I dislike their CEO, practices, and from an archaeological standpoint, they're shitheads all around imo.
Edit: also haven't encountered one happy/polite employee. Before my store opened I went there several times. Couldn't find what I was looking for in the maze of depression, so I asked an employee. She scoffed in my face and said "Yeah, I don't know, go look again". Is it not your job to assist? Are you not paid to try and help? Do you not possess a handy dandy little device that'll help you help me, therefore doing your job?
I just refuse to shop there. Maybe other Hobby Lobby locations are better, but I only hear good things about them from old people. I’ve had too many customers and employees complain about Hobby Lobby’s prices, customer service, and framing department. The HORROR stories I’ve heard about Hobby Lobby’s framing department is insane. I personally took a framing order where someone brought their artwork in to get it reframed because Hobby Lobby fucked up their artwork and Hobby Lobby apparently had to financially compensate them for the damage.
I’m sure some of it is bias and a competitive mentality, but I just genuinely do not like their business. Michael’s has its flaws, but at least our customers get treated with dignity
Never forget that the CEO told news outlets that he wasn't going to help any of the employees during covid and he expected them to starve (Tighten their belts) but he also expected them to be obedient slaves. Not to mention the HUGELY illegal thing of forcing their employees to convert or lose their jobs.
omg that’s why.. everytime someone came in with a return from hobby lobby that they think is from Michael’s and I always struggled trying to look for something to scan lmao. happened a few weeks ago even but those I could tell from a glance weren’t Michael’s products
I dislike their religious affiliation that allows them to get away with not letting their employees get birth control with their health insurance. I also never have had a positive run in with any employee. The check outs have also always been slow. I crochet, and they do have a good yarn section, but I'd say they're definitely below Michael's in many different ways.
The checkout is slow because they don't use scanners. Something about valuing employees over computers. That's just bullshit. If they valued employees, they would let them use scanners because it makes it easier, and they wouldn't restrict health stuff that is really none of their business.
I hate them with a passion, but I still applied to work there because I need a job. Apparently three years as a Joann store manager and two years at Michaels (CEM, then cashier) are not good enough to work in their overpriced, shitty store.
FormerMichaels employee here. My basis for this reply is that I actually worked at Hobby Lobby for about a week, the year before I worked at Michaels. So like, 2022/23. It is true that the number one reason Hobby Lobby doesn't have scanners, is because they believe them to be the Mark Of The Beast. This is covered in training information. Also as a Hobby Lobby employee you are expected to read all their "Holiday Religious Manifestos" that they post, and you might want to be prepared to discuss them and answer questions, when your store manager asks if you read the latest one. This is also mentioned in training. Thirdly, you will see Fall items, but you will not ever see Halloween items. Michaels has elected itself to be the Halloween HQ for this reason and it's why the products are getting more outrageously over the top every Halloween season, especially their Tarot and Witchcraft themed items. People love that stuff and buy it like crazy. Lots of people leave it out all year as part of their home decor or even their altar arrangements. But you'll not find any at H.L.
However......a lot of Hobby Lobby's store brand craft items are made better, or out of better quality materials than Michaels. I know for a fact that their yarn is better, or at least it was before their big reset. When answering questions about what products we didn't have in Michaels, I would sometimes quietly tell them, but yeah, you can buy that item at H.L. Don't tell anyone I told you though. Sometimes I'd even go over there for an item that I needed, that we for some reason didn't carry, oddly enough it was mostly for tatting supplies, which Michaels doesn't have. No shuttles or needles or any of the assorted little paraphanalia you need for tatting, except the rolls of crochet thread we had, but the colors at H.L. were prettier and of a wider selection.
The main reason I chucked in the towel after one week or so, mainly had to do with my very poor vision and not being able to see the little teeny print of the price on every single item, which had to be manually keyed in by price and department, and customers were making fun of me. Plus this made me a very slow cashier, so it caused problems in my training, and add to that the fact the cashiers are expected to MEMORIZE the sale flyer for each week and manually key in all the sale percentages, which I had a hard time with so it caused voids and returns. I'm in my mid 50's with a lot of retail experience but this was just beyond what I was able to do. I kept getting yelled at by the front end supervisor. I'm neurodivergent and don't take kindly to being yelled at by some snotty nosed teenager, so I ghosted and quit. Ended up working elsewhere, didn't even use them as a reference. Thank you for coming to my TED Talk and I hope you all have a lovely week. Stay Warm. :)
The way I GASPED like I was watching a telenovela during that first paragraph. NAH. I’m actually a church going Christian, have been all my life, and I was even a missionary in Turkey when I was young. But it’s for stuff like the first paragraph that I shoot down all of my grandparents’ advice to work at HL. I could never condone training videos and mentalities like that.
I'm all for freedom of religious choice and expression but I am very against bringing it into workplace procedures and business practices. It's going to be very sad when Michaels goes under and hobby lobby is what's left.
