Hobby Lobby Discounts Outweigh Dismay Over Court Ruling [View all]

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http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-07-02/hobby-lobby-discounts-outweigh-dismay-over-court-ruling.html

While Hobby Lobby Stores Inc.’s customers may disagree with the retailer’s stance on contraception, they aren’t changing their shopping habits or seeking their craft supplies elsewhere.

“I’m a supporter of reproductive rights, but the ruling doesn’t really impact me much in terms of where I’m going to shop,” Suzie Frazier, 43, said yesterday outside a Hobby Lobby in Canton, Michigan, west of Detroit, as she prepared to buy sidewalk chalk for her son. “Yeah, it’s disappointing that Hobby Lobby feels that way, but if they have something I need that others don’t, I’ll shop there.”

The closely held store’s right to refuse to pay for employees’ birth control because of religious objections was affirmed by the U.S. Supreme Court this week.

Frazier isn’t alone. The Oklahoma City-based company’s sales have outpaced competitors such as Michaels Stores Inc. and Jo-Ann Stores Inc. in the last year as the case wound its way through the U.S. legal system. The Supreme Court’s decision capped a 22-month battle by the purveyor of plastic flowers and children’s crafts against a provision of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act that its health plans cover birth control without cost to their workers.