ESCANABA — Hobby Lobby Stores, Inc., a privately held national retail chain of craft and home decor stores, opens in Escanaba with a ribbon cutting ceremony and official grand opening celebration Monday at 9 a.m. The Escanaba store is Hobby Lobby’s 26th location in Michigan. Joe Rondeau is the store manager of the 60,000 square-foot retail facility located at the Delta Plaza Mall.

The store’s grand opening and ribbon cutting ceremony is open to the public. Local dignitaries, ambassadors from the Delta County Chamber of Commerce and other business leaders will attend the celebration.

“Once you visit Hobby Lobby, you will see that we are very unique, offering the widest variety of merchandise in the craft and home decor market under one roof,” said Kelly Black, director of advertising. “We’re tremendously excited about becoming a part of the Escanaba community.”

Hobby Lobby has over 800 stores across the nation. Each store offers more than 70,000 crafting and home decor products including floral, fabric, needle art, custom framing, baskets, home accents, wearable art, arts and crafts, jewelry making, scrapbooking and paper crafting supplies. Store hours are Monday through Saturday from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. Hobby Lobby stores are closed on Sunday.

Hobby Lobby Stores, Inc., an Oklahoma City-based private corporation, began as Greco, a miniature picture frame company in 1970. When David Green moved his business from the family home to a 300 square-foot retail space in 1972, Hobby Lobby was born. It is the nation’s largest privately-owned arts and crafts retailer.