From loss to legacy: Christmas shop finds new home on Market Street
WILMINGTON, NC (WWAY) –A longtime Christmas shop in downtown Wilmington has a new name, a new location, and a new owner — but it’s still in the same family.
Johnathon Henderson is now co-owner of Father Christmas Studio on Market Street. He stepped in just weeks ago, after the sudden death of his mother.
“It was all in the span of three weeks of hey we are moving, hey we moved… wow now we own a Christmas store,” Henderson said.
The store was previously known as A Christmas Shoppe, located on Front Street. Many locals remember its ornaments and holiday displays.
“She’s actually had a store downtown for 15 years. Started in Old City Market, moved from there to Chandler’s Wharf, and then was on Front Street for the past 8 years,” he said.
In April, Henderson’s mother moved the shop to Market Street. She made the change to avoid rising rent prices in the downtown area. However, just two days after getting the keys, she passed away.
“At the end of April okay we got to go go go and in three weeks everything had been moved in and then two days after passing the keys there she had a heart attack… and between those two things she was gone.”
Henderson and his father made the decision to continue running the store. They didn’t hesitate.
“Trying to decide uh after she passed exactly how / what we would do with it and we thought about it for 3 minutes and decided we were running it ourselves…”
He is one of six siblings, but the only one who still lives nearby. As a result, he felt a strong pull to keep things going. Right now, he says they are taking it one step at a time.
“Right now we are just hopefully surviving June. We are just trying to make it to July. Then we’ll try to make it to August, and hopefully by the end of the year we can prove it’s worth keeping running.”
His mother had a deep love for Christmas and for crafting. She created much of what filled the shop and hoped it could become something lasting.
“She’s a crafter. She’s always had a sewing room, craft room, all those things.”
“The goal of what she wanted for anyone who if there were any of us children who did want to take over the store after she passed she hoped that would be a building block for us to do something that we loved as much as she loved Christmas.”
The store is now called Father Christmas Studio and is open on Market Street. Henderson says one of the biggest benefits of the new location is simple: it has parking.
He also hopes to add his own touches over time, including photography and handmade crafts. These personal additions, he says, will help carry his mother’s spirit forward.
