MISSOULA — A vacant storefront in Southgate Mall will soon be home to Hobby Lobby, according to building permits filed this week with the City of Missoula.
Neither Southgate Mall nor Washington Prime Group, which owns the mall, could be reached for comment Friday or Saturday morning regarding the new tenant.
But according to the permit, which showed up in the city’s public-facing database on Wednesday, Hobby Lobby will renovate the former Lucky’s Market space and add an exterior vestibule and mezzanine.
The space was originally home to Sears, which closed around 2014 when department stores began struggling to transform to the digital shopping craze. Lucky’s Market opened in 2018, but it also closed in 2020 after Kroger divested its stake in the company.
Over the past few years, the mall has successfully transformed by adding several new anchor tenants. The AMC dine-in theater has endured the pandemic and after JC Penny’s closed, Scheels renovated the empty space and opened its new department store in early October.
The new Hobby Lobby will be the company’s first location in Missoula and will compete with Michael’s on North Reserve. The project’s total cost is roughly $2 million, though an anticipated opening date remains undetermined.
