Hobby Lobby opens in Hazard, adds jobs at Black Gold Plaza

Black Gold Plaza added another major tenant on Friday as Hobby Lobby opened at 284 Black Gold Boulevard, expanding the retail center’s lineup of home decor, crafts and seasonal goods. The opening also pushed the project further into full operation, with the plaza’s first four stores adding more than 200 jobs across Hazard.

The new Hobby Lobby is a 51,000-square-foot store and Hobby Lobby’s 24th location in Kentucky. Joyce “Maxine” Music is managing the Hazard store, and the company says it now operates more than 1,000 stores nationwide. For Perry County shoppers, the store fills a gap in the local retail mix, giving residents a closer place to buy supplies and home accents that often require a trip to another county.

Hobby Lobby joins TJ Maxx and Five Below at Black Gold Plaza, while Dollar Tree is scheduled to open there on June 18. TJ Maxx opened first on May 17 at 280 Black Gold Blvd., and Five Below is at 256 Black Gold Blvd. The staggered rollout shows the plaza opening in phases, not as a single grand opening, and each new store has added to the shopping traffic now building along the Hazard corridor.

The redevelopment behind that growth has been positioned as a $16.5 million private investment. Drinkard Development said in March 2025 that it had been planning the project for more than three years and that the work required storm drain relocation before demolition and construction. The company said some construction was expected to finish in early 2026, with more work continuing into the fall, and local officials said the project could strengthen revenue, job creation and future development in Hazard and Perry County.

The broader economic question now is whether Black Gold Plaza can keep more consumer spending inside the county. A national crafts and home-decor chain will likely draw shoppers who otherwise might drive to surrounding counties for similar goods, which could help local sales-tax collections and reduce retail leakage. At the same time, the new traffic and national brands may put pressure on smaller craft and home-decor sellers already operating in the area.

For Hazard, the opening marks another step in a retail shift that has been building for more than a year. What was once a redevelopment plan is now becoming a functioning shopping center, with national names, new jobs and a larger share of Perry County’s day-to-day spending concentrated at Black Gold Plaza.