Crestline Christmas Shoppe reopening in September

The holidays are always an exciting time, but for gift-shop manager Diane Wright and store owners Jan Cobb and Susie Hammers, the start of the holiday season holds extra meaning for them: They get to reopen their Crestline Christmas Shoppe. 

Cobb and Hammers were sorority sisters at Samford University, where they met their husbands, Mike and Scooter. Their husbands opened Crestline Pharmacy in 1990, and they soon added a gift shop in the storefront.

“[The gift shop] was very small, and then we expanded on that,” Cobb said.

When the Chinaberry Antique Shop went up for sale around the corner from the pharmacy, the ladies jumped at the chance for their holiday gift shop to grow.

“We just thought it was such a quaint little location, and the people in this area already knew the Chinaberry,” Wright said.

Over the years, the Christmas shop has become well known throughout the community.

“It’s unique and reminiscent of your childhood,” Wright said.

They said they try to keep the space quaint and charming, but still manage to fill their store with nearly all elements of Christmas: Mercury glass, decorative pillows, angels, nutcrackers and ornaments fill the shop from floor to ceiling.

“It’s a mixture of the old and the new,” Cobb said. “We do try to have things that are nostalgic as well as things that are current and trendy.”

This year, the shop will feature special nativities and Cobb’s mother’s antique mantel in the window.

“It has a very different look from last year,” Cobb said. 

Shoppers can visit Crestline Christmas Shoppe on Hoyt Lane starting on Sept. 15, Monday through Friday, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Hours will extend closer to Christmas. For more details, call the Crestline Pharmacy at 871-0317.