Hobby Lobby, 5422 Forest Drive: 10 June 2019 (Moved) 17 comments
I was rather surprised by this closing, although East Forest Plaza has certainly had its share of turnover lately. The chain is pitching this as a relocation as noted in this press release, with the new location being at 2209 West Dekalb Street in Camden. I guess the management team could have relocated intact, but surely for the rank and file, those jobs are gone -- nobody is going to commute from Columbia to Camden.
(Hat tip to commenter Rashaad)
17 Responses to 'Hobby Lobby, 5422 Forest Drive: 10 June 2019 (Moved)'
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Rowen
2 Jul 19 at 6:21 am
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Two Notch Road
Sunset Boulevard
Augusta RoadStill exist.
Rashaad
2 Jul 19 at 2:13 pm
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well...good luck to them. I guess those that lost their jobs can go work for that nasty Walmart next door..or somewhere else around that area.
Del
2 Jul 19 at 4:54 pm
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The other possibility is that some of the folks could transfer to one of the other 3 Hobby Lobby locations Rashaad mentioned or this will be the catalyst for a life's change some of them had in the back of their mind for a time leading into this...
Whatever the case I don't understand the reasoning for this happening but much of this is kept tight lipped at the corporate level...
Andrew
2 Jul 19 at 5:34 pm
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I guess a bright spot to this closing is that based on the address, it probably takes the place of the Big KMart that closed out there a couple of years ago.
Jason
2 Jul 19 at 6:16 pm
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Word has it that the vagrants and homeless were getting bad at this mall. The manager of HL no longer felt it was safe
MrBO
4 Jul 19 at 1:25 pm
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That walmart parking lot is a circus.
Drug deals ,aggressive panhandlers.JohnG
4 Jul 19 at 4:34 pm
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Frankly I feel like most Walmart parking lots are getting to be the way JohnG describes (I've gotten so I don't really go to Walmart all that often)...
Andrew
4 Jul 19 at 10:48 pm
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I agree with Andrew. I try to avoid the full Walmart stores. Sometimes I go to the Walmart Neighborhood Market in the Three Fountains area of West Columbia.
Robin
7 Jul 19 at 9:45 pm
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I never had any problem with the Wal Mart here, but I did notice the last time I made a late night run that it was no longer open 24 hours, which I guess might be due to some issues. I had to drive out Two Notch to get whatever it was I felt I needed right away.
ted
8 Jul 19 at 8:46 pm
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Several Walmarts that aren't open 24/7 anymore...In looking at Walmart.com's store locator it appears to me as if the following locations aren't open 24/7: 1326 Bush River Road (#1379), 1180 Dutch Fork Road (#4440, Ballentine), 2401 Augusta Road (#1183, West Columbia), the Batesburg/Leesville Walmart (#4420) as well as the Neighborhood Market at Emmanuel Church & Old Barnwell aren't open 24/7 in addition to the Forest Drive location mentioned in the main post.
Andrew
9 Jul 19 at 5:47 pm
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Two reasons not to be open 24 hrs....
Depending on the store.
First. No customers late at night because people have to work the next day.Second.Complete freek show at night because people don't have to work the next day.
JohnG
9 Jul 19 at 8:32 pm
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I think Walmart store # 1183 which I worked at for 9 and 1/2 years got to the point of having the homeless and other trouble makers come through at all hours, plus not enough business to keep busy other than stocking the floor. I think they close at 11 or 12:00 now..but I dont go there anymore due to bad memories of working there among other things. But like all retail Giants such at Woolworths, Woolco, Service Mdse, Belk's, Sears, Kmart and others eventually fall off the hill and become much less then they were.
Del
9 Jul 19 at 10:31 pm
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Hello, currently still-employed East Forest Plaza Hobby Lobby Cashier here. We, the staff, did in fact transfer to Camden and were all given advance notice to either choose whether we wanted to continue working over in Camden or transfer to Two Notch, W. Columbia, or Lexington. Even the employees based at the other stores were given the opportunity to relocate to Camden, if they so chose. Hobby Lobby did not lay any one off. In fact, I still work with most of the original East Forest team.
As for the reasoning behind the location's closure, safety did factor in heavily. Patrol vehicles were dispatched daily to ward off the vagrants and homeless, whose harassment became something of a common complaint to management towards the end of our stay. Another factor was sales. Simply put, we did not see as much business as our sister locations, and corporate wanted to try their luck further out in Camden, which is indeed proving to be more lucrative for us.
M.
12 Sep 19 at 2:26 am
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Well, glad to hear that!
ted
15 Sep 19 at 10:01 pm
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I rode through Camden a few weeks back and can confirm Jason's indication that this Hobby Lobby has moved into a portion of the former Kmart out there...it has been subdivided into Marshall's, Hobby Lobby & Five Below (with spaces available for some smaller stuff)...I swear I wish something like that had happened with the former Kmart at Seven Oaks Shopping Center (which I miss)...
Andrew
16 Sep 19 at 8:27 pm
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Yesterday's The State had an article (print edition only, can't find it online) that plans are in the works to open a Crazy Cazboy's in this space...it is liquidation store concept that was started by Zoe's Kitchen founder John Cassimus...
Andrew
7 Nov 20 at 6:03 pm
Hey, these workers weren't involuntarily laid-off, they chose not to relocate. No unemployment for you!