E.W. Thomas Gets Ready for the Christmas Season
E.W. Thomas held their tenth annual Christmas Open House on Dec. 1 from 3 to 6 p.m. “We wanted to thank the community for supporting us to show what we have at the store like custom cut meat, fruit baskets, and fresh flower,” said store owner Beth Thomas.
At the Open House, the entire store was decorated for the Christmas season. This included wreaths, Christmas trees, Christmas lights, and Christmas colored plants. Even some of the employees dressed up for the occasion wearing either Santa Claus hats or reindeer antlers.
Nearly every corner of the store proved a buffet of free samples. This included pineapple slices, pastries, rye bread dipped in Boars Head dill pickle dip, ham biscuits, cookies, birthday cake to celebrate E.W. Thomas’s 90th anniversary, cranberry bread, meat balls, homemade cheese dip with crackers, and homemade punch.
Outside the store had more to see. Caring for Creatures was there to sell treats and play toys for pets. Me2 Market & Eatery was also there to give out even more free samples, which included Christmas themed cookies, muffins, and cheesecake.
The entire store was extremely crowded, even more so then it is during Christmas Eve or the day before Thanksgiving. For employees like myself this kept me on my feet as it could get busy at any moment during those three hours.
To fit the Christmas theme, Santa Claus came to town to take pictures with customers of all ages. “Santa Claus has been apart of our Open House ever since its inception,” said Thomas.
Another guest at the Open House was a representative from the lottery who gave out free lottery tickets whom the store calls “Mr. Lottery.” “One year one customer won $100 off a ticket,” said Thomas.
For the adults at the Open House, E.W. Thomas offered wine tasting.“Two different wine vendors will have wine tasting for the holidays,” said Thomas. E.W. Thomas also had many Christmas specials, planned a few days before the Open House. “Our specials include Good Prices, recipes, and items for holiday entertainment,” said Thomas.
As the open House was winding down, and again before the store started cleaning up, a small group from Bethel Baptist Church showed up to sing Christmas Carols.
