Celebrate Christmas all year at Christmas on The Strand...
Friday, July 07, 2006
As soon as I spotted the sign for Christmas on The Strand, I knew that I was going to have to go in to check it out. Christmas is one of my favorite holidays, and my husband and I love collecting Christmas decorations! I was not disappointed!
You have to walk to the back of the store to see the Christmas decorations, but there is a little bit of everything and it is all organized into sections. There are Christmas trees decorated throughout the area and bins with ornaments in them underneath the trees. There was a section with snowman decorative items, a section with angels, a section with "Santa"-themed items, and a section with nativities. My husband and I collect nativities and so this was one of the first places we looked at. They didn't have as great of a selection of nativities as I would have hoped for (only about 12) and they varied in price from $7.95 to $91. We did see a few that we really liked, though. We also found a snowman decoration that we really liked.
In addition to carrying Christmas decor, they also have plenty of other gift and collectible items. They carry a number of candles produced by the Tyler Candle Company. I have a few of these candles and they smell really good and burn for a long time. The prices were reasonable (ranging from $5.95-$19.95) and comparable with the prices I have seen in other areas. They also had keepsake and collectible items such as tea sets and figurines. I didn't see any "standard" brands such as "Enesco" (Precious Moments) or "Demdaco" (Willow Tree). All of these items seemed to be pretty unique.
They also have a small section toward the back and off to the side called "George's corner" that is for pet lovers. They have figurines of various dogs, cards, and other "pet" memorabilia.
This store (along with many others along the Strand) is not very "stroller friendly" (you cannot get back into the Christmas area at all with a stroller). You also have to go up a flight of stairs to get to it.
I think that this store had some fun things and a decent selection. I would like to visit again when it gets closer to Christmas to see if they have an even bigger selection!