A 37,000-square-foot space in the Echo Hollow Shopping Center has sat empty for nearly a year, but a Hobby Lobby crafts store will open there soon, Eugene Weekly has confirmed.
The national chain’s lease document with the Echo Hollow center, reviewed by the Weekly, shows Hobby Lobby, on Feb. 17, signed a 10-year lease, with two optional five-year extensions, for the space formerly occupied by Rite Aid. The pharmacy chain exited the site as part of its bankruptcy restructuring.
The privately owned Hobby Lobby’s stores are popular with consumers, while its right-wing politics are reviled by liberals. The chain’s owners are big supporters of President Donald Trump and big funders of the Museum of the Bible in Washington, DC. Hobby Lobby, whose president, Steve Green, is also chairman of the museum’s board, had to return 3,800 smuggled ancient artifacts to Iraq in 2018, according to Immigration and Customs Enforcement…