SPRINGFIELD, Mo. – More development and new jobs are coming to the southwest part of the city.

Arts and crafts retailer Michaels tells FOX49/KOLR10 it’s building a second Springfield location near West Bypass and Sunshine. The store will hire several dozen people ahead of its fall opening. 

The new retailer will fill one of two new stores under construction at Springfield Plaza shopping center. The second tenant at the 3000 West Washita location hasn’t been named. The commercial spaces are being added to the strip that already includes stores such as Ross, Burlington, Petco, and Five Below.

“We are always looking to bring Michaels and the joy of creativity closer to our customers and found that Springfield was a great fit for our new, smaller store format. The new store will be a sleeker, simpler Michaels featuring self-checkout registers, a Michaels Custom Framing center, and a curated assortment of our seasonal décor and the most popular supplies and componentry across arts, crafts, framing, floral, kids’ crafts, DIY, yarn, beading, and scrapbooking products to inspire creativity in the surrounding community,” said Rachel Petersen, Michaels’ Head of Corporate and Product Communications.

Michael’s plans to begin recruiting new employees soon.

“We’ll be hiring for dozens of temporary, full- and part-time roles over the course of the year. Interested candidates can learn more about working at Michaels by visiting www.michaels.com/jobs,” Petersen explained.

The new stores will join a new Whataburger restaurant that’s set to open soon at Springfield Plaza. A new high-tech McDonalds is also in the works.

Rankin Development is working with MoDOT on a new intersection with stoplights on West Bypass to handle traffic and provide an alternate way in and out of the complex.