A beloved but shuttered business on M-72 just up the hill from Traverse City will re-open for a final three-day sale this weekend (Friday to Sunday, October 21-23, 8am to 4pm).

Country Christmas’s long-time owners, Bill and Lee Smith, operated the holiday décor and antique business in Elmwood Township for over 35 years.

James Smith, designer/owner at James C Smith Fine jewelry in downtown TC, is one of the Smiths’ three sons. Smith shares with the Leelanau Ticker: “My dad passed away two years ago, and we have not opened the store since. Now we are planning on a retirement sale.”

Traverse City-based Century Estate Solutions is curating the vintage and handcrafted Christmas décor in the shop, along with many of the Smiths’ antiques.

“Many of the handmade crafts were done by my mom and local artists,” says Smith. “Her creative influence got me into artistic things very early…and she cultivated many other peoples’ interests in crafting. The store is so full of unusual and interesting things — buttons, beads, ephemera — and, really, my mom’s passion and flavor for life.”

Also among the treasures: antique sleds, a vintage cookstove, artifacts from the Park Place Hotel, vintage signs, doors and windows and stained glass, cherry lugs, apple crates, trunks, and tool caddies.

Says Smith, “My dad worked for Child and Family Services of Northwest Michigan for most of his life, but he also had a passion for antiques and [Royal Doulton] Toby mugs.” 

Besides Country Christmas being a regular stop for antique collectors, says Smith, “so many in the local community brought their kids there for their Christmas tradition, to pick out a special Christmas ornament.”

He adds, “We are opening the shop, and honoring their legacy and the end of an era.” He notes that the family is “still looking at what the property will develop into next.”