Hobby Lobby Is Done Offering 40 Percent off Coupons, and People Aren't Happy

Store deals and coupons are a funny thing. One minute you're going about your business perfectly fine and in no rush to go and spend your hard-earned cash. Then you catch wind of a deal that's too good to pass up. "Costco is selling Adidas yoga pants for how much?!" Before you know it, you and everyone in your family has the best leggings you've ever seen for the next five years.

The Hobby Lobby "holy grail" coupon is just like that. So why did the arts and crafts retail giant stop issuing it?

If you aren't familiar with the company's fantastic coupon, it gives shoppers a whopping 40 percent off coupon to use on their purchases. It was a favorite of the store's shoppers, which is why many people couldn't believe what they were reading once the retailer made the announcement.

What's next, no more Macy's rewards points so you can buy a slightly different Izod shirt that's already on clearance for your dad on Father's Day?

Hobby Lobby explained its decision to discontinue the coupon in a Facebook comment, "By making this decision, we are intensifying our efforts to discount thousands of items every day. This will offer a better value instead of providing a discount on only one item with the coupon."

It didn't seem like people were buying the explanation. The general consensus boiled down to: Hobby Lobby's stopping their customers from saving money.

Tons of customers have been posting on Hobby Lobby's official social media pages expressing their discontent with the retailer's decision to stop offering the coupon. Bloggers have written articles about it. Twitter's upset with it. People want their 40 percent off coupon, and they aren't happy with the fact that Hobby Lobby's no longer handing them out.

Again, the explanation put up on social media doesn't really make sense to a lot of the store's devoted customers, so can there be another reason as to why the chain's decided to stop offering such a steep discount it has traditionally given to its shoppers? If it's a marketing strategy intended to "upset" customers — like Coca Cola did with changing its formula then reverting to Coca Cola classic — that could be one reason.

Or perhaps it's like when IHOP, the International House of Pancakes decided to change its name to IHOB, the International House of Burgers, to try and get more customers in its doors during dinner time so people could enjoy some of their more savory post-morning offerings? It's causing a bit of a kerfuffle, so "bringing it back" might make people think that their voices are heard and will ultimately draw more eyes on Hobby Lobby.

But it could be for another reason entirely.

It's no secret that retail outlets suffered tremendously during the pandemic. One would think that being stuck indoors all day only made more people want to take up new hobbies and occupy themselves with arts and crafts — the same kinds of delightful arts and crafts that Hobby Lobby sells.

However, there was some pushback at Hobby Lobby's CEO for staying open during the pandemic and encouraging staff to "tighten their belts."

So perhaps it's an economic decision more than anything else.