The wonders of Hobby Lobby! I have heard about this store for years from many of my friends in Texas but had never been to one before. The first store in our area opened up today and I was able to drag my husband out of the house with me to check it out. All I can say is it is HUGE. I have never seen so many Christmas ornaments before… there was isle after isle after isle!
We are lucky in the northern Seattle metro area to be getting not one but TWO new Hobby Lobby’s over the next year, the one that opened today is in Lynnwood in the Albertson’s shopping center on 196th & Hwy 99 and the Everett one is going into the old Cost Cutter store in the same shopping center as Pacific Fabric’s at the corner of Hwy 99 & Everett Mall Way.
Once I got over the fact that the store was HUGE & finally made it to the restroom (I really had to pee! lol) I got to browse around & take it all in. I have to say I am sad that we are just now getting one, I feel like I have been missing out!
So here is my take on this wonderful new store:
OVERALL PRICING: Not great for a lot of stuff… I found a lot of it to be priced similar to JoAnn’s which I avoid shopping without a sale. They do have decent sales though and they almost always have a 40% off 1 regular item coupon BUT you can only use 1 coupon per customer PER DAY. Which is a bit of a downer if you don’t live close by.
OVER ALL SELECTION: I am amazed & wowed. Though I didn’t care for the prices of some things I have to say that they have one of the best selections of most stuff I have ever seen.
YARN: They have a great selection & price on their in house brand of yarn. It’s not quite as soft as Caron Simply Soft which is my favorite budget yard, but it is mush softer then the Red Heart my grandmothers often used when I was growing up. That being said they had a smaller over all selection then either the 2 local Joann’s or Micheal’s and especially of the brands I like.
FABRIC: I really liked their selection of woven prints… it’s small but similar styles to a lot of the designer stuff I like but only $6.99 everyday, plus today it was all 30% off. I know friends who have used them & said they hold up well from the price point. The knits, they felt like sand paper & I have NOT heard great things about them so I didn’t really look after feeling them. They also had a descent selection of blizzard fleece & faux minky that looked to be the same price as JoAnn’s. I even found so real GREEN fleece. Not lime green, not grass green or dark green but they primary color green that first comes to mind! I have been looking for the last 3 years for this to use for my capes, so that one them points right there & they looked at me like I had 2 heads when I said I wanted to buy the entire 11 yard bolt that was on sale 30% off.
ART SUPPLIES: My husband was pleased to see that they offered a nice variety of supplies including not just affordable starting options but some of the more expensive high quality pencils & paints he likes to use. We didn’t pay to much attention to this area because the baby was getting tired.
HOME DECOR: OH MY! I don’t know what else to say they have just about every home decor ideas you could need to make your house look like it belonged in a catalog. And the pieces I picked up seemed reasonably priced & decent quality. I plan on looking harder at this stuff next time I go back.
CHECK OUT: The only thing that is different about this store is that they don’t use any scanners… they have cash registers that they hand code everything into (think about Costco back in the day) including the sales. This can be a little confusing if you are shopping at a new store or have a new cashier. Next time I will make note of which items are sale items just in case my cashier has any questions to help it go a little smoother. This also means they hand right out all the tickets for fabric as well.
Besides the slower check out process I really love it! The biggest surprise of all? I am walking around shopping & hear my name yelled out… turn around & my baby brother is working there!
We do live on Whidbey Island which is about 30 miles north of Seattle so to get ‘to town’ as we call it… where all the JoAnn’s, Costco’s & now places like Hobby Lobby are at we have to take 2 ferry rides to get there plus about 15 minutes of driving once off the boat. I was driving today so I only got to crochet when we waited for the ferry (20 minutes the first time 40 minutes the 2nd) and then the 20 minute trip each way, but in that time I got through and entire 6oz skein of Lion Brand Homespun yarn in the lagoon colorway. It made a beautiful scarf and the colors are quite striking in person, they remind me of peacock feathers in a way.
Well the kids are in bed so time to watch a little TV with the hubby while I start another scraf & then time to get to bed!
5 Responses
Debbi in Texas
sign up online for email notifications and get the coupons; even better! Our stores are closed on Sundays
Kymy
Yeah I signed up for the coupons as soon as we heard we were getting one :). All Hobby Lobby’s are closed on Sundays because I believe the company is owned by a Christian based group?
Juls
We live i Mount Vernon, and I took my kids down there yesterday afternoon 🙂 It was HUGE wasn’t it?! I agree about the knits, they didn’t feel soft, but I was able to find craft supplies for things I haven’t been able to find at our local Joann or michales, so I was really happy. I made sure to bring my 40% coupon and used it. Looking forward to the Everett Location!
KellyS
If you hit it at the right time (when there is more than one checker open) I have been able to check out, go out to my car… wait a few minutes (or run another errand) and go back in with another coupon. I wouldn’t do it everyday, but once and a while. I agree with the super slow check out process, that might be a store policy. The 40% off coupons are about every other week here, more often as it gets closer to the holidays. Enjoy your new store! I love ours!
Candles
Never been to a Hobby Lobby I’ll have to see if there’s one around here. Thanks for all the information and now I know what to expect by way of pricing. Makes it so much easier when you know that much. Thanks for sharing and have a great day!