Fearful Hobby Lobby employees show what it's like to work in a store that reopened in defiance of state-mandated shutdowns during the coronavirus

While officials in Ohio and Colorado issued cease-and-desist letters to Hobby Lobby locations on Wednesday, stores in several other states currently remain open.
Business Insider spoke to 19 employees in 13 states who expressed fear for their health and safety due to a lack of proper protections and inadequate sick pay.
Employees shared photos of what it's been like to work inside Hobby Lobby during the coronavirus outbreak.
Hobby Lobby did not respond to Business Insider's request for comment.
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On Wednesday morning, a Hobby Lobby employee in Ohio was manning the register when a nurse approached her, tears in her eyes.

The nurse told the employee that the store which had quietly reopened on Monday, despite Ohio's stay-at-home mandate calling for the closure of nonessential businesses, before it was shut down by the attorney general on Wednesday evening shouldn't be open and urged her to quit.

"She said a job isn't worth my health or safety," the employee said. "Then she bought a metal wall sign."

The employee is one of 19 Hobby Lobby staffers across 13 states who told Business Insider they believe the crafts store has become a threat to public health and safety amid the coronavirus outbreak. The staffers who each spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of retribution but whose identities and employment statuses have been confirmed work in stores in Arkansas, Colorado, Georgia, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Minnesota, North Carolina, South Carolina, Ohio, and Texas.

Nearly all of these employees work in regions that are currently under statewide or county-specific stay-at-home mandates calling for the closure of nonessential businesses. Though this delineation is determined by lawmakers in each state, a universally accepted list of essential businesses as well as a guidance issued by the Department of Homeland Security does not include craft stores.

Still, that hasn't stopped Hobby Lobby from reopening stores in several of these states while arming managers with talking points for "how to respond and communicate if visited by a local authority that asks why we are open," according to a memo obtained by Business Insider this week.

Though reopened stores in Ohio and Colorado have been forcibly shuttered in response to cease-and-desist orders issued by state officials on Wednesday, several around the country still remain up and running. Employees in these locations expressed fear for their safety due to a lack of proper protections and inadequate sick pay .

"We are being forced to stay open with no type of protection for employees," an employee in Texas wrote in an email to Business Insider. "We are trying to be a part of the solution for stopping the spread of this deadly virus instead of the problem."

Hobby Lobby did not respond to Business Insider's request to comment.

Employees at stores in Ohio, North Carolina, and Texas shared photos of what it's been like to work at a reopened Hobby Lobby during the coronavirus outbreak. Read more about their experience below.

Signs placed on the front door of Hobby Lobby stores declare it is "operating as an essential business," citing reasons including "offering PPE mask supplies" and providing educational and home office supplies.

BusinessInsider USA Images

Courtesy of Hobby Lobby employee

"Hobby Lobby is fighting that we are an essential store," a Hobby Lobby employee in North Carolina told Business Insider earlier this week. "There is absolutely nothing in Hobby Lobby worth spreading this illness. I'm honestly appalled at this company and the way it doesn't care for its employees and only about making their money."

However, employees questioned just how "essential" Hobby Lobby products are, given the company does not sell universally acknowledged essential items like food, medication, and cleaning supplies.

BusinessInsider USA Images

Courtesy of Hobby Lobby employee

"Most products being bought aren't even the 'essentials' that we claim as a reason to be open," an employee in Georgia said. "It's mostly customers who say they are bored and need something to do. These are the people that we need to be most worried about because they are not caring or even thinking about the lives and safety of us and our families."

Multiple employees said the company's warehouse in Oklahoma City had been closed until further notice, meaning stores aren't even able to restock the inventory that managers and executives are claiming are essential.

BusinessInsider USA Images

Courtesy of Hobby Lobby employee

Employees in Ohio and Texas said they had been instructed to wear pins declaring that "social distancing is in effect."

BusinessInsider USA Images

Courtesy of Hobby Lobby employee

However, as one employee pointed out, the pin "can't be read unless you're right next" to a worker ...

BusinessInsider USA Images

Courtesy of Hobby Lobby employee

... because the font is so small.

BusinessInsider USA Images

Courtesy of Hobby Lobby employee

Stores in Ohio had previously been asked to "find items for indoors or coronavirus-related and sell them," according to an email sent to employees and obtained by Business Insider.

BusinessInsider USA Images

Courtesy of Hobby Lobby employee

This sign reads "clean hands, clean faces, clean hearts."

BusinessInsider USA Images

Courtesy of Hobby Lobby employee

A sign in a break room informs employees how to stay healthy, though eight workers told Business Insider they don't have adequate cleaning tools and have been prohibited from wearing masks and gloves.

BusinessInsider USA Images

Courtesy of Hobby Lobby employee

The North Carolina employee said her team was not allowed to wear gloves or masks while working because management told them "it would make customers uncomfortable."

