Hobby Lobby, Michaels and Joann craft 'essential' retail arguments, but Judge Jenkins to force closings - The Dallas Morning News

Arts and crafts retailers Hobby Lobby, Joann Stores and Michaels have continued to operate, independently deciding that they are essential businesses in Texas and other states even as local governments are enforcing stay-at-home and shelter-in-place rules.

The office of Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins said Thursday that those retailers are considered nonessential and shouldn’t be open. Another abuser of the essential rule are smoke shops, Jenkins said Thursday in a Tweet asking the public to report violators.

Arts and craft stores aren’t deemed essential businesses under the Critical Infrastructure Security Act, Jenkins said Wednesday during a press conference.

Arts and crafts stores that remain open “are in violation of my order, and come Friday at midnight, Gov. Abbott’s order,” Jenkins said.

He noted that it’s not just a $1,000-a-day fine, it’s punishable by six months in jail.

“We’ll look at your various certificates from the cities and counties on your businesses if you are going to put your profit over the safety of people,” Jenkins said.

Oklahoma-based Hobby Lobby hasn’t responded to a request for comment. The chain particularly attracted attention as police forced the closings of stores in Indiana and Wisconsin, according to published reports. Hobby Lobby’s store in North Dallas told customers on Wednesday that it was open because it sells supplies to make masks.

Ohio-based Joann Stores’ location on East Mockingbird in Dallas was open Thursday. The retailer hasn’t responded to a request for comment but said in a notice to customers on its door that it was staying open to provide “desperately needed raw materials to make personal protective equipment."

Rules may not have been specific enough to allow for clear-cut conclusions about what businesses are essential during the coronavirus pandemic. A common response from arts and crafts retailers is that their customers are making PPE, including masks, and that the stores sell the fabric, lining and elastic for those supplies.

Automatic door slides open at the Joann Store in East Dallas on Mockingbird Lane.(Maria Halkias)

Joann Stores, Hobby Lobby and Michaels stores have continued to operate during the coronavirus pandemic as other business have been forced to close.(Maria Halkias)

“Michaels is providing makers nationwide with access to supplies and instructions so they can help create face masks and face shields,” said Mallory Smith, a spokeswoman for Irving-based Michaels, in an emailed response. She also mentioned that teachers, parents and small businesses rely on Michaels and its products “to enable creative learning."

Additional confusion has come from different rules within the Dallas-Fort Worth market, which overlaps several counties.

On Thursday, Michaels stores in Dallas County were closed and asked customers in emails and on its website to shop online to have orders delivered to their homes. In adjacent Collin County, Michaels stores in Plano and Allen were open — and are a 10- to 15-minute drive away for people living in Richardson or North Dallas.

That matched up with new data released on Thursday suggesting that cooped-up parents are buying arts and crafts, toys and books. Households with children are turning to board games, activity books and drawing supplies, according to results released Thursday by NPD Group.

Toy sales have increased 26% in the week ended March 21, with games and puzzles up 228%, NPD said. Building sets are up 76%, and arts and crafts are up 70%.

Books are up 66%, and much of that is sales of kids’ nonfiction focused on education and activities including language arts and handwriting, up 265%. “School at home combined with a higher demand for fun in-house activities have lifted educational and activity book sales,” said Kristen McLean, NPD’s book industry analyst.

Chalk sales are up 56%. Color markers are up 81%, and all kinds of paint supplies are up, including finger paints, up 313%.

Twitter: @MariaHalkias

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