Corman, known as one of Lexington's most iconic retailers because of its Christmas decorations, is getting back in the holiday business.
From its home on Floyd Drive, the company's showroom will again be stocking Christmas trees, tinsel, ornaments and all the glittering accompaniments that longtime customers remember from their childhoods, said Ted Corman, president of Corman and Associates Inc.
Called The Corman Marketplace: Christmas Traditions Redefined, the new business, which will hold its grand opening Friday and Saturday, is "going back to the traditions that we had here for the last 40 years," Corman said.
"We're going to go back to being the place where grandparents will bring their grandkids to buy an ornament for their Christmas and where people come to ooh and aah for the latest things in Christmas decorations," he said.
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The retail portion will be about 10,000 square feet; the facility also includes a store-fixture showroom for Corman's central store design and manufacturing business.
Several years ago, the company began shifting its Christmas business from retail sales of decorations and other items to a more custom-focused Christmas design business. But that portion of its business struggled during the height of the recession, leading Corman to shut it down and focus exclusively on its store-design and manufacturing efforts.
J. Stuart Hurt, Dwayne Anderson and Jeremy Rice, who ran the Christmas design business for the company, formed their own retail design business called House that's on Delaware Avenue.
Competition for holiday interior design business "is just huge out there," Corman said. "Stuart and the guys ... are as good as it gets in that regard, so we don't want to go into competition with them."
Corman said the new offerings will appear more like the Christmas stores that tourists find in Santa Claus, Ind., and Gatlinburg, Tenn.
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