Hobby Lobby is a privately-held arts and crafts retail chain headquartered in Oklahoma City, founded in 1972 by David Green and his wife Barbara.[1] The company operates more than 1,000 stores across 48 states, employs approximately 46,000 people, and is among the largest privately-owned retailers in the United States. Hobby Lobby is widely recognized as one of the most outspoken Christian-identified companies in American retail, with religious belief embedded in nearly every aspect of how the business is run.
- Hobby Lobby won the landmark 5-4 Supreme Court ruling in Burwell v. Hobby Lobby (2014) on religious-liberty grounds.
- The Green family channels approximately half of Hobby Lobby's annual pretax profits to evangelical Christian organizations, with cumulative donations estimated at over $500 million.
- All 1,000+ Hobby Lobby stores close on Sundays and major Christian holidays as a publicly stated faith-driven policy.
- The company plays Christian hymns in stores and pays above-minimum-wage starting hourly rates as part of its faith-driven operations.
Public Political Activity
As a privately-held company, Hobby Lobby is not required to disclose corporate political spending to the FEC, and the corporation itself does not maintain a registered political action committee on OpenSecrets.[2] Documented political activity is concentrated at the level of the Green family personally and through their philanthropic and legal advocacy work rather than direct candidate contributions.
David Green and his family channel a substantial portion of Hobby Lobby's pretax profits to evangelical Christian organizations. According to public reporting, Green commits approximately half of Hobby Lobby's annual pretax earnings to a portfolio of evangelical ministries, with cumulative donations estimated at over $500 million as of 2012.[1] The Greens are among the largest individual donors to Evangelical causes in the United States.
The family has supported organizations including the Alliance Defending Freedom (a legal advocacy group focused on religious liberty, abortion, and LGBTQ+ policy), the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, Liberty University, and Oral Roberts University.[3] Hobby Lobby itself has been described in court records as the leading supporter of the National Christian Charitable Foundation, which directs funding to conservative Christian causes.[4]
In 2016, David Green publicly endorsed Donald Trump in a USA Today op-ed, framing his support around concerns about religious liberty under a potential Hillary Clinton administration and the future of Supreme Court appointments.[5]
Public Positions and Statements
Hobby Lobby's Burwell v. Hobby Lobby Stores Inc. Supreme Court victory in 2014 is the company's most significant public political action.[6] The 5-4 ruling, authored by Justice Alito, held that closely-held for-profit corporations could be exempt from the Affordable Care Act's contraceptive mandate on religious-freedom grounds under the Religious Freedom Restoration Act. The Greens specifically objected to four of twenty contraceptives required under the mandate (the morning-after pill, the week-after pill, and two intrauterine devices) which they considered abortifacients inconsistent with their belief that life begins at conception. The case was represented by the Becket Fund and remains a defining precedent in American religious-liberty law.[7]
Operationally, the company closes all stores on Sundays — an unusual choice in retail given the lost weekend traffic — and closes for major Christian holidays.[8] The company plays Christian hymns in its stores. Hobby Lobby pays an above-minimum-wage starting hourly rate, a policy the Green family has framed as connected to their religious obligation to treat employees fairly.
David Green also founded and funded the Museum of the Bible in Washington, D.C., a project that has drawn both praise from Christian audiences and criticism after federal prosecutors found in 2017 that Hobby Lobby had smuggled biblical-era artifacts from Iraq, leading to a settlement requiring the company to forfeit the artifacts and pay a $3 million fine.[3]
Products and Customer Base
Hobby Lobby sells arts and crafts supplies, home decor, custom framing, fabric, seasonal goods, and craft hobby supplies through its retail footprint. Pricing is positioned as value-oriented with frequent half-off sales that have become part of the brand's identity in the craft-shopping community. The store's frame shop is particularly well-regarded.
The customer base is broad and crosses political lines — many shoppers visit Hobby Lobby for craft supplies regardless of any awareness of the Green family's politics. The company has a particular concentration of customer engagement in the southern United States and among Christian evangelical communities. The company does not advertise its religious values aggressively in-store; the political identity is more visible through its public legal positions and the Greens' philanthropic activity than through messaging printed on packaging.
Founding and Ownership
David Green started the business in 1970 as Greco Products, a home-based picture-frame assembly operation funded by a $600 loan, and opened the first Hobby Lobby store in northwest Oklahoma City in 1972 with his wife Barbara.[1] The company has remained privately owned by the Green family for its entire 50-plus-year history. David Green serves as CEO; multiple Green family members hold operational roles within the company. The family also controls related religious businesses including Mardel Christian and Educational Supply (operated by David's son Mart Green).
Where to Find Them
Hobby Lobby operates physical retail stores in 48 states; locator and inventory tools are available at the official website. The company also offers online ordering with shipping or in-store pickup. Stores are closed Sundays and on major Christian holidays.
Footnotes
[1] Wikipedia, "David Green (entrepreneur)," accessed April 28, 2026. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Green_(entrepreneur)
[2] OpenSecrets.org, accessed April 28, 2026. https://www.opensecrets.org/
[3] Reckon News, "What you need to know about Hobby Lobby, the Christian craft store funding the Duggars, Bill Gothard and IBLP," June 2023. https://www.reckon.news/news/2023/06/what-you-need-to-know-about-hobby-lobby-the-christian-craft-store-funding-the-duggars-bill-gothard-and-iblp.html
[4] Justia / U.S. Supreme Court, "Burwell v. Hobby Lobby Stores, Inc., 573 U.S. 682," 2014. https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/573/682/
[5] Coastal Courier, "Hobby Lobby CEO reveals the presidential candidate he believes we must elect," 2016. https://coastalcourier.com/coastal-living/faith/hobby-lobby-ceo-reveals-the-presidential-candidate-he-believes-we-must-elect/
[6] Supreme Court of the United States, "Burwell v. Hobby Lobby Stores Inc., 573 U.S. 682, slip opinion," June 30, 2014. https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/13pdf/13-354_olp1.pdf
[7] Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, "Burwell v. Hobby Lobby," case page, accessed April 28, 2026. https://becketfund.org/case/burwell-v-hobby-lobby/
[8] Hobby Lobby, "About Us," company website, accessed April 28, 2026. https://www.hobbylobby.com/about-us
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