Something wicker this way comes (to Spokane Valley)

Yo crafters and hobby types. News of major proportion just in:  Mega hobby and craft center chain, Hobby Lobby, will move into the empty G.I. Joe’s store in Spokane Valley. It’s expecting to open the new store in August.

The new Spokane Valley store will be at 13902 E. Indiana, and take up 45,000 square feet of floor space. The Oklahama City-based chain has more than 450 stores across the country; the nearest one so far has been in Boise.

This is a very large chain. Vincent Palmer, a company director of customer services, said it’s sort of fair to say Hobby Lobby is the “supersized” version of Michaels, another known chain of crafts stores. The big difference, he said, is that Hobby Lobby has more home-focused items, such as fabrics, picture frames and decorating accessories.

It also has operations in China, Hong Kong and the Phillipines.

The store they’ve taken went empty after G.I. Joe’s declared bankruptcy in mid-2009.