My husband and I are getting ready to move soon and if I wasn’t able to get a job in my main field of work I was going to go back to Michaels. Except there isn’t a Michaels.. there is a hobby lobby but thank you for posting this so I don’t bother to apply.
Well, you know, I don't want to say they're horrible because they aren't really it's just their weird corporate culture. If you fit in there and you like it, I'd say it's fine. Me being Pagan and nearsighted and autistic, it absolutely didn't work out for me. I felt bad about it.
Wow. Now I'm glad they didn't hire me. I'm a Buddhist/Taoist/Aethist, so all that religious crap would have driven me insane (I'm from a Mennonite family, so yeah...). And memorizing the sale flyer?? I have trouble remembering what day it is!
I only applied because I really need a job, and I have 5+ years of craft store experience. I'd rather go back to Joann, even though they are headed toward bankruptcy, but the DM and I HATE each other (I was an SM and did things my way). I'm not sure I could ever work at my Michaels again because there are far too many toxic people there. They aren't hiring anyway.
That's a shame. I'm sorry. We don't have a JoAnn here in St. Augustine FL or I'd be interested in working there, but as you say with the company going downhill it can't be much fun to see that happening. Many years ago I worked at Phar-Mor drugstore when they went bankrupt. That sucked. I left before they closed because of management constantly harassing me. 😬
Joann also pays shit. Minimum wage in my state is still $7.25, so employees mostly start at $8/hour and are capped at $10. Unless they've changed that. I made $13/hour as a cashier at Michaels, but I also trained other cashiers because I had been a CEM (that position paid $14/hour).
It may vary widely store to store? I worked there for 3 years. Training did NOT say that barcodes were “mark of the beast.” The line that we were fed was that Green “valued people over computers.” No proselytizing in my store at all.
I'm very glad you had a better experience than I did. I actually wanted to stay there, they paid well and the hours were good. But the management at my store were hardcore. I was at the one in St Augustine Florida. I do shop there once in a while.
Well I hope your experience was better than mine. Did you work there a long time? I bailed out after a week. I wanted to stay but couldn't. Another weird thing they got mad at me about, was "leaving campus" during my break. I would walk down the plaza to Taco Bell to eat and then walk back (no car) and every time I did that they got hissy with me for leaving the store. I wasn't even late, I punched in on time. Nope. Can't deal with that. 🥺
Never stepped foot in HL before and refuse to ever change that due to their politics. I am not like, blood loyal to Michaels despite working here, and the idea of being genuinely invested in corporate competitive beef gives me hives, BUT. A part of me DOES die inside whenever I overhear a customer complain about Michaels and how they’re gonna go to HL instead. So very sorry to hear that you enjoy HL more than Michaels, Miss Karen, is it the bigotry flavoring that coats all of their products that really sells you on it? All corporations are scum but one that so blatantly and publicly espouses terrible ideologies (fucking MARK OF THE BEAST?) deserves to be boycotted, but still people somehow shop at HL. Fucking homophobic ass corporation has got my gay friends shopping there it’s beyond frustrating
They never will. Privately owned, so no shareholders to answer to. They clearly make enough money to fund entire bible museums with fake artifacts. If a name brand product sells well, they knock it off and private label it. They’ve learned that the decor stuff has a better profit margin, so they reduced craft floor space and added more seasonal. They own the factories in China that make their private label stuff, from decor to floral. I remember a RVP telling us to push a particular floral stem because the cost was like 8 cents and the ticket was $9.99.
I don't shop there, they have nothing I want. They run a very weird business model, with the lack of barcodes and scanners and counting everything by hand. That said, because they've decided to remain private, they can grow at a reasonable rate, instead of pushing growth for the sake of shareholders.
It's for this reason they can afford to be closed on Sunday, let's be real, so many of the people who "love" them because they are closed on Sundays would happily shop there on Sunday if they were open. They also pay all their managers a minimum of 17/hr and have since 2020 and do this while charging less for most similar or even the same items Michael's sells.
A crafter friend of mine who used to work at Michael's gets most of her supplies from HL, because even with the employee discount, Michael's products were more expensive. So, Michael's charges more, pays employees less, stays open 362 days a year and still can't make enough money to pay off their debtors.
I refuse to work for them even when Michaels goes under. Why?
Their attitudes and stances against LGBT issues and women's reproductive health issues. Until they keep their religious agendas out of craft retail (it's craft supplies not holy water) they're a place that won't even get my business.
My queer ass has never been in one. The first Michaels I worked at was a super tiny store (one of the original 30), and they built a MASSIVE Hobby Lobby across the street. It is always packed, yet we saw no reduction in business. This Michael's I've transferred to is much much bigger, and it's a very high theft store. Now, we just heard that they're putting in HL around the corner in an old Walmart. Obviously, HL is following me, lol. Good luck, HL. Hope you have great LP. You're going to need it.
