Holiday lasts all year at Southlake store

Anyone who has known Randi Worsham for long is not surprised she owns The Christmas Shoppe in Southlake Town Square. For decades, her house would have won any kind of neighborhood Christmas decorating contest.

"I just love Christmas," Worsham said. "I have always loved Christmas. I put up 14 trees in my house every year. Every room in the house has a tree. I've always had a tree in every room."

Worsham has a vivid childhood memory of her family's aluminum Christmas tree, the one with the color wheel and spotlight. Now, Worsham has a 6,000-square-foot retail outlet that sells just about every kind of Christmas decoration or ornament you could imagine.

Customers are welcomed at the door by soldiers from "The Nutcracker," Santa Claus, a snowman and two angels. Candles, ribbons, wreaths and books are displayed from floor to ceiling. Christmas music plays over the loudspeaker. Santas come in all shapes and sizes, and nutcrackers range from 6 inches to 6 feet. Dozens of nativity sets are out.

And if customers don't see what they want, Worsham has a team that will custom-make anything Christmas, from a wreath to the interior of your living room.

Worsham didn't turn her passion into a thriving business overnight. The Christmas Shoppe evolved over a couple of decades.

"I started off decorating my church, then I would do a friend's house here and a friend's house there," Worsham said. "Pretty soon I was decorating several places each Christmas. Then folks said I should start charging for it. I thought about it for a while and thought it would be a lot of fun."

Eleven years ago, Worsham started decorating for hire. Four years ago, she decided to open a shop in Southlake, her hometown. The Christmas Shoppe debuted in a 1,900-square-foot space, but two years later more than tripled that by moving into an old Verizon location.

In 2013, after being open just during the holiday season for its first three years, Worsham kept the store open year-round.

"We keep growing," she said. "I thought when we moved into this location that we would never fill up the space, but we're stacked up around here."

The business is a family enterprise. Randi's husband Pat has invested time and money into it since he retired after 36 years with Kraft Food. Her three daughters, their husbands and even her granddaughters have all pitched in at times.

Her daughter, Jennifer Looft, works as the store manager while another daughter, Becca Anderson, is the lead designer.

"We help people make their house festive," Worsham said.

She added, "We can just sell them some ornaments here at the store or they can come in and have us design a special wreath for their door. Or we can go out and custom-design a Christmas decoration around their mantelpiece. We can do just about anything."

Worsham said the success of the business lies in the warmth of Christmas.

"This is a people place, and I like making people happy," she said.

Customers enjoy spending time at the store, she said.

"No matter what is going on with their lives, people feel good when they are in here," she said. "If someone is having a bad day, this is the place to come. Then we help them find something that brings joy to their house. They get to go home feeling special and happy."

What's happening now

The Christmas rush comes in November for the Worshams. Most customers would like their decorations to be in place before Thanksgiving.

"That way, after they get through eating their turkey, they can just flick a switch and everything will be all set up," said Randi Worsham.

The Christmas Shoppe has several special events each November. One is the annual Jingle & Mingle party at the beginning of the month, which kicks off their holiday seasons. On Nov. 22, Santa will visit noon-4 p.m. to debut his magical North Pole mailbox.

The Christmas Shoppe, 1450 Main St., Southlake 817-421-2402, Mon-Sat 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Visit them on Facebook