Hobby Lobby's Apology Accepted by the Anti-Defamation League

“We sincerely apologize for any employee comments that may have offended anyone, especially our Jewish customers and friends. Comments like these do not reflect the feelings of our family or Hobby Lobby," Green said.

The controversy was sparked by a local blogger, Ken Berwitz, who claimed a friend of his entered the Marlboro Township store looking for a bar mitzvah card and was told by an employee "We don't cater to you people."

The Anti-Defamation League said, "Since the allegations about the employee’s comments first came to light, Hobby Lobby’s representatives have been in direct contact with ADL and have assured us in unequivocal terms that their company has a zero-tolerance policy for discrimination and that decisions on the merchandise they carry are based on consumer demand, not out of a lack of respect for other faiths."

Hobby Lobby opened in Marlboro in June, filling the empty Pathmark location on Route 9 North in Marlboro Plaza.

The store is an arts and crafts chain controlled by Green and family in Oklahoma City with 13,000 employees and 525 big-box stores in the United States as of March, 2013. It is the third location to open in New Jersey. The other stores are in South Plainfield and Millville and as of this week, one in Lawrenceville. 

Full ADL statement:

"We are satisfied with the apology of Hobby Lobby and appreciate the company’s efforts to investigate the incident and to ensure that it does not happen again.  Since the allegations about the employee’s comments first came to light, Hobby Lobby’s representatives have been in direct contact with ADL and have assured us in unequivocal terms that their company has a zero-tolerance policy for discrimination and that decisions on the merchandise they carry are based on consumer demand, not out of a lack of respect for other faiths.

For many years, concerns have been raised by some in the Jewish community that Hobby Lobby, while stocking Christian merchandise, does not carry Hanukkah items.  ADL firmly believes that the religious views of a business owner cannot be a basis to infringe upon the legal rights of others, but a store choosing not to carry Hanukkah items does not violate anyone’s rights.  Moreover, we have no reason to believe that Hobby Lobby has refused to stock Hanukkah items because of hostility to Jews or anti-Semitism.  In fact, some Hobby Lobby stores have stocked a few Hanukkah items in the past, and the chain is apparently considering stocking more Jewish merchandise in the future as they expand into more culturally diverse markets.           

At the end of the day, merchandisers have the right to decide which items to include in their inventory.  The decision should be theirs and theirs alone."