Holiday Warehouse, the Plano seasonal décor mainstay, is liquidating its entire 30,000-square-foot store. From January 19 to February 17, it is selling off all its designer holiday decorations, with discounts ranging from between 30 to 80-percent off. When the inventory is gone, it will shut its doors.
But this news isn’t “doom and gloom,” says principal buyer Addison Green. Also, Holiday Warehouse isn’t closing.
Over the past decade, the North Texas store has made a name for itself with its large collection designer spring, fall, and, especially, Christmas décor. It stocks brands like Katherine’s Collection, Christopher Radko, and Toymaker.
There are three reasons Green says he decided to sell it all off.
He says they’ve maxed out what they can fit inside their current location. Plus, the building is in rough shape and needs months’ worth of repairs. “It’s really difficult to try to charge someone $10,000 for a Santa, but then tell them our toilet’s overflowing,” he says. Its lease is almost up, too, so liquidating all the product on the floor gives them the flexibility to move if they can’t come to an agreement with the landlord or stay and renovate the building, Green says.
Also, he says, Holiday Warehouse’s three branches of business—in-person shopping, online sales, and client installations—has become almost too much for the small staff to operate. Green says he was so busy this past holiday season with decoration installations, online orders, and in-store sales, he was hospitalized with stress-induced vertigo. “I love doing this, but there’s got to be a better way,” he says.
It wasn’t always so busy. Holiday Warehouse began when he started decorating clients’ houses for the holidays in 2010. Two years later, he got his first massive assignment: adding the Christmas spirit to a 26,000-square-foot house. While decorating that property, he realized Dallas had a deficit of high-end holiday retailers. “I couldn’t find a single Garland in all of Dallas that would work in a house like that,” he says. So Green started stockpiling décor from the big markets for his clients.
In 2014, he and his family opened Holiday Warehouse in Plano. The showroom was a little rough, display-wise, he says. But business exploded over the years. They expanded their product line. They grew their online presence. And they cultivated their clientele for private and corporate decoration installations.
Finally, he says their customer base is changing. Holiday Warehouse’s online growth has been huge—thanks, in part, to partnerships with influencers like Turtle Creek Lane. Before, the vast majority of their business came from in-person shoppers. Now, Green says, almost 30 percent of the store’s income comes from online sales and their high-end private and commercial customers. They’re revamping the website (which is currently down for updates until January 22) to better support online shoppers.
But, if they do sell more online, Green says they’d have to repackage most of their horde of products, which he doesn’t want to do. So, they’re selling it all off.
The monthlong sale is unprecedented for the store, he says. “You will get 50 percent off almost the whole store.” He’s pulling out sample items, Christmas trees, tables, lighting, and displays. Spring décor and collectible items, like Toymaker Santas, will be 30 percent off. Fall and Halloween items are 70 percent off.
The big-ticket items, like Christmas trees and life-sized nutcrackers, will range from 60 to 70-percent off. “If you don’t buy anything else, buy something like that,” Green says. But, he continues, if you’re not looking to drop $800, most of the store’s supply of ribbons, floral, and picks will be sold for just a few dollars.
The sale lasts a month, but Green says people should stop by multiple times. They don’t have huge quantities of some of the more sought-after collector’s items, “so [it’s] best to come in early, but also best to keep coming back.” Items like wreaths and garlands are worth a later trip. Those, Green says, are “gonna get cheaper and cheaper until we have nothing left.”
After the sale ends in February, Green is not exactly sure of the future. He knows Holiday Warehouse will continue selling online. Green wants to work more with influencers. The physical store might stay in its current location—if Green and the team like the new lease. They might move to another storefront. Or they’ll host pop-up stores here and there. The liquidation sale gives them more flexibility.
However, “Holiday Warehouse is not going bankrupt,” Green says. “We’re not going out of business. But we do have to reevaluate our plan.”
Author
