Hobby Lobby

I have been anxiously awaiting the arrival of the new Hobby Lobby in Visalia since last year when they announced it would be replacing the empty Mervyn's building in the Sequoia Mall. This Hobby Lobby is the first to open in California. My first impression of it, besides being huge, is that there are tons of home decor items in there. Knick knacks, mirrors, silk flowers, frames, reproduction art, candles...stuff like that. They also sell craft materials and tools, party supplies, fabric, and Christian-themed gifts. I wish there were more craft aisles, but who knows, maybe they'll add them in someday.

Interesting fact: they don't use scanners at the register. Every item in the store has a PRICE TAG and the cashier has to manually enter that price when you go to check out. The receipt has no mention of what you bought, just the price. Weird and old fashioned, huh? For such a big and new store, I'd say so.

One more interesting fact: they are not open Sundays so don't make plans to shop there then.

It's hard for me to say what this store is like. I'd say maybe a combination of Jo-Ann, Michaels, Party City and (cheap) Home Goods with some Christian book store thrown in to top it off?

Hobby Lobby was busy on the Friday afternoon we went to check it out. It's a good addition to Visalia and I'm sure will be successful there. I know I'll pay them another visit next time I'm in town.