Business & Tech

Crafts Store Considering Jewish Holiday Decorations on Shelves

Hobby Lobby told Patch it is evaluating its current stock of merchandise after controversy started in New Jersey.

Written by Kaitlyn Anness

After internet backlash from a blogger, the national craft-store chain Hobby Lobby is evaluating its merchandise.

Over the weekend, Marlboro, NJ residents began to discover and circulate a blog post detailing Hobby Lobby's lack of Jewish holiday decorations.

The post, written by Ken Berwitz, author of the political book Hopelessly Partisan, recounts a conversation Bewitz said he had with the craft and home store's corporate office in which the office allegedly answered, "Because Mr. [David] Green is the owner of the company, he's a Christian, and those are his values."

In a brief email to Patch, Hobby Lobby representative Vincent Parker said, "We currently do not carry any Hanukah items in our store. Our customers have brought this to our attention and we are currently evaluating our Holiday items and what we will carry in the future.

"Alleged comments made by employees are currently being investigated and will be addressed accordingly. These comments are in no way indicative of Hobby Lobby culture, the owners and the operators," Parker said. "Marlboro is a great city and has wonderful people and we are blessed to be a part the community."

Hobby Lobby opened in Marlboro in June. It has one New York location, at 1895 South Road in Poughkeepsie. 

It is an arts and crafts chain controlled by Green and family, based in Oklahoma City with 13,000 employees and 525 big-box stores in the United States as of March, 2013.

In his blog post, Berwitz said he believes the lack of Jewish holiday decorations is "anti-Semitic" in an area with a large Jewish population. 

"So let's be clear: these are not Christian values. They are David Green values," Berwitz wrote.

Green's company also runs Mardel, a large chain of Christian bookstores. The company is challenging a requirement in President Barack Obama's revised healthcare legislation that some companies must give insurance coverage for contraception drugs and devices.  In December, Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor refused to block the mandate. The company was told it could continue its challenge in lower courts. 

On its website, the Hobby Lobby mission includes, "Honoring the Lord in all we do by operating the company in a manner consistent with biblical principles." 


Would Hobby Lobby's lack of Jewish holiday representation keep you from shopping in its Poughkeepsie store?


Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here