Earlier this week, Hobby Lobby announced that there will be a store coming to Williamsport. There are only 21 stores in the state. The closest one is currently located in Harrisburg. The store is moving into the former K-Mart on the Golden Strip, which closed down a few months ago. Kmart has closed after 43 years of business. Other nearby locations have also closed, including the Kmart in Shamokin Dam. The store will bring 35-50 new jobs to the Williamsport Area. Hobby Lobby is only occupying a portion of the 55,000 square foot building. This could allow for another business to move onto the Golden Strip in the future. Another Hobby Lobby location is also coming to Selinsgrove, PA next year.
Here is the old Kmart Location before permenantly closing down.
This picture shows the inside of the building.
Founded in 1972, Hobby lobby is a large chain of arts and craft stores that have reached an annual revenue of $5 billion in 2018. There are over 900 stores across 47 states in the US. Hobby Lobby has over 43,000 employees, and starts their employees pay at $17 an hour for full-time positions, which is significantly higher than most employers in the surrounding area. Part-time positions start at $11 an hour. Many people are excited for the new craft store since another craft store, A.C. Moore, closed last year. The store is projected to open in early June 2021.
