Story by RORY MOORE Photos by RORY MOORE and SIDNEY GILKISON
Tiger Media Network
The Downtown Hays Development Corporation organized the Christmas on the Bricks open house Thursday through Saturday, which aimed to promote local businesses across the Downtown area ahead of the holidays with stores selling Christmas accessories and decorations.
“Basically, it is the kickoff to the holiday season,” said DHDC Executive Director Julie Rider. “We have the city put up wreaths on the lamp posts. The stores have already been decorated for Christmas. It’s a five-to-six-week period for our stores to kick off Christmas and encourage people to shop local.”
The city has also taken measures to encourage residents to shop at these stores.
“We facilitate the holiday open house for them,” Rider said. “It includes a holiday coupon book that is available to the public to purchase over the next several weeks, and it also starts our downtown dollar giveaway ticket program. So, when they make purchases in those stores, they receive tickets that they can put their name on and stick them in a box. Then, in the middle of December, we will do a drawing to give away $4,000 for them to come back and spend in Downtown Hays.”
Downtown Hays is decorated with wreaths for the Christmas on the Bricks open house. 
Sue Fehrenbach looks through Christmas socks at Simply Charmed. 
Children’s items are sold in addition to Christmas accessories. 
Sarah Cearley-Windholz and Bobbie Dinkel checkout items for Fehrenbach. 
Many stores across the downtown area decorated their shelves with trees for holiday shopping while promoting the giveway dollar ticket program. 
Custom Creations sells holiday-themed items. 
Hallmark sells decorations in time for holiday shopping. 
Numerous products, including pop culture accessories, are sold with a holiday twist. 
Kathy Schupman helps a customer pick decorations. 
Karen Dreiling, owner of the Furniture Look, assists Dion and Ashley Neuburger on looking for furniture to buy. 
Christmas jewelry, necklaces, and rings are sold at Diamond R Jewelry. 
Regeena’s Flowers & Events sells holiday ornaments and flowers.
Rider notes that the open house was organized to benefit Hays economically.
“By keeping those dollars local, shopping-wise, that’s huge for the community,” she said. “It’s a big deal, and it’s something that I don’t think everybody necessarily thinks about when they’re shopping online or going out of town to shop. Keeping those dollars local is very important for all of us.”
Sarah Cearley-Windholz, owner of Simply Charmed Women’s Clothing & Jewelry, sees the open house as an opportunity for Hays stores to serve the community collaboratively.
“We’re pretty involved with DHDC and other retailers,” she said. “It’s something that we’ve always continuously done every year, and we want to be involved because it’s very successful, creating a campaign where everyone works together.”
Through the open house, stores like Simply Charmed sell their products with a holiday-oriented initiative.
“We always prepare by getting all our holiday merchandise out,” Cearley-Windholz said. “We always have treats for everybody and all our decorations out.”
For Kathy Schupman, owner of Kat’s Hallmark Shop & Gift Store, serving customers in a positive mood that comes with the holidays is rewarding.
“It’s very enjoyable,” she said. “The people are always in good spirits, having a good time. It just feels good – feels like a Hallmark movie.”
Like other stores, Hallmark sells Christmas accessories with a holiday sale.
“We have what we call VIP gifts,” Schupman said. “If they’re Hallmark reward members, they get a free gift for spending $75 or more. If they spend $125, they get another gift. On top of that, if they spend $200, there’s another gift. Plus, there’s the double ticket giveaway for the $4,000 cash total.”
Schupman sees the open house as not only serving the community but also building the community as well.
“It builds Downtown [Hays] as a community of retail shops and restaurants,” she said. “Us being together, working in cohesion for events like this does nothing but build community spirit and community relations. It helps all of us, and it’s such a win-win situation.”
Jerome Schmeidler, owner of Messenger Catholic Books & Gifts, believes that by helping customers with holiday shopping, Hays stores are helping each other.
“It’s a great opportunity to support local business and get ready for the Christmas season,” he said. “It puts things into focus and perspective of what Christmas really means, especially for our store. A lot of local businesses support other businesses and industries in the area. The money goes directly back into the community, and I feel like it’s a good thing to keep the future alive and keep stores and jobs intact.”