Christmas comes once a year, but for the stores that sell trees, ornaments and inflatable Santas, the festive season is a year-round affair.<\/p>\n
Working in an industry with a seasonal peak, shop owners have to find unique ways to keep their stores open and profitable.<\/p>\n
John Chehade from Sydney’s south-west has run the Flexineon’s Christmas Wonderland store with his wife Saloma Chehade since 1999.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Mr Chehade has been running the Christmas store in south-west Sydney for 26 years. (ABC News: Nandini Dhir)<\/p>\n
It started out as a pastime at their original store in Greenacre, before it moved to Bankstown.<\/p>\n
“We don’t call it work, it’s not a chore, it’s actually a fun time for everyone, for the customers and for us,” Mr Chehade said.<\/p>\n
“We were in Lebanon in the Middle East just before we started this. We saw a lot of decorations that they had that we didn’t have in Australia and they had access to a lot more.<\/p>\n
“So we thought Australia should have more, so we thought we’d come back and give it \u2026 a bit more liveliness that they have in the Middle East.”<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Mr Chehade’s store has grown since he first opened it at Greenacre in 1999. (ABC News: Nandini Dhir)<\/p>\n
About 20 years ago, the business expanded to stock flexible neon lights to help keep profits going year-round.<\/p>\n
Christmas keeps him and his wife busy for most of the year and they have already started preparations for the 2026 season.<\/p>\n
“In February, we start to order for the next year which takes about six months from ordering to receiving,” he said.<\/p>\n
Customers return to the store annually as well as during the off seasons.<\/p>\n
“We get all walks of life,” Mr Chehade said.<\/p>\n
“We had the Indians, they came for Diwali, and the Muslims were coming for Ramadan, so everybody was coming in.<\/p>\n
“Even though it’s a Christmas shop \u2026 we concentrate on lighting and Christmas. Everyone needs lights,” he said.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The store in Bankstown attracts customers during more than just the festive season.\u00a0 (ABC News: Nandini Dhir)<\/p>\n
Mr Chehade said he was grateful his wife worked with him.<\/p>\n
“When we go home, we’re full of glitter at the end of the day, but it’s good, it’s good fun,” Mr Chehade said.<\/p>\n
“I love Christmas, if you can’t tell!”<\/p>\n
Celebrating across generations<\/p>\n
Carly Stone runs the Christmas Barn at Bredbo in the New South Wales Snowy Monaro region, which has been in her family for four generations and counting.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Ms Stone took over a Christmas store at Bredbo from her mum. (ABC News: Floss Adams)<\/p>\n
Ms Stone took over the store from her mum Leanne De Smet two years ago, who said she was “very proud” to see the store stay family-run.<\/p>\n
“I wanted my legacy to go on and on, I mean I’d taken over from my parents so it was only fair that [Carly] should have to take over from me,” Ms De Smet said.<\/p>\n
When she ran her own parents’ store, it was dedicated to homewares, with a Christmas section opening seasonally.<\/p>\n
But in 2004, Ms De Smet changed the business’s direction.<\/p>\n
“It became so popular that we ended up closing down the gift and homewares and just concentrated on Christmas,” she said.<\/p>\n
Since then, Christmas Barn has brought visitors to the regional town from “all across Australia”, with constantly changing stock to encourage returning customers.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Ms De Smet (left), Ms Stone (centre) and her daughter Belle Stone (right) have kept the Christmas Barn running with the rest of their family.\u00a0 (ABC News: Floss Adams)<\/p>\n
To run a Christmas shop, there has to be a love for the season, but not necessarily tinsel.<\/p>\n
Ms De Smet said the store was a “tinsel-free zone”.<\/p>\n
“Tinsel’s pass\u00e9 now,” she said.<\/p>\n
The store operates eight months of the year, with the remaining four months focused on preparation with the doors closed.<\/p>\n
“We do work 12 months of the year \u2026 I don’t think people realise the amount of work that goes into displays, the unpacking of the stock, the merchandising,” Ms Stone said.<\/p>\n
Mr Chehade says he faces tough competition with online retailers. (ABC News: Nandini Dhir)<\/p>\n
Competing with online retailers<\/p>\n
Mr Chehade said there was “big-time competition” with online retailers, but his customers preferred to see and feel a product before making a purchase.<\/p>\n
“[Customers] know that what they order sometimes online is not what they actually get,” he said.<\/p>\n
“Competition online is getting tougher. We just have to get smarter.”<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Ms Stone says customers come to the store to be “immersed” in Christmas. (ABC News: Floss Adams)<\/p>\n
Ms Stone said Christmas stores attract customers who also want to be “immersed” in the festive holiday.<\/p>\n
This is one reason why so much effort is put into how these stores look.<\/p>\n
“Everywhere you look, there’s something new and you can’t get that online where it’s just a click of a button,” she said.<\/p>\n
Ms Davis brought her grandkids to the Christmas store for the first time.\u00a0 (ABC News: Floss Adams)<\/p>\n
Sue Davis brought her two grandchildren Hazel and Kai to the Bredbo store for the first time.<\/p>\n
“We’ve come from Gordon in Canberra, so about 40 minutes \u2026 just for this,” Ms Davis said.<\/p>\n
Kai gravitated to the candy canes and Hazel was mesmerised by the snow globes.<\/p>\n
Ms Davis said she hoped to make the visit to the Christmas Barn an annual tradition.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Ms Cox enjoys shopping for the festive season year-round.\u00a0 (ABC News: Nandini Dhir)<\/p>\n
In Bankstown, Chris Cox has been a regular Christmas Wonderland customer for about two decades.<\/p>\n
On previous visits, she brought her children and grandchildren along too, even outside the festive season.<\/p>\n
“I keep popping in,” Ms Cox said.<\/p>\n
She said shopping during the off seasons means there is less rush.<\/p>\n
“You can really take your time\u2026 and I could spend hours here just browsing,” she said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Christmas comes once a year, but for the stores that sell trees, ornaments and inflatable Santas, the festive…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":343981,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[64,63,5503,36737,190414,190413,190411,149223,85,190412],"class_list":["post-343980","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-christmas","tag-christmas-shopping","tag-christmas-shops","tag-christmas-shops-business","tag-christmas-stores","tag-decorations","tag-sports","tag-sydney-christmas-shops"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/343980","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=343980"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/343980\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/343981"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=343980"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=343980"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=343980"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}