Hobby Lobby opens in Watertown, some customers need second vehicles to carry away purchases

WATERTOWN, N.Y. (WWNY) - Sears, Bon-Ton, Gander Outdoors - those are just some of the anchor stores Watertown's Salmon Run Mall has seen leave. But on Friday, there was a lot of buzz over the grand opening a new addition: Hobby Lobby.

The mall's parking lot was packed Friday.

It was in large part due to the grand opening of Hobby Lobby, an arts and crafts store that also sells other items like household supplies, home accents and seasonal items.

Samantha Sauers says she came thinking she would only need her small SUV, but turns out she bought more than she could fit.

"I just started grabbing stuff and then thinking of Christmas and then 1 cart led to 3 carts and now I still have a bunch of furniture. I have to come back with my truck," she said.

Furniture seemed to be the hot commodity as people were walking out and loading as much as they could into their vehicles.

Brian Engel's wife came over with some of their neighbors and called Engel to bring a second car.

"They called me to rescue them because they bought about everything that's in there. So here I am," he said.

Customers coming out to Hobby Lobby said it was packed inside and people were excited about the deals going on across the store.

Sauers is new to the area from Pittsburgh and says she was excited to hear Hobby Lobby was opening near her new home.

"I was excited. I was, like, overjoyed because it's, like, an amazing store. This is what we need is, you know, because it's got everything you need in it, crafts to decor. Yeah, so it was definitely needed," she said.

Hobby Lobby’s hours are Monday through Saturday from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m.

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