Hobbycraft, the UK’s largest arts and crafts retailer, is pleased to announce the opening of its store in Wimbledon on Tuesday 30th November. To celebrate this new store, Hobbycraft is also hosting a grand opening event on Saturday 4th December at 9.00am, with product offers and exciting activities, including free goody bags to the first 100 customers.
In the last year, there has been a resurgence in craft, and Hobbycraft’s How We Got Hooked Report revealed that Britain rediscovered the power of making, with 95% of people stating they were crafting during lockdown* and tie dye, diamond painting and paint by number were among the most popular crafts during the first lockdown. The new Hobbycraft store will offer customers the retailers’ extensive range of crafting products catering for beginners, experts, kids, crafters, and party planners alike.
Hobbycraft Wimbledon will create 17 new jobs in the local area and is currently searching for the best crafting experts to inspire customers to get creative to fill the roles. These roles offer the Wimbledon community the opportunity to work for the fourth Best Big Company to work for in the UK and the third Best Retail Company to work for in the UK, accolades that Hobbycraft were awarded in May 2021 by Best Companies.
Store Manager, Andrew Morgan comments: “After a tough year for many, we are really looking forward to opening the doors to our Wimbledon store and sharing our passion for arts and crafts with the local community. We have seen more people than ever take up crafting during the COVID-19 pandemic and we want to encourage locals to come down to their new store and shop with us safely. We look forward to providing Wimbledon customers with the ultimate retail experience, combined with fantastic crafting products at great prices.”
The safety and wellbeing of Hobbycraft’s colleagues, customers and communities remains a priority and the Wimbledon store has the below guidelines in place:
Sanitisation points where customers are able to clean hands, baskets, and trolley handles
Throughout the store, there will be signage to encourage social distancing
Checkout colleagues are screened, appropriately spaced, and recommend contactless payments where possible
In England, Hobbycraft recommend that customers wear face coverings whilst instore unless exempt
The Wimbledon store will offer customers a wide range of crafting products and will also have a dedicated Custom Crafting area. Custom Crafting is a new inspirational crafting area that introduces the digital personalisation Cricut tool to customers. The space is designed to inspire shoppers as well as encourage them to try out products and crafting techniques. The retailer launched the areas as a trial in early 2019 and it was such a hit Hobbycraft are now installing a Custom Crafting area in all their new stores.
As well as a Custom Crafting area, the store will also offer up an array of Christmas crafting workshops, which are designed by Hobbycraft Artisans (craft experts from Hobbycraft stores across the UK) that will focus on showstopping Christmas gift making, wreath making and advent calendars personalising classes, to name a few. The workshops are suitable for the whole family with specific kids’ sessions also available and prices for each session vary between £5 – £45. Crafters in the Wimbledon area are able to book an in-store workshop via Hobbycraft ClassBento.
To find out more information please visit the new Hobbycraft store at Unit 3B Plough Lane Retail Park, Plough Lane, Wimbledon, SW17 0BW, from Tuesday 30th November 2021 or visit the Hobbycraft website at www.hobbycraft.co.uk or tweet the store @Hobbycraft_WIM. The new Wimbledon store will be open Monday to Friday 9.00am to 8.00pm, Saturday 9.00am to 7.00pm and Sunday 10.00am to 4.00pm.