Social distancing barriers have been placed on the ground using tape, in an effort to prevent customers from getting too close to employees.

BusinessInsider USA Images

Courtesy of Hobby Lobby employee

Here's another attempt at enforcing social distancing using tape.

BusinessInsider USA Images

Courtesy of Hobby Lobby employee

However, some Hobby Lobby workers said that customers are failing to adhere to social distancing guidelines and missing the tape marks completely.

BusinessInsider USA Images

Courtesy of Hobby Lobby employee

An Ohio employee said that before their store was shuttered on Wednesday night, a group of three customers scoffed at her for asking that they maintain six feet of distance as she assisted them with a request.

"They repeatedly stood right next to me and when I tried to politely ask them to keep distant, they began threatening to cough and touch me," she said. "I reported it to management and they thought it was funny."

Thin and flimsy "sneeze guards" have been placed at registers, offering minimal barriers between customers and sales associates.

BusinessInsider USA Images

Courtesy of Hobby Lobby employee

"When we asked the manager how we were supposed to stay 6 feet away from the customer while checking them out, he said that was between us and the customer, but we were not allowed to tell them to back up," an employee in Texas told Business Insider. "Since then they've hung some plastic up at the registers, but everyone is still very uncomfortable with that."

Here's another look at the sneeze guard from behind the register.

BusinessInsider USA Images

Courtesy of Hobby Lobby employee

Some stores started haphazardly placing informational flyers about the coronavirus on easels in different sections, as pictured here.

BusinessInsider USA Images

Courtesy of Hobby Lobby employee

Others have made makeshift barriers for entering and exiting in order to curb foot traffic and help maintain a safe distance.

BusinessInsider USA Images

Courtesy of Hobby Lobby employee

Here's an exit sign for shoppers at a store in Ohio.

BusinessInsider USA Images

Courtesy of Hobby Lobby employee

Hobby Lobby posted signs on the wall that claim it is enhancing cleaning procedures and equipping employees with hand sanitizer.

BusinessInsider USA Images

Courtesy of Hobby Lobby employee

"I am required to return to work regardless of the state of the virus," the Texas employee said. "This is absolutely frightening to me."

Here is a cart in an Ohio store before it shut down.

BusinessInsider USA Images

Courtesy of Hobby Lobby employee

"In an attempt to seem as though we're further following sanitation guidelines they've simply placed a cart with cleaning supplies near the restrooms," an Ohio employee said. "They're still not being sanitized after use."

"We've been told they don't have gloves to provide and the only cleaning equipment given is the same cleaner used for the bathrooms," an employee in Texas wrote in an email.

BusinessInsider USA Images

Courtesy of Hobby Lobby employee

Fearful Hobby Lobby employees show what it's like to work in a store that reopened in defiance of state-mandated shutdowns during the coronavirus

Signs placed on the front door of Hobby Lobby stores declare it is "operating as an essential business," citing reasons including "offering PPE mask supplies" and providing educational and home office supplies.

However, employees questioned just how "essential" Hobby Lobby products are, given the company does not sell universally acknowledged essential items like food, medication, and cleaning supplies.

Multiple employees said the company's warehouse in Oklahoma City had been closed until further notice, meaning stores aren't even able to restock the inventory that managers and executives are claiming are essential.

Employees in Ohio and Texas said they had been instructed to wear pins declaring that "social distancing is in effect."

However, as one employee pointed out, the pin "can't be read unless you're right next" to a worker ...

... because the font is so small.

Stores in Ohio had previously been asked to "find items for indoors or coronavirus-related and sell them," according to an email sent to employees and obtained by Business Insider.

This sign reads "clean hands, clean faces, clean hearts."

A sign in a break room informs employees how to stay healthy, though eight workers told Business Insider they don't have adequate cleaning tools and have been prohibited from wearing masks and gloves.

Social distancing barriers have been placed on the ground using tape, in an effort to prevent customers from getting too close to employees.

Here's another attempt at enforcing social distancing using tape.

However, some Hobby Lobby workers said that customers are failing to adhere to social distancing guidelines and missing the tape marks completely.

Thin and flimsy "sneeze guards" have been placed at registers, offering minimal barriers between customers and sales associates.

Here's another look at the sneeze guard from behind the register.

Some stores started haphazardly placing informational flyers about the coronavirus on easels in different sections, as pictured here.

Others have made makeshift barriers for entering and exiting in order to curb foot traffic and help maintain a safe distance.

Here's an exit sign for shoppers at a store in Ohio.

Hobby Lobby posted signs on the wall that claim it is enhancing cleaning procedures and equipping employees with hand sanitizer.

Here is a cart in an Ohio store before it shut down.

"We've been told they don't have gloves to provide and the only cleaning equipment given is the same cleaner used for the bathrooms," an employee in Texas wrote in an email.

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