Friday, April 19, 2024
32.0°F

Pop-up store Everything Christmas brings holiday cheer to Flathead Valley

by SUMMER ZALESKY - Daily Inter Lake
| November 23, 2022 1:00 AM

The Everything Christmas store’s holiday cheer has spread to the Flathead Valley thanks to Cassie Baldelli.

Previously, Baldelli and her family owned Glacier Raft Company, but after selling in April, Baldelli shifted her focus to their vacation rental and wedding venue, Glacier Homestead.

As a way to provide work for employees during the slow season, Baldelli decided to open a franchise with Everything Christmas in Kalispell. The store is located in the former Pier 1 Imports building the most recently housed the Spirit Halloween store.

“We really love Christmas and this is a good opportunity to do something for a couple of months. I love owning a local business within the community because it is such a tight-knit community. I grew up here and now I’m raising my family here,” said Baldelli.

After the Halloween shop closed, the Everything Christmas pop-up store quickly took its place. Just off U.S. 93, shoppers can see the bold red and green Everything Christmas sign.

The seasonal franchise is based out of New York with 11 locations nationwide.

Business and sales are something Baldelli has always been passionate about and has almost 20 years of experience in sales and retail.

“I was in medical device sales for 10 years and have run retail before. Retail is not new, this is just a different category,” she said.

For Baldelli, Everything Christmas creates an opportunity to give back to the community and supply local gifts from vendors around the valley.

“We have a local lady that makes hot chocolate bombs, another vendor that makes custom wreaths, a local teacher who makes kids bows, and we’re going to have products from Montana Farmacy which is out of Eureka,” said Baldelli.

Baldelli is open to accepting other local vendors who create products that fall into the holiday category. Along with gifts, Everything Christmas also carries decorations, inflatables, lights, wrapping paper, mats, nativity scenes, stocking hangers, elf on the shelf, and so much more. If it is related to the holiday season, Everything Christmas carries it.

“We offer things that you can't find anywhere else. Like custom name gifts, and we are the only place in town that does customized ornaments. We have a whole different line of customized ornaments. You can pick [the ornament] out and write a name or something like ‘Baby’s first Christmas.’ We also have a different line of decor and a pretty extensive line of inflatables,” she said.

Everything Christmas will participate in Toys for Tots and collaborate with Ruder Elementary School’s student store where kids shop for their parents. Everything Christmas will donate $200 to the program to ensure every child can participate and has enough wrapping paper for gifts.

On the weekends, Everything Christmas will have free pictures with Santa from noon to 3 p.m. In addition to pictures with Santa, Everything Christmas will offer wreath-making classes, cookie-decorating classes and two days of making kids’ gingerbread houses.

“We’ve partnered with local vendors for our classes and have set up a mini classroom in the back of the building,” explained Baldelli. “For the younger kids, we will also have Santa story time in the morning with donuts.”

Baldelli explained that with the influx of people to the valley, big box stores are often wiped out of inventory and Everything Christmas gives people another option.

“We have a more cozy environment with local vendors and employees and we will be refilling stuff throughout the season,” said Baldelli. “We value customer service and want everybody to feel welcome here. This will be a very easy shopping experience for [people] and we would love to answer any questions.”

Everything Christmas is located at the former Pier 1 Imports building at 273 U.S. 93 and can be contacted by phone at 406-897-3658.

photo

Christmas decorations and gifts at Everything Christmas in Kalispell on Wednesday, Nov. 16. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)