Complaint Review: Hobby Lobby - Findlay Ohio

Look at any piece of broken furniture at Hobby Lobby and look at the edge of what they call Wood in the furniture.  You will see that it is a Fiber board type material and is not solid wood.  It is either ground up wood fiber held together with glue or ground up cardboard waste products held together with wood and then laminated with either a plastic film or paper film that looks like wood.  Its almost like putting contact paper on top of particle board.

I am sure many people are fooled thinking they are buying a solid wood piece of furniture when they are only getting a Fake wood piece of furniture.

The companies are getting so good at making the top film look like real wood that it could fool anyone. 

Summed up,  do not spend your hard earned money at Hobby Lobby on fake wood furniture products,  they will not last.

No matter how much it looks like wood ask someone working there if they guarantee the product is made from Real solid wood and see what they say.   

The original poster's complaint & follow-up boils down to two claims:

1. They're trying to trick me by making me think PDF board is real, solid wood

2. They charge too much for products that are not real, solid wood.

Claim 1:  Hobby lobby is filled with decorative items with faux finishes applied to them which mimic the look of antique items or expensive materials.  They label these items as "made in China".  They do not represent them as genuine antiques, or genuine expensive materials.

Certainly they are painted to simulate wood grain, just as pseudo-marble will be painted like marble, or pseudo-antiques will have painted patinas to simulate aging.

The point of faux finishes and PDF board is to allow people who cannot (or do not wish to) pay for a genuine luxury item to create the look of age, patina, and antiquity in their inexpensive decor. This is not an attempt to deceive; it is filling a niche market for customers whose tastes are richer than their budgets.

I have never seen a Hobby Lobby item labeled as "solid wood" (or "marble", "copper", etc). They don't pretend their faux-finish items are anything other than what they are.

Claim 2: I was looking at  H.L. PDF board nightstands recently. They were painted or appliqued with a classy and charming design, sturdy enough to hold a lamp and books, and would cost, on sale, about $80.00.

And you think this is a rip-off?  Have you gone to a furniture store that has items made from solid wood -no veneers or particle board - and priced them lately?  You'd be lucky to find a solid wood nightstand under $250, and if you did it would probably be damaged or frightfully ugly.

I think these complaints are unrealistic and reflect a spoiled consumer mentality that expects to pay dime-store prices for Tiffany-quality merchandize. Even the overseas child-labor factories can't pay somebody low enough wages to make you solid wood items for less than you'd pay for pressed board.

If you want a high-quality solid wood piece, research what they cost. Save the money, and buy it. Don't expect to find it at a store that doesn't claim to be selling it, and then tarnish the store's reputation for not providing you with something that is economically impossibly to give you.

To the charming person whose "old lady" dragged him into Hobby Lobby... Do your wife a favor and divorce her. If you didn't want to go, then don't go. Don't go and then blame your wife for dragging you around. What are you, a servant? For quality shop local....and never blame someone else for the choices you make.

Got dragged into a hobby lobby by the old lady. I swear I never saw soo much cheap junk from china. Probably 99% of it comes from china. The store was full of women, with shopping carts full of it.

What are you even talking about look a the underside of the item you are buying and you will be able to see if it is particle board the never finish the item all the way around it is a wast of money for them and if you ask any employee the will tell you it is not solid wood! also lets not get up in a huff about how American made is the way to go you or I have any idea as to where they buy their items from but I do know for a fact that Georgia Paciffic are the ones who invented particle board or lamanated wood as you call it based right here in the good old USA

Do not buy any furniture at a Hobby Lobby store. No matter how much it may look like real wood, 99 percent of the time it is made out of a composite material, either pressed waste wood products or a combination of pressed waste wood products and a resin or glue and then laminated to look like real wood. Hobby Lobby has high prices on their wood looking products. Do not believe it is wood. Ask before you buy if they Guarantee the item is solid wood and see what they say. There is a large variety of lamination products out there that look almost like real wood and can fool a lot of people into believing the products they are buying are solid real wood. If you can find a chipped or damaged wood looking item at a Hobby Lobby store look at the insides, you will see it is not real wood but a imitation product laminated to look like wood. Don't be fooled, investigate before you buy wood looking furniture at any Hobby Lobby store.