For years, social media posts have claimed Hobby Lobby is closing its doors for good. These posts spread fast, they look convincing, and they keep coming back. But the company’s own statements and its financial track record tell a very different story.
This article covers where the rumors started, what Hobby Lobby’s actual financial position looks like, and how to tell the difference between a single store closing and a company-wide shutdown.
The Short Answer — No, Hobby Lobby Is Not Closing
As of 2025, Hobby Lobby has made no announcement about a nationwide shutdown. None. The company has directly addressed the rumors through its own newsroom, calling the closing reports false and pointing to active store expansion as proof.
Hobby Lobby is not winding down. It is still opening new locations. That alone should settle most of the debate — but it’s worth understanding why these rumors keep circulating in the first place.
Where the “Hobby Lobby Is Closing” Rumor Started
The rumor didn’t come from a credible news outlet. It spread through viral social media posts, shared thousands of times by people who had no way to verify the claim.
One low-credibility page — hosted on a university subdomain — claimed that all Hobby Lobby stores would close by the end of 2025 due to declining sales. This directly contradicts everything Hobby Lobby has said publicly, and no reputable business news source has confirmed it. Treat it as misinformation.
The David Green “Giving Away” Story
Founder David Green made headlines when he publicly talked about “giving away” Hobby Lobby. Many readers assumed this meant he was shutting the company down or selling it off.
That’s not what happened. Green’s comments were about ownership succession and charitable stewardship — transferring control in a way that aligned with his faith. The business itself was expected to keep operating normally. It’s similar to a founder placing company shares into a trust. The stores don’t close just because ownership is restructured.
COVID-19 Added to the Confusion
During the pandemic, Hobby Lobby stores closed temporarily because of public health orders. Customers saw locked doors and “closed” signs, and some assumed the worst.
When restrictions lifted, the stores reopened. Those were temporary shutdowns required by law — not a company exiting retail. Conflating the two is a common mistake, but an understandable one.
What Hobby Lobby’s Financials Actually Look Like
Hobby Lobby is a privately held, family-owned business. It was founded in 1972 by David Green and is headquartered in Oklahoma City. In 2018, it reported over $5 billion in annual revenue.
That’s not a company scrambling to stay afloat. That’s a large, established retailer with serious scale.
No Debt, No Private Equity Pressure
One thing that sets Hobby Lobby apart from many struggling retailers is its debt-free philosophy. It has no leveraged buyouts hanging over it, no private equity firm pushing for short-term returns, and no quarterly earnings reports to manage for Wall Street.
Compare that to chains like Hancock Fabrics, which carried heavy debt loads and eventually closed. The business model is fundamentally different. Hobby Lobby can make long-term decisions without the financial pressure that has sunk other retailers in its space.
Multiple business outlets have described Hobby Lobby as one of the more financially stable large retailers in the U.S. That assessment is hard to square with the idea that it’s on the verge of collapse.
One Store Closing Is Not the Same as the Chain Collapsing
This is where a lot of the confusion happens. A customer sees their local Hobby Lobby close and assumes the whole chain is going under. That’s not how retail works.
Large retail chains routinely close individual locations. Leases end. A market underperforms. The company decides to relocate to a better spot across town. These are normal business decisions, not distress signals.
Hobby Lobby Has Been Expanding, Not Shrinking
Hobby Lobby opened around 50 new stores in 2017 alone, with plans to continue in subsequent years. Some reporting suggests roughly 60 new openings in certain years. That’s not the behavior of a company heading toward closure.
When you’re opening dozens of stores annually, a handful of individual closures — while noticeable to local customers — doesn’t indicate a company in trouble. The net direction is growth, not retreat.
For context, think about any major restaurant chain. If one location closes in your city, you don’t assume the whole brand is gone. Hobby Lobby operates the same way. Local decisions get made for local reasons.
How to Check Your Specific Store’s Status
If you’re concerned about a Hobby Lobby near you, skip the social media speculation. Go directly to Hobby Lobby’s store locator on their website, or check local news sources for your area. Those two sources will give you accurate, up-to-date information about a specific location.
Don’t rely on viral posts or anonymous blogs. They’re usually behind the facts, often wrong, and sometimes deliberately misleading.
Why These Rumors Feel Plausible to So Many People
It’s fair to ask why so many people believe these stories. Part of the reason is that the broader retail environment has genuinely been rough. Craft and fabric stores have struggled with e-commerce competition, inflation, supply chain problems, and rising costs.
Chains with heavy debt loads and private equity ownership have been particularly vulnerable. When people see news about other craft retailers closing, it’s easy to assume Hobby Lobby is facing the same fate.
But Hobby Lobby’s private ownership and debt-free model put it in a very different position. The risks that killed other retailers don’t apply in the same way here. That context matters when evaluating whether the rumors make sense.
For more analysis on retail business trends and what they mean for companies like this, Alpha Business Daily covers these topics with a practical, evidence-based approach.
What About Legal Controversies?
Hobby Lobby has been involved in high-profile legal battles, most notably a Supreme Court case over contraception coverage in employee health plans. Some people assumed those controversies would force the company to close or significantly scale back.
Hobby Lobby won that case and continued to grow afterward. Legal disputes, even major ones, don’t automatically translate into business failure. The company’s operations were not materially disrupted by the litigation.
Is It Safe to Buy Gift Cards or Rely on Hobby Lobby?
Based on all available evidence, Hobby Lobby is a stable retailer with no announced plans to shut down. Buying gift cards, applying for jobs there, or planning projects around their inventory carries no more risk than it would at any other large, financially healthy retail chain.
The standard caution applies to any retailer: individual stores can close, and business conditions can change. But as of 2025, there is no credible indication that Hobby Lobby is heading toward a company-wide shutdown.
The Bottom Line
Hobby Lobby is not going out of business. The company has said so directly, credible business outlets confirm it, and its own expansion activity backs it up. The rumors trace back to social media posts, misread headlines about ownership succession, and confusion over COVID-era temporary closures.
The lesson here applies beyond just Hobby Lobby. When you see a headline claiming a major retailer is closing, check who’s saying it. Is it the company itself? A verified news source? Or a viral post with no clear origin? The source matters as much as the claim.
Hobby Lobby is a $5 billion company with no debt and decades of steady operation. It may not be immune to future challenges — no business is — but right now, the evidence points clearly toward a company that’s still very much open.
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