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Business|Can Hobby Lobby, With Its Conservative Principles, Win Over New York?
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/09/business/hobby-lobby-nyc-store.html
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The crafts retailer, whose owners are vocal about their evangelical belief, is coming to TriBeCa in Manhattan. Not everyone is pleased.
April 9, 2025, 5:00 a.m. ET
In the Lower Manhattan neighborhood of TriBeCa, known for its liberal politics and sky-high rents, a new retailer, known for its conservative Christian convictions, rock-bottom prices and steadfast customers in rural America, is moving in.
Now the question is, can this retailer, Hobby Lobby, make it in Manhattan?
The retailer, which is expected to open this spring and is taking over 75,000 square feet that used to be a Bed Bath & Beyond and Barnes & Noble for its first Manhattan store, should have prompted an enthusiastic response given the surge of Americans who picked up crafts hobbies during the pandemic.
Instead, the reaction has been mixed, with some residents feeling affronted that Hobby Lobby is opening in their neighborhood. Local groups and forums that are protesting the company’s arrival in TriBeCa point to Hobby Lobby’s work with organizations that oppose gay and transgender rights. They haven’t forgotten the private company’s lawsuit in 2014 to fight against having to provide insurance coverage for contraception for employees.
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Over a decade later, it remains to be seen whether low prices and a staggering selection of products are enough to make residents in an area that has long been a liberal stronghold look past the company’s conservative bent. The neighborhood, known for cobblestone streets and converted loft buildings that are now home to affluent families and A-list celebrities, is solidly Democratic, but, like much of New York, it shifted to the right during the 2024 election.
Heide Fasnacht, an artist who has lived and worked in TriBeCa for five decades, said she felt “angry” about the arrival of a company that promotes the evangelical Protestant convictions of its founder.