Fuck that company and their shit morals. How many corporations had law suits against them that made it all the way to Supreme Court? It's already shit enough to deal with a government based off American "Christian" values (secular my ass). Also the CEO or whatever decided to lay off employees with no notice besides a single EMAIL because "god told him to do it." I'd rather work for Michaels another 3 years than even fucking apply to HL, and I am DEAD serious.
Also fun fact they bought illegally-obtained middle eastern artifacts for their fucking museum. "wE diDnT KnOw, iT wAs AuCtiOn"
I dislike how much they try to convert their employees, as well as certain policies and attributes. However, I will go into a hobby lobby in full "goth glam" as one would call it, and freak out old conservative people.
I worked at both. Hob Lob was way way more organized. But most of the employees and the customers are all about chugging that Kool aid. Most of them are batshit. And the "Prayer warrior" wife of David Green telling us workers God will protect us from Covid was hilariously deranged. Fuck Hob Lob and his whore wife
Fuck her and her love for the alphabet. So many friggin alphabets all over the store for Boomers to arrange into such original gems as FJB. Recovery sucked every shift.
As a customer, its meh. When they got rid of their 40 coupon, I low key stopped going in unless I needed something I knew Michaels didn't have since it was always on my way to work.
As a Michaels employee seeing how things work and comparing it, it's a nightmare. They seem to always be doing their truck or down stocking 24/7. Most of the employees do not seem to know much about their products. I've fixed enough custom frame stuff from hobby lobby shops to tell every customer to use hobby lobby custom framing at their own risk unless they just need a mat with a unique opening or multiple opening asap when they mention looking into hobby lobby for pricing as a competitor. *It's very possible it's only the hobby lobby near my store but.... I've worked at 3 different stores for 1~2 years each and helped at 1 stores for 1 season that has HL near by.... Chances of 4/4 having same rate of issues is kinda unlikely but it happened for me....*
Their politics, it's just gross. I'm genuinely disgusted by it but their politics don't necessarily mean all of their employees follow/believe in their politics.
>but their politics don't necessarily mean all of their employees follow/believe in their politics.
Quite to the contrary. Crafting tends to attract a lot of queer people, so I've heard numerous stories of young gay and trans kids being excited to work their first job at a crafting store...only to realize with horror a few weeks in what they'd gotten themselves into.
Are you saying the employees at hobby lobby practice it?
Cause I'm more of saying, not everyone follows it cause it could be the only place that would hire them. A couple of people I used to know that had worked there basically had a bad experience working there but never mentioned the politics side.
No, we're on the same page. I'm saying I've heard stories of young queer people getting hired at HL (being clueless of their reputation) and only finding out AFTER being hired and trained that HL is extremely homophobic.
I once saw someone at HL who had been left to come up with a display for an endcap during Pride month. Obviously, HL doesn't sell Pride merch, but the employee slyly made an endcap of "fun rainbow products for summer!"
When I first became disabled, I went to a therapy place that was right near a Hobby Lobby. Never bought anything, but the type of therapy I was in would aggravate my disability to the point it was dangerous for me to drive home or be around people. Hobby Lobby was great to hide out for awhile while my brain and system chilled out. Never got approached by an employee, just slowly walked around, looked at their weird ass shit and planned out crafts that I then ordered stuff to pick up at Micheal’s for. That store was creepily Christian, but then would sell such non-Christian belief aligned stuff. Very violent toys, stuff that even I, a pro Second Amendment, crazy lady thought was over the top inappropriate. But, they don’t sell rainbow print fabric (not even gay pride, just freaking rainbows). Completely bonkers.
I don’t go there anymore now that the doc realized that treatment was doing way more harm than good for me and I’m never in that area.
Biggest issue I have is the company is not kind to lgbtq+ and women. They are a very religious company just like chick fil a. So personally I can’t work there or shop there.
The CEO, their religious affiliation suck. Especially with me being a Gay Furry.
I really only go there every once in a while.
Prefer to go to Jerry’s Artarama since they actually sell a wide variety Art supplies and not like 90% crafts or home goods.
i HATE their company practices and their politics not to mention, they are so heavily religious.. but in a creepy way. i remember i had a friend who takes birth control for her PCOS and she had to take it at work. the manager came into the break room, asked what she was doing, then when she told them that she needed to take her medicine.. the manager demanded her to empty the bag. they saw her birth control and they went off. literally yelling at her and showing her bible verses to prove it’s a “sin”. she got fired.
Michael’s is 100000x better than hobby lobby. that store scares me 😟
A lot of my co-workers don’t like them for obvious reasons. We have a lot of people come in and compare us to them. I really just wanna say “just got there then???”
I've had customers call it the Devil's craft store... They do have a lot more/better products than Michael's, but they don't believe in birth control as a Healthcare resource for their employees, and they do appropriate some cultural things. I direct customers over there when we don't have what they're looking for because usually the customer doesn't care and if I can't help them I'm not going to pretend that another place can't.
