The welcoming windows in the cedar-shake sided coastal cottage home of Christmas Spirit in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, entertain a year-round character. A 6-foot-tall Grinch is dressed for every season — a beekeeper in spring, a lifeguard in summer. Yule rules year-round.
And that’s the only way owner Jill Hudson has ever done retail.
She started at Christmas Spirit in 1988, joining a family-owned business she bought out during the pandemic. Generations of tourists treat a stop at the shop as a family tradition just like beach sunsets, saltwater taffy and crab cakes.
Whether operating a year-round holiday shop or carving out a section to support this category, souvenir and gift retailers agree: the spirit of this season sells in the heat of July or during cozy-up cabin days.
Memorable pickup truck displays are stocked with holiday-themed souvenirs at Bronner’s.
At Townsend Mercantile Co. by the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, leaf peepers visiting during early fall are a captive audience for holiday fare. So, owner Brooke Webb unwraps Christmas inventory in mid-September.
She buys what she can move before winter.
Meanwhile, at Bronner’s Christmas Wonderland in Frankenmuth, Michigan, a 2.2-acre destination store is decked out year-round for families that make an annual pilgrimage to experience “holiday extra.” Dietrich Bronner is the third generation who manages the vast catalog (50,000-plus SKUs) and product development.
A theme that rings true across the board is a consistent preference for personalization, an ode to traditional holiday themes and interest in wonderland whimsy, without going too far. “People never come in here and ask, ‘What’s this year’s Pantone Christmas color of the year?’” quips Bronner. “We are quite traditional.”
Simply Christmas
Some Christmas styles are steadfast, other classics run cycles. Lately, there’s more wiggle room, says Bronner of the expected yet ever-evolving holiday market. “It’s much more forward-thinking, contemporary, more fun and comical,” he says.
Quick to explain, Bronner notes the store’s clientele and visitors have an appetite for Christmas crazy more in a volume way to the tune of 50,000 different gift items, decorative pieces and ornaments, and about 300 decorated and lit trees of all sizes. Ornaments are hands-down the top selling category. This variety caters to most every interest or occasion.
So, there’s Christmas crazy. You won’t find the obscure or outlandish, however.
“Like, an ornament that’s a frog with a Santa hat on a surfboard who’s eating cake at the same time, those far-out options are for a niche clientele,” says Bronner.
Bronner’s isn’t niche. It goes big. So the store stays in the lane of red, green, silver, gold and candy-cane stripes.
Webb adds, “I’m a conservative buyer.”
Townsend Mercantile focuses on apparel year-round and holiday follows suit. “Ornaments always do well,” she says of an item she stocks year-round in Townsend and Smoky Mountain name-drop themes. Those by Cape Shore are married with mugs.
For apparel, she sticks with simple modern statements like “Merry” in applique or embroidered in block lettering. “That was a hot sweatshirt for us,” she says of mock-neck styles.
Nutcrackers of all kinds are having a moment at Bronner’s Christmas Wonderland.
At Christmas Spirit, traditional is all about the beach in this resort community. Hudson decorates 17 themed trees that range from coastal to Irish to junk food and nutcrackers. One is all gingerbread, another is Santas and there’s a ballerina tree plus one with silver-and-gold glitz.
Visitors want what they want.
“It’s always beach stuff for us,” says Hudson, adding that funny reindeer characters are moving and, this year, a nod to America 250 is calling attention to a patriotic tree. Hudson always carries the White House Historical Society’s annual ornament.
And there’s always holiday music piped into the store. “It’s what people expect,” she says.
Merry classics, having a moment
At Bronner’s there’s a nativity scene nod included in some form on every Christmas tree. “That stands true today,” says Bronner.
Nutcrackers are classic. They tend to ebb and flow from a sales perspective, and now they’re moving. “They haven’t had their time to shine in a while and they’re coming back strong from traditional ones to different ornamental takes,” Bronner says, referencing country themes such as Scotland.
Department 56 collectible ceramic houses always go over big. “We display them in elaborate cityscapes that are inspiration for customers,” says Bronner.
The store is also a longtime seller of Fontanini nativity sets — Italian-made scenes with detailed resin figurines and expandable village pieces. “These are a mainstay, and we have a family relationship with Fontanini,” Bronner says, noting that the family will visit Bronner’s to sign pieces.
Highland cows, specifically ornaments designed by Delightfully Yours that Bronner’s carries, are also having a moment. “They’re goofy, funny and cute,” Bronner says. “Axolotls had their time and now it’s Highland cow time.”
Hudson says customers gravitate toward Joe Spencer dolls by Gallerie II with cloth bodies and hand-painted faces. Each collectible has a name and costume. C&F Home tea towels in seasonal themes go over big, as do Wee Forest Folk tiny collectible mice figurines in holiday fare.
Christmas Spirit shows off some collectible holiday decor, figurines and garland in a display.
Variety is key, especially when you’re entertaining repeat guests who pick up an ornament or holiday goodie every year. Hudson says one young-adult customer has been visiting since he was about 10 years old. Now in his 20s, he still sends a picture of his Christmas tree every year so Hudson can see the ornaments he has collected from the shop.
As for most wonderful, these moments are a gift to Hudson. “It just makes people happy to come here,” she says.
Holiday gets personal
Ornaments are a staple at souvenir and gift shops, holiday or not. So it’s no surprise that this category dominates Christmas retail sales.
The top-selling ornament at Bronner’s is a 10-centimeter classic glass bulb the founder introduced when he started the business in the 1960s. It’s red, shiny and the team hand paints whatever the customer wants on it.
Christmas Spirit’s array of ornaments from vendors like Ganz, Enesco, Kurt S. Adler Inc. and Old World Christmas give visitors a variety of themes and customizable options. Guests go for family-fun themes such as beach chairs in a row, each with a name that Hudson or a team member etch or paint onto the ornament.
“We also have handmade sand dollars and oyster shell ornaments that say Rehoboth Beach or nearby Dewey Beach, and we can personalize those,” Hudson says.
Capitalizing on locality, throw-back ornaments that feature Funland amusement park’s bumper cars and haunted houses are often inscribed with a “baby’s first trip” memo, she says.
Ornaments featuring Smokey the Bear are hits at Townsend Mercantile Co.
Getting personal also relates to sports, hobbies, favorite treats, family heritage and more. If your kid plays lacrosse, Bronner’s has an ornament for that. If Cinnamon Toast Crunch cereal or Funions resonate, Christmas Spirit fulfills the appetite on its junk food tree.
Bronner points out, food ornaments still need to meet a “Remember when?” vibe to sell. Otherwise, they can flop at this holiday wonderland. “Mac-and-cheese and Ramen noodles will always sell because they’re comfort foods,” he says.
The shrimp cocktail ornament didn’t do so well in rural Michigan. But on the coast, customers toast to seafood, plated for dinner or hooked to hang on the tree. And in the Smoky Mountains, timeless apparel staples always make the mark.
Personal, memorable and year-round salable holiday souvenirs tug at guests’ heartstrings. And this is exactly what Hudson loves most about carrying Christmas Spirit into the next generation of customers who visit. “It’s just all about the people who come in here and they’ve been visiting us for generations,” she says.
