New York Hobby Lobby Stores Refuse to Sell Holiday Item

New Yorkers looking for a specific item to celebrate the holidays won't find it at any local Hobby Lobby store.

I have a love/hate affair with my local Hobby Lobby store. Trying to shop at one is completely frustrating, yet I find myself crawling back every month or so when my son is doing some sort of creative project and needs something I just can't find anywhere else.

New York Hobby Lobby Stores Can Be Maddening

Every time I go to Hobby Lobby in either Poughkeepsie or Middletown I feel I'm on one of those reality shows that replaces everyone in the store with actors trying to drive me crazy for the hidden camera.

The lines are always super long, the cashiers don't have scanners so they must slowly punch in the price for each item and the person in front of me is usually attempting to return a bag of 100 random buttons.

Hobby Lobby Faced With Controversy

Aside from being a time-sucking portal that will make your entire Saturday afternoon disappear, Hobby Lobby has also made some questionable business decisions that have caused some customers to feel a bit uneasy about supporting them.

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Whether it's their blatant homophobia, denying employees access to contraceptives, campaigning to make public schools teach religion, sickening employees during the pandemic or illegally smuggling artifacts into the country, the store has quite a long track record of being pretty icky.

Hobby Lobby No Longer Carrying Certain Holiday Items

Another accusation against Hobby Lobby is that the Christian-based company has had a history of antisemitism. While Hobby Lobby has denied the claims, it's also decided to pull Hanukkah items from all of its New York stores.

While Hobby Lobby used to sell items for holidays other than Christmas, this year that won't be the case. If you're searching for a menorah, dreidel, or any Hanukkah decorations, don't bother going to Hobby Lobby. They won't be there.

In a statement to 10 News, Hobby Lobby characterized Hanukkah items as less popular than their Christmas items.

Due to the need to find additional space for some of our stronger categories as well as our newer ones, the decision was made over the last couple of years to discontinue several seasonal product lines, including Mardi Gras, Halloween and Hanukkah.

We visited the Hobby Lobby location in Poughkeepsie the day before Hanukkah and found an entirely empty aisle. There was also another vacant area that was being made to look full by hanging one individual plastic wreath on each peg throughout the entire length of the aisle.

It's hard to believe that the conservative Christian management at Hobby Lobby made this decision solely based on demand. I mean, they have four whole aisles packed with signs that say "Live, Love, Laugh".  There's no room for just one menorah? It also seems like a huge coincidence that the holiday items they've decided to drop have all been demonized by conservative Christian groups.

Timing is Unfortunate

With the tragic events in Israel still making headlines every day and instances of antisemitism increasing throughout the state, it's disheartening to hear that Hobby Lobby is completely ignoring the Jewish population of New York by refusing to carry any Hanukkah items.

If you didn't feel as icky as I did shopping there before, this may change your mind.