame company owned by David Green. In 1972, he moved the business from the family garage to a 300-square-foot retail space and the business became known as Hobby Lobby.
The news release says the company has more than 850 stores in the U.S., with each offering more than 70,000 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.
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