Specialty Store

Always Christmas Corporate Office

Founded in 1991 by husband and wife team Boyd and Loretta Aldridge, Always Christmas at Canterbury Village in Lake Orion, Michigan, started off as a small seasonal only Christmas store. The company expanded until they completely filled a 90,000 square foot building.

In late 2014, the company sold their large building to Woodside Bible Church, who had plans to turn it into an 800 seat church/auditorium. The Always Christmas store moved to a more modest 10,000 square foot building next door. The owners state that they intend to expand their company again, although no actual date was set. Expansion plans include a small wedding chapel, as well as expanding the store another 7,000 to 8,000 square feet.

Always Christmas is open all year and is an authorized seller of many collectible Christmas items including Hallmark and Department 56.

Always Christmas

Always Christmas is open all year and is an authorized seller of many collectible Christmas items including Hallmark and Department 56.

History

Family Christian Stores Corporate Office

Family Christian was founded in 1931 in a farmhouse in Grandville, Michigan. Two brothers, Bernie and Pat Zondervan, created Zondervan Publishing, which printed Christian tracts, then later, books and other Christian materials.

The company was a division of Zondervan Publishing until 1993 when the company split itself into two separate companies. Originally called Family Bookstores, the company changed its name to Family Christian Stores to better reflect their values and merchandise. The company says that 100 percent of their profits go to charities benefiting orphans and widows. The US federal government granted the company 501 c status om 2012, which marks it as a non-profit organization.

Today, Family Christian Stores has 281 locations, as well as an online store. The company filed for bankruptcy in 2015.

Family Christian Stores

Today, Family Christian Stores has 281 locations, as well as an online store. The company filed for bankruptcy in 2015.

History

Halloween Express Corporate Office

Halloween Express was founded in Owenton, Kentucky in 1990. The company has two divisions; one dealing with retail operations and franchises, the other operates the online Ecommerce site. Retail and franchise headquarters are in Owenton, Kentucky, while the Ecommerce corporate office is located in Florence, Kentucky.

The company offers a wide variety of costumes, cosmetics, and decorative items for Halloween, as well as other holidays, and for other purposes, such as plays or school performances. While the online store sells items all year, some brick and mortar locations are only open seasonally. The company website has a full list of stores that remain open all year.

Halloween Express updates its costume selection each year and partners with other Ecommerce sites, such as Amazon.Com and JET.

Halloween Express

Halloween Express updates its costume selection each year and partners with other Ecommerce sites, such as Amazon.Com and JET.

History

The Christmas Loft Corporate Office

The Christmas Loft was founded in 1980 in Jay, Vermont. Originally planned as a temporary 1500 square foot addition to a country store, The Christmas Loft has expanded to three locations in Vermont and New Hampshire. Eventually, The Christmas Loft became a main source of revenue for the company and the country store was abandoned.

The company sells a wide variety of holiday related items all year long, including animated holiday lawn decorations, lights, fully decorated Christmas trees, home decor, decorative holiday clothing such as hats and gloves, candy, and collectible items.

Each location has a fully decorated, walk in Christmas village, animated figurines, strolling carolers, even Santa and his reindeer “flying” overhead. The largest store location is more than 11,000 square foot in size, with a fully decorated interior and parking lot.

The Christmas Loft

History

Halloween City Corporate Office

Halloween City is a subsidiary of Party City, Inc., with headquarters in Rockaway, New Jersey.Founded in 1977, the company specializes in costumes and Halloween decor for the home or office. The company has an online store, as well as several retail locations. Some locations are open only seasonally, while others stay open all year.

The company often employs a substantial number of temporary workers to cover the increase in customers during the typical Halloween season, which runs from mid-September through October 31st. As many as 10,000 temporary employees are employed during this time. Halloween City manufactures many of the costumes it sells and designs some of the scariest decor items.

In addition to the regular retail stores,the company operates so called “pop up” stores, which are temporary locations and kiosks located in busy shopping malls or heavy traffic areas to increase sales at this time of year. In addition to the usual costumes, the company offers online discounts and “clearance” costumes and decor items.

Halloween City