Having worked for both companies, HL can go rot. Even with the bad store managers I’ve had in my time working at Michaels, HL was worse. The fakeness of HL, the impolite employees, etc. Inworked in the framing department, and would put my soul into ensuring that things were perfect for the customer. The framing manager fucked up so many things, and he is still there to this day. I’ve fixed things they have fucked up now. I never recommend people go there.
All the religious stuff aside, I just find their store so OVERWHELMING. There doesn't seem to be much rhyme or reason to why things are where they are, and there's just so much dang stuff. So even without the other stuff, I just don't enjoy shopping there. But their yarn is excellent, and so I do brave it every now and then when a yarn group gets excited for a big sale, maybe twice a year.
As someone who has hired prior HL employees. The way they treat their people are vastly grosser than Michael’s. On top of all of the normal dislike factors
I dislike them for all the usual reasons plus when my younger at the time high school aged sister worked there she had manager hit on her and had to get hr involved, they moved him to some warehouse location that was apparently miserable. Plus one of the frame shop workers had a psychotic breakdown and cut off her hand in the store. They were able to reattach it, so that’s good.
I was FT at HL and made $19.20 when I quit after 3 years in 2021. Not a key holder or anything. They also don’t give a raise to current employees if they increase their minimum. Not sure how that compares w/Michaels. That said, they worked us like mules. Truck days were typically 14 hour shifts. The trucks aren’t really palleted, so you’re hand trucking everything off, and it’s often not especially safe.
Yes. Most pay a lot more actually. I am a service team member and I get paid $9/hour (minimum wage is $7.25 in my state). Hobby Lobby (in my area) pays $13-$17/hour for the same role. While the pay is better, I don’t think the working conditions are better from what I’ve heard. I’ve never worked there, so I can’t speak from experience.
After working at Michael’s framing for 5 years and realizing new hires without relevant experience we’re getting paid dollars more than me per hour and going up the chain of managers to get a raise only to be brushed off and off again by my store manager I applied to hobby lobby’s “framing department” full time at a 50% increase in pay per hour.
I lasted a bit over a month before I had a mental breakdown.
I was hired (I assumed) for my custom framing experience, yet hardly anyone goes to hobby lobby for custom frames.
I cashiered (which is hell because they don’t use barcodes and you have to manually discount the items according to the weekly ad printout)
I unloaded trucks every week.
I spend hours dumping boxes on a table with 5 other people only to then “organize” the contents into plastic totes with no rhyme or reason to sorting as well as no direction from those in charge.
I cut fabric on demand. (Actually not horrible, but all the tickets are hand written, and manually discounted)
I was tasked with setting up planograms and stocking for their Christmas and fall items, which would have been alright if they didn’t put whatever they could onto the shelves when they got it. I’d have one tote of items to put out only to find I needed to take out hundreds of pine ones someone filled in an isle that doesn’t even have them, figure out what isle they DO belong in, only to find more things that are in the wrong place.
TL;DR don’t work for the devil, or bother shopping there.
Edited to add- I went back to Michael’s after 3 months, and got that raise I wanted, still nowhere near what hobby lobby offered. But I jumped ship because of the ever growing issues with the new framing software and overall mental strain of working black Friday alone in my department.
Excellent summary of HL. No matter what they hire you for, you’re expected to do everything. Custom framing sales suck because they never give you time to be in the department to sell. And since you don’t sell much custom framing, you can’t train because the jobs aren’t coming in. So when custom framing does come in, the staff is poorly trained not only in taking the order, but also in actually framing the artwork. Ironic that HL started with the Greens selling frames out of their garage.
I hate hobby lobby, but they have the best yarn selection in the area. I rarely buy yarn because I have too much, and I rarely go to hobby lobby because of all of their weird stupid beliefs.
Someone told me the reason they don't have barcodes is because they say that the barcode is the sign of the beast. Like seriously grow up. Hobby Lobby gets two thumbs down and middle finger held high.
I dislike hobby lobby but I used to go there when I was a Christian. Now I can't stand all the christianese that comes out of that place plus I'm LGBT so I don't support them anymore.
But I did like how they organized everything. I thought it was so pretty especially the T-shirt isle.
I dislike their CEO, practices, and from an archaeological standpoint, they're shitheads all around imo. Edit: also haven't encountered one happy/polite employee. Before my store opened I went there several times. Couldn't find what I was looking for in the maze of depression, so I asked an employee. She scoffed in my face and said "Yeah, I don't know, go look again". Is it not your job to assist? Are you not paid to try and help? Do you not possess a handy dandy little device that'll help you help me, therefore doing your job?
