Hobby Lobby to Replace Food Source

Hobby Lobby, with 500 locations nationwide, will introduce its third location to the Sacramento area when it replaces an East Stockton Boulevard Food Source, according to a report in the Sacramento Business Journal.

It's unknown when exactly the Oklahoma City-based chain will make the jump to Elk Grove, though, according to the Business Journal, when Hobby Lobby officials announced an interest in the Marketplace 99 shopping center "West Sacramento-based Raley’s Inc. decided it would close its Food Source outlet there, Raley’s spokesman John Segale said."

The Business Journal quotes Segale saying Food Source was "not a good fit for the grocery store’s long-term plans.”

According to the story, Segale said it wasn’t yet clear when the store would close and how many workers would be affected.

Hobby Lobby entered the Sacramento area in 2011 when it opened a location in Roseville, replacing a 76,000 square-foot Mervyn's at Douglas Blvd. In September 2012, the Business Journal reported Hobby Lobby would open a store at the long-vacant Room Source building at Exposition Boulevard and Arden Way. According to the Business Journal, the existing building was demolished to make room for a 55,000-square-foot Hobby Lobby.

Hobby Lobby has recently found controversy for its public stance against the Obama administration's [Health and Human Services] mandate, according to ChristianPost.com. 

The Christian-owned company that describes itself as a biblically founded business believes that the "use of the morning-after and week-after birth control pills are tantamount to abortion because they prevent a fertilized egg from implanting in a woman's womb," according to CBS.com.

According to the Business Journal, Hobby Lobby has sought out vacant or under-performing sites as large as 50,000 to 60,000 square-feet.

Especially as some traditional supermarkets are going dark, retailers willing to backfill spaces of this size improve real estate vacancy levels, create jobs and otherwise boost the economy. In the Elk Grove case, however, Hobby Lobby does displace an existing retailer.

Will you shop at Hobby Lobby when it replaces Food Source later this year?