Julienm1

Hobby Lobby is a craft and home dec store. We have them in NM but based in Utah I think. Anyway, went to JAs to browse but sadly bought 2 dif fab. Their inventory is low. Lots of flannel and fleese. Hardly any notions. Very few fat quarters. So left and went to Hobby Lobby to see if I could find any coordinating fabric.

OMG...I hit the mother load. Found 12 bolts and bought a yard of each. Qualitiy was a lot better than JAs and 2-3 dollars cheaper!! Just add more fab to my already messy sewing room. Zig zagged the edges, wash, dried, and now waiting to be pressed, folded, and put away.

Sady DH was with me so doesn't make any sense to try and hide it...LOL

Homespun

Good for you! I like Hobby Lobby better than JoAnn's.

luvstoquilt

I prefer Hobby Lobby too.

Iceblossom

Inventories are rather low right now. My smaller local Joann near home has stayed open through most of this. The larger one near my hubby's work is for internet pick-up only. Looking through the windows, the store was virtually empty, or at least the front part of the seasonal items. I'm assuming that it wasn't delivered (or if delivered, not unpacked) and that this year might be a really good year to get 4th of July things on sale shortly.

Being in Seattle, I have friends that don't approve of some of Hobby Lobby's owners views and they refuse to shop there. Shrug, we all have to make up our own minds. The one near me has a small but good selection of fabrics and I have gotten some specifically from them. I find that their trims are awesome and usually very well priced. If I was wanting artificial flowers, I'd go to Hobby Lobby first and in an instant, and recommend them on that.

I haven't looked recently, but I rather like the way the Hobby Lobby on-line sales are, can easily browse through their fabric.

Watson

I prefer Joanne's for a number of reasons.

Watson

Jordan

I have only been in Hobby Lobby a couple of times but I love that store. The closest HL to me is about 2 hours away so I don't get to go very often but really like that store better than JA's. Lot more fun things to see at HL

juliasb

We have both stores within a mile of each other. I have only been in the Holly Lobby one time and I got overwhelmed with the store.. I bought 2 different coordinating fabrics and was out of there. That does not mean it is a difficult store it was just to big for me. I was completely happy with my limited experience. (maybe this is why I have never been to IKEA).
Our JAF was fairly stocked when I was there a week ago considering the covid issues for many companies. JAF on a normal day I can find what I like and get out of there too. I am not a big browser in stores.
So to choose I would choose JAF only because I am familiar with the store.

Rob The HOAQ

I am obviously no expert on buying fabric (books are my weakness), but I've always found Joann's to be more of a vanilla shop that caters to the largest crowd possible (we don't go to Hobby Lobby, so I can't comment on them). Having become more interested in my wife's hobby over the past few months, I've urged her to broaden her scope in terms of supplies. The batting that Joann's sells will get the job done, but I've seen the difference between that and Hobbs. They have a fairly decent selection of fabric, but I've seen better (meaning more diverse and interesting) selections at quilt shops and their websites. While they have a lot of Coats and Clark, my wife now swears by Presencia and Aurifil (she gave a bunch of her C&C thread to Goodwill). I've always believed that you can get a great meal with a $5 skillet, but once you use a $95 one, and see the benefits it brings to the table, so to speak, you won't want to buy the cheaper one again. When I bought my KitchenAid stand mixer almost 20 years ago, my mother shook her head and said "you have champagne tastes on a beer budget." Yet that mixer has done its job all this time and continues to do so, and I've replaced several cheap hand mixers.

Your mileage may vary.

dunster

When I started sewing there was a JAF nearby, but no Hobby Lobby. Later one opened up, and it was so much cleaner and better organized than JAF, plus the staff seemed friendlier and better trained. I don't shop at either very often, preferring online and quilt shops, but I do prefer Hobby Lobby to JAF.

tallchick

We have no Hobby Lobby even close; I have no issue with Joann’s , I can find some very nice fabrics if I’m so inclined to take my time and feel the fabrics, as the quality does run the spectrum of nice to not so much. I will only buy when I have a coupon, their pricing structure is ridiculous IMHO. In fact, I just purchased 6 yards of a beautiful fabric with a wonderful hand for a OBW quilt and considering I ordered it online I was very pleased with the quality of the fabric and the fast shipping.