Hobby Lobby is raising its hour pay for full-time workers again to $18.50 an hour.

Hobby Lobby stores will now be paying all of their full-time employees $18.50 an hour. Hobby Lobby has over 900 stores in 47 states and employs over 47,000 people nationwide including the one right here in Texarkana. Hobby Lobby just recently raised its minimum pay for full-time employees to $17 an hour back in October.

Hobby Lobby founder and CEO, David Green said.

We have a long track record of taking care of our employees. In 1998, we made the decision to close our stores on Sundays, and at 8:00 p.m. the rest of the week, to provide employees time for rest, family, and worship. We’ve also worked hard over the years to provide the best pay and benefits in retail, which has allowed us to attract and retain an outstanding group of associates to serve our devoted customers.

Hobby Lobby began as a small extension of a store called Greco Products that was a miniature picture frames company founded by David Green in his garage in 1970. Hobby Lobby officially opened in 1972 in Oklahoma City and this family-owned business has been growing to the current size of over 900 stores nationwide.

To give you an idea of how big this is for local employees of Hobby Lobby. The current minimum wage in Texas is just $7.25 an hour and the minimum wage in Arkansas is $11 an hour. The pay increase is scheduled to go into effect on January 1st of 2022.

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