Hobby Lobby Stores, Inc., a national retail chain of craft and home decor stores, is set to open a new store in Meridian in late December, according to a news release from the company.

Construction is underway on the 55,000 square-foot building, located at South Frontage Road.

The location will bring about 35–50 jobs paying $15.70 per hour for full-time and $10.45 per hour for part-time associates, the release states.

“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,” Kelly Black, director of advertising, said in the release. “We’re tremendously excited about becoming a part of the Meridian community.”

Hobby Lobby has over 850 stores across the nation and 11 in Mississippi. 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 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Saturday. Stores are closed on Sunday.

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