Quirky Britain


The High Street shops, where it’s Christmas all year round.


Are you one of those people who starts looking forward to next Christmas as soon as the decoraons are packed away? Thanks to a growing Brish shopping trend, you can now enjoy Christmas all year round.


A growing number of retailers are trying out all‐ year Christmas shopping, with many of the more successful stores located in areas known for aracng tourists. In Straord‐Upon‐Avon, The Nutcracker Christmas shop ‐ with its range of fesve ornaments ‐makes a lively contrast to the staid Shakespeare souvenirs on sale elsewhere.


The shop is part of a small family business founded by Robert Newman in 2001. Robert had intended to open a small gi shop, but a visit to a trade gi show in Birmingham opened his eyes to the huge potenal for selling fesve goods. He now owns a chain of Christmas stores in England and Scotland.


Lisa Hill‐Whyte, owner of the Isle of Wight’s Jingle Bells Christmas shop, was inspired to open her business in 2009 aer vising Christmas stores in Austria and America. She began by filling an adjoining tea room with Christmas merchandise during the winter months, but her idea proved so popular that she was able to realise her dreamof selling fesve goods formost of the year.


Her Shanklin store now stays open seven days a week, from March to Christmas Eve. Lisa says: “We do as much business in April as we do in December and our busiest months are July, August and September.”


Lisa’s policy is to stock items that are “a lile bit special”, so customers can personalise their Christmas tree decoraons. As a result she has had some unusual requests: “Some customers


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ask for a certain animal that you wouldn't necessarily expect at Christmas – such as a fish, raccoon, ger, elephant, sheep, cow or fox. The list is long, but I have found all these and others. I haven’t been caught out yet!”


So what aracts shoppers to buy Christmas items at a me of the year when the fesve season should be furthest fromour thoughts? Hayley Corden fromBromsgrove sees it as part of the tourist experience. She says: “Whenever we go away we always try to buy a Christmas tree decoraon. It’s lovely to look at your Christmas tree and remember all the places you’ve been.”


James Tunstall from Newquay, Cornwall, enjoys the, ‘magical feeling,’ he gets in a Christmas shop. He says: ‘I love to browse out of season. It’s about recalling a Christmas you had as a child, and these shops bring it all back.’


However, some shoppers are very far from experiencing nostalgia when they see fesve goods on sale out of season. Whilst enjoying a summer holiday in Dorset, Tracy Whelbourne fromChesterfield was shocked to find Christmas decoraons on sale:


‘So there we were, enjoying the sunny weather, and what do I see? A Christmas shop, open, with customers inside! Christmas seems to start earlier and earlier these days, and seeing it made me really cross.’


Whether the sight of a high street Christmas shop thrills you with memories of a childhood Christmas past, or makes you boil with rage, it seems that from now on ‐ should they so choose ‐ fans of the fesve season will be able to shop for Santa stockings, advent calendars and shiny baubles whenever they want.


To adverse call 01590 643969 or e‐mail info@lymingtondirectory.co.uk


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