Hobby Lobby doesn't cater to "our people"

[TouchMeFall21]

http://marlboro-coltsneck.patch.com/gro ... our-people

(link not broken; patch doesn't care)

This was verified with a call to the store. This offends me to the core, both as a decent human being AND a marketing professional... If you're going to be raging bigots, KNOW YOUR AUDIENCE! Marlboro has a very sizeable Jewish population, and an affluent one at that... These people are literally turning their backs on dollars. But I guess that doesn't matter when Jebus writes your business plans.

This has exploded across my facebook community. Glad word is getting out. I'm just floored by the whole thing. I guess i've sort of erroneously believed that being from the northeast innured me from the crazy...

[GolightlyGrrl]

http://marlboro-coltsneck.patch.com/groups/opinion/p/hobby-lobby-doesnt-cater-to-our-people

(link not broken; patch doesn't care)

This was verified with a call to the store. This offends me to the core, both as a decent human being AND a marketing professional... If you're going to be raging bigots, KNOW YOUR AUDIENCE! Marlboro has a very sizeable Jewish population, and an affluent one at that... These people are literally turning their backs on dollars. But I guess that doesn't matter when Jebus writes your business plans.

This has exploded across my facebook community. Glad word is getting out. I'm just floored by the whole thing. I guess i've sort of erroneously believed that being from the northeast innured me from the crazy...

I would think that if I ran a business, I would want to appeal to as many potential customers as possible. Crafting is a business with a wide-range market. This includes people of all races, creeds and ethnic groups. Both women and men craft. 70-something Grandmas like my mom are into crafting and so are tattooed 20-something hipsters. Hobby Lobby is shooting itself in the foot by not including Hanukkah-related items, especially considering it has a store in a community with a large Jewish community.

One of my favorite business owners is a liberal, gay and Jewish man who owns an independent bookstore. However, I can't imagine him not stocking books on more conservative topics, heterosexual themes or any books aimed at Christians, Buddhists, Hindus, etc. His shop also features book discussions featuring a wide variety of books and authors. Then again, he's a pretty smart guy and his shop is doing quite well.

[RosyDaisy]

I'm not Jewish, and that really offends me. Hobby Lobby definitely won't have me as a customer. There are other craft stores that are closer and include all kinds of religious and culture specific merchandise. Fuck you Hobby Lobby bigots!

[thoughtful]

He doesn't sell Jewish items, he just buys them:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/ ... story.html

AUSTIN, Texas — Evangelical businessman Steve Green on Thursday (Oct. 26) unveiled what he called “the oldest Jewish prayer book ever found†and will add it to the collection of religious artifacts that will form the core of the Bible museum he is building in Washington, D.C.

The artifact, dating from 840 A.D., is written in Hebrew on parchment and shows Babylonian vowel marks. Green said it was purchased less than a year ago from a private collection and is of Middle Eastern origin. But he declined to name the seller or how much he paid for it.

About the size of a large smartphone, and 50 pages long, the seller likely knew the book was special but did not realize its significance, said Jerry Pattengale, executive director of the Green Scholars Initiative, the research arm of The Green Collection.

[lexiloumarie]

I was already boycotting because they're homophobic and misogynist, adding anti-semitic to the list isn't a stretch.

[Loveday]

Ugh. Still another reason I'm glad we don't have Hobby Lobby in my area. Hopefully that will never change. :evil-eye:

[Coconut Flan]

I've never been in one. I think I'll keep it that way.

[ADoyle90815]

I've never been in one. I think I'll keep it that way.

Same here. I even managed to get Facebook friends who are also friends IRL to quit shopping there due to their sexism and homophobia, but this will convince them even more to go someplace else.

[Miggy]

At the risk of offending everyone ...

I don't see why any shop owner should have to actively support a religion they disagree with. Barring people from entering their shop based on religion would be offensive. Calling Jews "you people" is incredibly offensive. Choosing what to stock and not stock in a shop is something I would like to think is the right of the shop owner. The owner is the one who will loose business and those who want non-Christian religious products can easily go elsewhere.

In saying that, I'm not saying Hobby Lobby is a fantastic example of Christianity. They are an embarrassment with their discriminatory attitudes. They don't exist here in Oz but if they ever did open here or if I visit the US, I will not be supporting them.

[Three and Done]

Mr. Green is quite happy to sell to True Christians [tm][/tm], and the rest of us can go fuck ourselves. I am neither Jewish or gay, but I can guarantee that I will never step foot in one of his stores.

[PennySycamore]

At the risk of offending everyone ...

I don't see why any shop owner should have to actively support a religion they disagree with. Barring people from entering their shop based on religion would be offensive. Calling Jews "you people" is incredibly offensive. Choosing what to stock and not stock in a shop is something I would like to think is the right of the shop owner. The owner is the one who will loose business and those who want non-Christian religious products can easily go elsewhere.

In saying that, I'm not saying Hobby Lobby is a fantastic example of Christianity. They are an embarrassment with their discriminatory attitudes. They don't exist here in Oz but if they ever did open here or if I visit the US, I will not be supporting them.

The thing is, Miggy, is that this fucker Green already has a bunch of Guanyin, Hotei (the fat "Buddha") and Buddha figurines in HL stores. He may consider them only as home decor, but, to many of us, they are devotional items.