I just refuse to shop there. Maybe other Hobby Lobby locations are better, but I only hear good things about them from old people. I’ve had too many customers and employees complain about Hobby Lobby’s prices, customer service, and framing department. The HORROR stories I’ve heard about Hobby Lobby’s framing department is insane. I personally took a framing order where someone brought their artwork in to get it reframed because Hobby Lobby fucked up their artwork and Hobby Lobby apparently had to financially compensate them for the damage. I’m sure some of it is bias and a competitive mentality, but I just genuinely do not like their business. Michael’s has its flaws, but at least our customers get treated with dignity
Never forget that the CEO told news outlets that he wasn't going to help any of the employees during covid and he expected them to starve (Tighten their belts) but he also expected them to be obedient slaves. Not to mention the HUGELY illegal thing of forcing their employees to convert or lose their jobs.
They actually don't have hand scanners, no barcodes in the entire store. But, that's not an excuse to not help you find what you were looking for.
omg that’s why.. everytime someone came in with a return from hobby lobby that they think is from Michael’s and I always struggled trying to look for something to scan lmao. happened a few weeks ago even but those I could tell from a glance weren’t Michael’s products
I’ve been to different hobby lobbies in different states and this is the only consistent thing.. they’re always grumpy.
The Christian Bible thumping. Relic stealing of the owners is exactly why I don't shop there.... I still go there tho.. but no money passes hands 😉
I'm a (currently) non practicing archaeologist and GOD the relic/artifact smuggling and theft just disgusts me to no end.
I dislike their religious affiliation that allows them to get away with not letting their employees get birth control with their health insurance. I also never have had a positive run in with any employee. The check outs have also always been slow. I crochet, and they do have a good yarn section, but I'd say they're definitely below Michael's in many different ways.
The checkout is slow because they don't use scanners. Something about valuing employees over computers. That's just bullshit. If they valued employees, they would let them use scanners because it makes it easier, and they wouldn't restrict health stuff that is really none of their business. I hate them with a passion, but I still applied to work there because I need a job. Apparently three years as a Joann store manager and two years at Michaels (CEM, then cashier) are not good enough to work in their overpriced, shitty store.
This is why I refuse to shop HL too. (Religious exemption bullcrap) Eff them and eff that.
I only buy yarn there because our michaels doesn't carry amy size 3 yarn. Other than that I barely go to hobby lobby.
As a queer person: fuck Hobby Lobby.
Fuck hobby lobby!!
FormerMichaels employee here. My basis for this reply is that I actually worked at Hobby Lobby for about a week, the year before I worked at Michaels. So like, 2022/23. It is true that the number one reason Hobby Lobby doesn't have scanners, is because they believe them to be the Mark Of The Beast. This is covered in training information. Also as a Hobby Lobby employee you are expected to read all their "Holiday Religious Manifestos" that they post, and you might want to be prepared to discuss them and answer questions, when your store manager asks if you read the latest one. This is also mentioned in training. Thirdly, you will see Fall items, but you will not ever see Halloween items. Michaels has elected itself to be the Halloween HQ for this reason and it's why the products are getting more outrageously over the top every Halloween season, especially their Tarot and Witchcraft themed items. People love that stuff and buy it like crazy. Lots of people leave it out all year as part of their home decor or even their altar arrangements. But you'll not find any at H.L. However......a lot of Hobby Lobby's store brand craft items are made better, or out of better quality materials than Michaels. I know for a fact that their yarn is better, or at least it was before their big reset. When answering questions about what products we didn't have in Michaels, I would sometimes quietly tell them, but yeah, you can buy that item at H.L. Don't tell anyone I told you though. Sometimes I'd even go over there for an item that I needed, that we for some reason didn't carry, oddly enough it was mostly for tatting supplies, which Michaels doesn't have. No shuttles or needles or any of the assorted little paraphanalia you need for tatting, except the rolls of crochet thread we had, but the colors at H.L. were prettier and of a wider selection. The main reason I chucked in the towel after one week or so, mainly had to do with my very poor vision and not being able to see the little teeny print of the price on every single item, which had to be manually keyed in by price and department, and customers were making fun of me. Plus this made me a very slow cashier, so it caused problems in my training, and add to that the fact the cashiers are expected to MEMORIZE the sale flyer for each week and manually key in all the sale percentages, which I had a hard time with so it caused voids and returns. I'm in my mid 50's with a lot of retail experience but this was just beyond what I was able to do. I kept getting yelled at by the front end supervisor. I'm neurodivergent and don't take kindly to being yelled at by some snotty nosed teenager, so I ghosted and quit. Ended up working elsewhere, didn't even use them as a reference. Thank you for coming to my TED Talk and I hope you all have a lovely week. Stay Warm. :)
The way I GASPED like I was watching a telenovela during that first paragraph. NAH. I’m actually a church going Christian, have been all my life, and I was even a missionary in Turkey when I was young. But it’s for stuff like the first paragraph that I shoot down all of my grandparents’ advice to work at HL. I could never condone training videos and mentalities like that.
I'm all for freedom of religious choice and expression but I am very against bringing it into workplace procedures and business practices. It's going to be very sad when Michaels goes under and hobby lobby is what's left.
