Las Vegas shop specializes in seasonal products
You might think Beth Tom and Dave Kimler run a charity, given how people invite them to their family Christmas celebrations, hand deliver homemade cookies and volunteer to work.
Jeannie Reynolds said her husband, Skip, swept the floors for them one day because he could see they needed the help.
“Just because he likes you guys (Kimler and Tom) so much,” she said.
Husband and wife Kimler and Tom aren’t running a charity, though. They’re the owners of Santa’s Wrap, a 4,600-square-foot mom and pop “home decor and gift shop, with an emphasis on seasonal products,” in Tom’s words. She said others have described the shop, located in the Sansone Regal Plaza on South Eastern Avenue, as the would-be baby of Hallmark and Home Goods.
Tom is the original founder of Price Busters, a former chain of discount stores in Hawaii that went bankrupt during the recession. After moving to Nevada in 2012, she started again, this time with husband, Kimler, with Santa’s Wrap, which they proudly claim is the only mom and pop shop like it in the area.
Their customers agree.
“This is the best store ever,” said Mary Bohlman, who heard of Santa’s Wrap by word of mouth a year and a half ago and has been shopping at the store since.
“There’s always something new, and they’re just wonderful people here,” Bohlman said, adding that “you can’t beat the prices.”
Dee Ladd, who said she has been shopping at Santa’s Wrap since it opened, comes into the store every week the store is open. Santa’s Wrap opens 10 days of every month, except during the fourth quarter, when they’re open 14 days of every month.
“They remember who you are and what kinds of things you are looking for,” Ladd said as she sorted through a large stuffed Santa, glass fixtures and other items she placed on the store’s merchandise-holding shelf.
Tom said customers like Ladd are fans of the shelf.
“Everybody knows that you put your stuff on the shelf (while you continue shopping), and if you change your mind nobody freaks out, we’ll just put it back,” Tom said.
Ladd said the shelf is part of the “friendly, friendly” atmosphere she cited as one of the reasons she keeps coming back. “If they’re open, I’m here. And I never leave empty-handed,” she said.
Tom said she and her small team stock the store with “at least 2,000 new items a week.”
Items range from mugs to patio benches to ornaments to, well, you name it.
“It’s called opportunity buying,” Tom said. “A vendor will say, ‘Oh, you know, I’ve got a close-out, or I’ve got a short-lot, or I’ve got open cases, or I’ve got samples, or I’ve got anything, are you interested?’ They’ll send me some pictures, and if I can sell it I will buy it.”
Whatever there isn’t room for in the store, Tom and Kimler keep in a 1,600-square-foot warehouse down the street. They also keep items there that would be better sold at a different time.
“We bring a full truck over from the warehouse every sale. And then we process the truck. And then, during the sale, we’re bringing out new merchandise and pricing constantly. We try to keep it full,” even while customers are shopping, she said.
What started out as an exclusively seasonal store, open from October to January, has become a pop-up furniture, home goods and gift store open year-round.
In the words of Tom’s daughter, Kellee Tom, “They have a cult following of people who directly text my parents to ‘hold’ items that they see on the Instagram and Facebook page.”
It’s a true resurrection of the mom and pop store, she said, where they actually know your name.
Tom said she and Kimler often end their day at Santa’s Wrap by sitting in the store and enjoying a glass of champagne together.
Contact Nicole Raz at nraz@reviewjournal.com or 702-380-4512. Follow @JournalistNikki on Twitter.