What Is Hobby Lobby Founder David Green’s Net Worth? Retailer Re-Opens Stores During Coronavirus Pandemic

After being shut down by police in some states, Hobby Lobby stores across the U.S. are reportedly re-opening as the company deems itself an essential business during stay-at-home orders that are requiring nonessential businesses to close across the U.S. during the coronavirus pandemic.

Hobby Lobby reportedly argued that because it sells educational products, products for small home businesses, and supplies to make masks, it is an essential retailer.

Now, the arts and crafts retailer has a sign posted on some store doors that says, “ Operating as an essential business Offering PPE Mask supplies, educational supplies, office supplies, and various components for at home small businesses,” CBS reported.

The news of the store re-openings comes as Hobby Lobby founder David Green sent a letter to the company’s more than 43,000 workers at 850 stores in 46 states that was posted on Twitter, saying that his wife, Barbara, received a message from God that the stores must stay open.

The message, according to Green, meant, "We serve a God who will Guide us through this storm, who will Guard us as we travel to places never seen before, and who, as a result of this experience, will Groom us to be better than we could have ever thought possible before now.”

According to Business Insider, Hobby Lobby’s distribution center in Oklahoma is closed, preventing the stores from re-stocking, what it calls essential products.

This not the first time that Green has come under fire for his beliefs as the company prevented employees from receiving certain types of contraceptives, such as those that stop pregnancy after conception, CBS reported.

In an interview with the news outlet at that time, Green said about the decision, “ It’s really not the government’s right to interfere with my conscience, and so as employers, or as owners, my wife and I that started this business, the government shouldn’t be imposing restrictions on us that would cost us as much as $1.3 million a day if we didn’t follow what they would ask us to do.”

Green, who has a net worth of $6 billion, according to The Richest, won the Supreme Court case against the company, allowing Hobby Lobby to continue limiting contraceptives available to employees in a 5-4 vote.