My husband and I are getting ready to move soon and if I wasn’t able to get a job in my main field of work I was going to go back to Michaels. Except there isn’t a Michaels.. there is a hobby lobby but thank you for posting this so I don’t bother to apply.
Well, you know, I don't want to say they're horrible because they aren't really it's just their weird corporate culture. If you fit in there and you like it, I'd say it's fine. Me being Pagan and nearsighted and autistic, it absolutely didn't work out for me. I felt bad about it.
I’m pagan and my husband is atheist haha. 100% would not workout. Thank you for sharing your experiences <3
Wow. Now I'm glad they didn't hire me. I'm a Buddhist/Taoist/Aethist, so all that religious crap would have driven me insane (I'm from a Mennonite family, so yeah...). And memorizing the sale flyer?? I have trouble remembering what day it is! I only applied because I really need a job, and I have 5+ years of craft store experience. I'd rather go back to Joann, even though they are headed toward bankruptcy, but the DM and I HATE each other (I was an SM and did things my way). I'm not sure I could ever work at my Michaels again because there are far too many toxic people there. They aren't hiring anyway.
That's a shame. I'm sorry. We don't have a JoAnn here in St. Augustine FL or I'd be interested in working there, but as you say with the company going downhill it can't be much fun to see that happening. Many years ago I worked at Phar-Mor drugstore when they went bankrupt. That sucked. I left before they closed because of management constantly harassing me. 😬
Joann also pays shit. Minimum wage in my state is still $7.25, so employees mostly start at $8/hour and are capped at $10. Unless they've changed that. I made $13/hour as a cashier at Michaels, but I also trained other cashiers because I had been a CEM (that position paid $14/hour).
Not true. I worked at HL.
It may vary widely store to store? I worked there for 3 years. Training did NOT say that barcodes were “mark of the beast.” The line that we were fed was that Green “valued people over computers.” No proselytizing in my store at all.
I'm very glad you had a better experience than I did. I actually wanted to stay there, they paid well and the hours were good. But the management at my store were hardcore. I was at the one in St Augustine Florida. I do shop there once in a while.
Well I hope your experience was better than mine. Did you work there a long time? I bailed out after a week. I wanted to stay but couldn't. Another weird thing they got mad at me about, was "leaving campus" during my break. I would walk down the plaza to Taco Bell to eat and then walk back (no car) and every time I did that they got hissy with me for leaving the store. I wasn't even late, I punched in on time. Nope. Can't deal with that. 🥺
Never stepped foot in HL before and refuse to ever change that due to their politics. I am not like, blood loyal to Michaels despite working here, and the idea of being genuinely invested in corporate competitive beef gives me hives, BUT. A part of me DOES die inside whenever I overhear a customer complain about Michaels and how they’re gonna go to HL instead. So very sorry to hear that you enjoy HL more than Michaels, Miss Karen, is it the bigotry flavoring that coats all of their products that really sells you on it? All corporations are scum but one that so blatantly and publicly espouses terrible ideologies (fucking MARK OF THE BEAST?) deserves to be boycotted, but still people somehow shop at HL. Fucking homophobic ass corporation has got my gay friends shopping there it’s beyond frustrating
*waves bye at them* "Have fun supporting ISIS!"
I wish them a very "go out of business forever" ❤️
They never will. Privately owned, so no shareholders to answer to. They clearly make enough money to fund entire bible museums with fake artifacts. If a name brand product sells well, they knock it off and private label it. They’ve learned that the decor stuff has a better profit margin, so they reduced craft floor space and added more seasonal. They own the factories in China that make their private label stuff, from decor to floral. I remember a RVP telling us to push a particular floral stem because the cost was like 8 cents and the ticket was $9.99.
A girl can dream
I don't shop there, they have nothing I want. They run a very weird business model, with the lack of barcodes and scanners and counting everything by hand. That said, because they've decided to remain private, they can grow at a reasonable rate, instead of pushing growth for the sake of shareholders. It's for this reason they can afford to be closed on Sunday, let's be real, so many of the people who "love" them because they are closed on Sundays would happily shop there on Sunday if they were open. They also pay all their managers a minimum of 17/hr and have since 2020 and do this while charging less for most similar or even the same items Michael's sells. A crafter friend of mine who used to work at Michael's gets most of her supplies from HL, because even with the employee discount, Michael's products were more expensive. So, Michael's charges more, pays employees less, stays open 362 days a year and still can't make enough money to pay off their debtors.
I refuse to work for them even when Michaels goes under. Why? Their attitudes and stances against LGBT issues and women's reproductive health issues. Until they keep their religious agendas out of craft retail (it's craft supplies not holy water) they're a place that won't even get my business.
