Springdale Hobby Lobby Fabric Red, White, In the Black All Over
by March 22, 2010 12:00 am 200 views
Richard Johnson, Springdale manager for Hobby Lobby Stores Inc. of Oklahoma City, said storewide sales in 2009 were up 15 percent year-over-year. Likewise, January and February sales were up 15 percent compared with the same months of 2009.
In particular, Johnson’s fabric department is up 35 to 40 percent, thanks to a little help from two publicly traded competitors – Wal-Mart Stores Inc. in Bentonville and Hancock Fabrics Inc. of Tupelo, Miss.
Walmart phased out fabric sales at many of its Supercenters nationwide last year, including five of its six in Northwest Arkansas. The Springdale location still carries fabrics.
In 2005, Ark-Tex Fabrics Inc. of Camden sold nine in-state franchises back to Hancock. The Rogers and Springdale outlets were subsequently closed, leaving Fayetteville and Fort Smith locally.
Hobby Lobby has stores in Springdale, Rogers and Fayetteville among 10 statewide locations.
Johnson said the decline of competition isn’t the only factor driving sales. Red, black and white fabric – colors used by the University of Arkansas Razorbacks – repeatedly “fly off the shelves” together. There also are more people sewing during the recession, as well as buying craft materials to make items to sell on the Internet.
Springdale’s growth comes on the heels of a 2008 store remodel. Typically, Johnson said, sales are flat coming off a makeover.
The store underwent a $2 million remodel and expansion that added about 12,000 SF and modernized its look. Johnson said the now 45,000-SF store needed more space to handle its volume, and that it’s ironic the fabric department is actually farther back than it was before.
“The bottom line, as a Christian organization like Hobby Lobby, you have to give the credit to God,” Johnson said. “We just keep cranking out the numbers.”
Publicly Traded Jo-Ann Stores Inc. of Hudson, Ohio, which does business as Jo-Ann Fabric and Crafts, has a store planned for Fayetteville’s Steele Crossing later this year. Its only other in-state outlet is in North Little Rock.