[Miggy]

Ok, didn't know that. Now I agree with everyone else. You have to be consistent.

[Ariel]

Can non-christians work there?

Not that any non-christian would want to.

[happy atheist]

About the size of a large smartphone, and 50 pages long, the seller likely knew the book was special but did not realize its significance, said Jerry Pattengale, executive director of the Green Scholars Initiative, the research arm of The Green Collection.

The seller is about the size of a large smartphone, and 50 pages long? :lol:

[Mama Mia]

Can non-christians work there?

Not that any non-christian would want to.

It would be illegal to discriminate in the workplace based on religion. But that doesn't mean they can't come up with some excuse not to hire someone if they somehow found out they weren't Christian.

[Jana814]

My cousin posted something about this. They just opened a Hobbly Lobby in a large Jewish area. Someone went in & asked my they didn't have Chankuah decorations & they said "we don't cater to u people".

[2xx1xy1JD]

The "you people" remark is disgusting.

OTOH, at least they aren't even trying to get Jewish customers. In a way, I wouldn't want MY holidays being commercially exploited by a company that doesn't value its Jewish customers and actively uses its profits to run its business and fund organizations in a way that goes against my values.

[i do, however, love my local supermarket, owned by an Italian-Canadian who goes out of his way to accommodate the needs of my community, as well as the other local ethnic communities.]

[Handmaiden of Dog]

OTOH, at least they aren't even trying to get Jewish customers. In a way, I wouldn't want MY holidays being commercially exploited by a company that doesn't value its Jewish customers and actively uses its profits to run its business and fund organizations in a way that goes against my values.

Very good point.

I'm reluctant to assert that every store has to cater to every religion. I know WalMart and Target carry a lot of Christmas decorations but I've never really paid any attention to what other kinds of Holiday decorations they stock because I'm an atheist and only care about secular decorations. I wonder if there was a large Jewish chain of shops would they have to sell crucifixes?

There are so many reasons to hate Hobby Lobby but which decorations they sell seems a bit weak.

[Khan]

As store owners they can carry whatever merchandise they want but they need to train their staff to behave like civilized people. There are polite ways of saying one doesn't carry something. Hobby Lobby can kiss my ass, anyway, with their hate for anyone who isn't a Christian man.

[Jana814]

As store owners they can carry whatever merchandise they want but they need to train their staff to behave like civilized people. There are polite ways of saying one doesn't carry something. Hobby Lobby can kiss my ass, anyway, with their hate for anyone who isn't a Christian man.

Agree!! I'm still trying to figure out why they opened one in a largeish Jewish community.

[DarkAnts]

There is a hobby lobby within walking distance from where I live. I have not found a reason to go there yet. There is a Michael's across the street from HL and I know where the good yarn store is. I have everything I need without having to step foot in HL.

[rward]

He doesn't sell Jewish items, he just buys them:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/ ... story.html

AND HE KEPT IT?!

It is wildly offensive to me that he kept that artifact. The Jewish community- any Jewish community- should have exclusive rights to important Jewish artifacts. And before somebody calls me on this, imagine if a group of Hasidic Jews had the Shroud of Turin (and imagine the Shroud was really real) in their keeping because "cool! Early Christian artifacts!" Green would lose his mind.

[sparkles]

It's certainly Hobby Lobby's prerogative to exclude a significant portion of their potential client base by not selling Chanukah/Hanukkah items because to do so is not in keeping with the CEO's religious beliefs. Their choice, their loss, although I'm sure they don't see it that way. It's their right as Christians to discriminate*. It's also the right of the public to choose not to shop there as a way of protesting that discrimination. But wanna bet that HL and its supporters cry "PERSECUTION!"

*I do think it's a form of discrimination. Yes, they don't HAVE to carry non-Christian items, but you'd think that a store that caters to the general population, especially when that population includes a significant percentage of members of another faith, doesn't really have good business practices in mind. If HL specifically marketed itself as a CHRISTIAN hobby and crafts store, then no, I wouldn't think it was out of line to be exclusionary, just as I wouldn't expect to go into the Catholic store in the mall or to any of the specifically Jewish stores in the area and expect to find items representing other religions. When you market to the general public, you need to keep that "general" in mind.

[SquirrelySquirrel]

It would be illegal to discriminate in the workplace based on religion. But that doesn't mean they can't come up with some excuse not to hire someone if they somehow found out they weren't Christian.

All of the women I've ever seen working in my local Hobby Lobby (and I used to frequent that place regularly before I found out their true colors, and even took some Wilton cake decorating classes there) are of the long denim skirt variety. I imagine it would be pretty easy for management to pick out that type of candidate in their interview and slide around the discrimination laws. I wouldn't be surprised if they networked through local churches for employees.

What cracks me up is that while you have conservatives crying about the commercialization of x-mas, HL devotes a huge chunk of their stores to x-mas decorations and crap from July to December. Is that not contributing to the "problem?" It's an abomination when Target and Walmart do it, but I guess it's okay for the super xtian store.

[gezykah]

So if Jesus was born again in this day and age Mary couldn't go to Hobby Lobby to buy supplies to celebrate and help teach him about Chanukah as he grew up beause this self proclaimed good Christian doesn't understand the roots of his own faith.