The former Kmart building that anchors the Berry Hill Shopping Center on Highway 213 in Oregon City will soon be home to two new businesses: Hobby Lobby and Planet Fitness.
The Oregon City store will be the seventh location in the state for Hobby Lobby, a privately held national retail chain of craft and home decor stores. The former Kmart building (approximately 86,500 square feet) was divided into two retail spaces, with Hobby Lobby occupying the larger of the two, estimated at 58,000 sf.
Construction is now underway on both spaces, with openings planned for next month. For Hobby Lobby, a tentative grand opening celebration has been set for Sept. 30.
Hobby Lobby said in a press release this week that the new store will bring about 35-50 jobs to the community paying $15.70 per hour for full-time and $11.25 per hour for part-time associates.
“Once you visit Hobby Lobby, you will see that we are very unique, offering the widest variety of merchandise in the craft and home decor market under one roof,” said Kelly Black, the company’s director of advertising. “We’re tremendously excited about becoming a part of the Oregon City community.”
Hobby Lobby has over 850 stores across the nation. Each store offers more than 70,000 crafting and home decor products including floral, fabric, needle art, custom framing, baskets, home accents, wearable art, arts and crafts, jewelry making, scrapbooking and paper crafting supplies.
Store hours are Monday through Saturday from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. Hobby Lobby stores are closed on Sunday.
Hobby Lobby Stores, Inc., a major Oklahoma City-based corporation, began as Greco, a miniature picture frame company in 1970. When David Green moved his business from the family garage to a 300 square-foot retail space in 1972, Hobby Lobby was born.
It is now the nation’s largest privately owned arts and crafts retailer.
Deacon Development Group, which is based in Portland, reportedly purchased the former Kmart store last year for $8.1 million.