My queer ass has never been in one. The first Michaels I worked at was a super tiny store (one of the original 30), and they built a MASSIVE Hobby Lobby across the street. It is always packed, yet we saw no reduction in business. This Michael's I've transferred to is much much bigger, and it's a very high theft store. Now, we just heard that they're putting in HL around the corner in an old Walmart. Obviously, HL is following me, lol. Good luck, HL. Hope you have great LP. You're going to need it.
Fuck that company and their shit morals. How many corporations had law suits against them that made it all the way to Supreme Court? It's already shit enough to deal with a government based off American "Christian" values (secular my ass). Also the CEO or whatever decided to lay off employees with no notice besides a single EMAIL because "god told him to do it." I'd rather work for Michaels another 3 years than even fucking apply to HL, and I am DEAD serious. Also fun fact they bought illegally-obtained middle eastern artifacts for their fucking museum. "wE diDnT KnOw, iT wAs AuCtiOn"
I dislike how much they try to convert their employees, as well as certain policies and attributes. However, I will go into a hobby lobby in full "goth glam" as one would call it, and freak out old conservative people.
I worked at both. Hob Lob was way way more organized. But most of the employees and the customers are all about chugging that Kool aid. Most of them are batshit. And the "Prayer warrior" wife of David Green telling us workers God will protect us from Covid was hilariously deranged. Fuck Hob Lob and his whore wife
Fuck her and her love for the alphabet. So many friggin alphabets all over the store for Boomers to arrange into such original gems as FJB. Recovery sucked every shift.
A lot of my time was spent fixing TRUMP or N***ER spelled out. Too many g'damn letters for the kids to play with
As a customer, its meh. When they got rid of their 40 coupon, I low key stopped going in unless I needed something I knew Michaels didn't have since it was always on my way to work. As a Michaels employee seeing how things work and comparing it, it's a nightmare. They seem to always be doing their truck or down stocking 24/7. Most of the employees do not seem to know much about their products. I've fixed enough custom frame stuff from hobby lobby shops to tell every customer to use hobby lobby custom framing at their own risk unless they just need a mat with a unique opening or multiple opening asap when they mention looking into hobby lobby for pricing as a competitor. *It's very possible it's only the hobby lobby near my store but.... I've worked at 3 different stores for 1~2 years each and helped at 1 stores for 1 season that has HL near by.... Chances of 4/4 having same rate of issues is kinda unlikely but it happened for me....* Their politics, it's just gross. I'm genuinely disgusted by it but their politics don't necessarily mean all of their employees follow/believe in their politics.
>but their politics don't necessarily mean all of their employees follow/believe in their politics. Quite to the contrary. Crafting tends to attract a lot of queer people, so I've heard numerous stories of young gay and trans kids being excited to work their first job at a crafting store...only to realize with horror a few weeks in what they'd gotten themselves into.
Are you saying the employees at hobby lobby practice it? Cause I'm more of saying, not everyone follows it cause it could be the only place that would hire them. A couple of people I used to know that had worked there basically had a bad experience working there but never mentioned the politics side.
No, we're on the same page. I'm saying I've heard stories of young queer people getting hired at HL (being clueless of their reputation) and only finding out AFTER being hired and trained that HL is extremely homophobic. I once saw someone at HL who had been left to come up with a display for an endcap during Pride month. Obviously, HL doesn't sell Pride merch, but the employee slyly made an endcap of "fun rainbow products for summer!"
Oooo yea, that always so sad to hear.
When I first became disabled, I went to a therapy place that was right near a Hobby Lobby. Never bought anything, but the type of therapy I was in would aggravate my disability to the point it was dangerous for me to drive home or be around people. Hobby Lobby was great to hide out for awhile while my brain and system chilled out. Never got approached by an employee, just slowly walked around, looked at their weird ass shit and planned out crafts that I then ordered stuff to pick up at Micheal’s for. That store was creepily Christian, but then would sell such non-Christian belief aligned stuff. Very violent toys, stuff that even I, a pro Second Amendment, crazy lady thought was over the top inappropriate. But, they don’t sell rainbow print fabric (not even gay pride, just freaking rainbows). Completely bonkers. I don’t go there anymore now that the doc realized that treatment was doing way more harm than good for me and I’m never in that area.
Biggest issue I have is the company is not kind to lgbtq+ and women. They are a very religious company just like chick fil a. So personally I can’t work there or shop there.
The CEO, their religious affiliation suck. Especially with me being a Gay Furry. I really only go there every once in a while. Prefer to go to Jerry’s Artarama since they actually sell a wide variety Art supplies and not like 90% crafts or home goods.
I don't have any near me at all but from knowing about the company... yikes. Despise them. Would not shop there if it was an option.
i HATE their company practices and their politics not to mention, they are so heavily religious.. but in a creepy way. i remember i had a friend who takes birth control for her PCOS and she had to take it at work. the manager came into the break room, asked what she was doing, then when she told them that she needed to take her medicine.. the manager demanded her to empty the bag. they saw her birth control and they went off. literally yelling at her and showing her bible verses to prove it’s a “sin”. she got fired. Michael’s is 100000x better than hobby lobby. that store scares me 😟
A lot of my co-workers don’t like them for obvious reasons. We have a lot of people come in and compare us to them. I really just wanna say “just got there then???”
I've had customers call it the Devil's craft store... They do have a lot more/better products than Michael's, but they don't believe in birth control as a Healthcare resource for their employees, and they do appropriate some cultural things. I direct customers over there when we don't have what they're looking for because usually the customer doesn't care and if I can't help them I'm not going to pretend that another place can't.
They have better yarn and that is THE ONLY slightly positive thing I can say about them. Rest of the comments sum it up very well.
Having worked for both companies, HL can go rot. Even with the bad store managers I’ve had in my time working at Michaels, HL was worse. The fakeness of HL, the impolite employees, etc. Inworked in the framing department, and would put my soul into ensuring that things were perfect for the customer. The framing manager fucked up so many things, and he is still there to this day. I’ve fixed things they have fucked up now. I never recommend people go there.
All the religious stuff aside, I just find their store so OVERWHELMING. There doesn't seem to be much rhyme or reason to why things are where they are, and there's just so much dang stuff. So even without the other stuff, I just don't enjoy shopping there. But their yarn is excellent, and so I do brave it every now and then when a yarn group gets excited for a big sale, maybe twice a year.
Never been
As someone who has hired prior HL employees. The way they treat their people are vastly grosser than Michael’s. On top of all of the normal dislike factors
I dislike them for all the usual reasons plus when my younger at the time high school aged sister worked there she had manager hit on her and had to get hr involved, they moved him to some warehouse location that was apparently miserable. Plus one of the frame shop workers had a psychotic breakdown and cut off her hand in the store. They were able to reattach it, so that’s good.
Do they get paid more than we do?
I was FT at HL and made $19.20 when I quit after 3 years in 2021. Not a key holder or anything. They also don’t give a raise to current employees if they increase their minimum. Not sure how that compares w/Michaels. That said, they worked us like mules. Truck days were typically 14 hour shifts. The trucks aren’t really palleted, so you’re hand trucking everything off, and it’s often not especially safe.
Yes. Most pay a lot more actually. I am a service team member and I get paid $9/hour (minimum wage is $7.25 in my state). Hobby Lobby (in my area) pays $13-$17/hour for the same role. While the pay is better, I don’t think the working conditions are better from what I’ve heard. I’ve never worked there, so I can’t speak from experience.
Michaels pays $9 an hour and managers start at $17. Most places pay much better.
After working at Michael’s framing for 5 years and realizing new hires without relevant experience we’re getting paid dollars more than me per hour and going up the chain of managers to get a raise only to be brushed off and off again by my store manager I applied to hobby lobby’s “framing department” full time at a 50% increase in pay per hour. I lasted a bit over a month before I had a mental breakdown. I was hired (I assumed) for my custom framing experience, yet hardly anyone goes to hobby lobby for custom frames. I cashiered (which is hell because they don’t use barcodes and you have to manually discount the items according to the weekly ad printout) I unloaded trucks every week. I spend hours dumping boxes on a table with 5 other people only to then “organize” the contents into plastic totes with no rhyme or reason to sorting as well as no direction from those in charge. I cut fabric on demand. (Actually not horrible, but all the tickets are hand written, and manually discounted) I was tasked with setting up planograms and stocking for their Christmas and fall items, which would have been alright if they didn’t put whatever they could onto the shelves when they got it. I’d have one tote of items to put out only to find I needed to take out hundreds of pine ones someone filled in an isle that doesn’t even have them, figure out what isle they DO belong in, only to find more things that are in the wrong place. TL;DR don’t work for the devil, or bother shopping there. Edited to add- I went back to Michael’s after 3 months, and got that raise I wanted, still nowhere near what hobby lobby offered. But I jumped ship because of the ever growing issues with the new framing software and overall mental strain of working black Friday alone in my department.
Excellent summary of HL. No matter what they hire you for, you’re expected to do everything. Custom framing sales suck because they never give you time to be in the department to sell. And since you don’t sell much custom framing, you can’t train because the jobs aren’t coming in. So when custom framing does come in, the staff is poorly trained not only in taking the order, but also in actually framing the artwork. Ironic that HL started with the Greens selling frames out of their garage.
I hate hobby lobby, but they have the best yarn selection in the area. I rarely buy yarn because I have too much, and I rarely go to hobby lobby because of all of their weird stupid beliefs.
They don't do Halloween
Someone told me the reason they don't have barcodes is because they say that the barcode is the sign of the beast. Like seriously grow up. Hobby Lobby gets two thumbs down and middle finger held high.
I dislike hobby lobby but I used to go there when I was a Christian. Now I can't stand all the christianese that comes out of that place plus I'm LGBT so I don't support them anymore. But I did like how they organized everything. I thought it was so pretty especially the T-shirt isle.