For 50 years it’s been Christmas 363 days a year at Barbe Jenkins-Gibson’s store in Lincoln City

By KATHLEEN O’CONNOR/Lincoln Chronicle

Determination — that’s what it took for Barbe Jenkins-Gibson to launch her own small business 52 years ago. And persistence is what has carried her through the last 52 years — to the point that her store is now a Lincoln City icon.

Jenkins-Gibson is the owner of Christmas Cottage, the store housed in the bright pink building on the west side of U.S. Highway 101 in the middle of Lincoln City, open and dedicated to Christmas 363 days of the year.

Jenkins-Gibson grew up far from the Oregon coast, on her family’s cattle ranch at the base of Steens Mountain in far southeast Oregon. She began asserting her independence early, changing the spelling of her name from Barb to Barbe after taking French in high school — she thought it looked lovelier on the page. She convinced her parents to send her to boarding school in Beaverton in the eighth grade, a year earlier than they had planned.

She went on to the University of Portland and after graduation she worked for four years at Portland General Electric. In the early 1970s, the utility’s male-dominated culture offered little hope for a meaningful career. She realized that owning her own business was the best path for determining her future. She opened her first shop, The Enchanted Dollhouse, on Swan Island in Portland in 1974 and Christmas Cottage in Lincoln City in 1975.

Question:  Tell us about your store.

Answer: I believe Christmas Cottage has an ornament for everyone. It’s organized by subject – sea and ocean, animals and pets, instruments, family, food, sports … you name it. Every wall is lined with ornaments on hooks, and we have multiple rotating displays on the floor. Our glass Polish ornaments all hang on the ceiling to prevent breakage – they are fragile and expensive. Besides ornaments we have nutcrackers, angels, nativities, tree toppers, cards, and puzzles. We carry several collectible lines — Wee Forest Folk and Willow Tree, for example. And there’s a small section of Halloween decorations since it is the second most decorated holiday.

I can’t begin to count how many products we have in the store. The store originally occupied two separate buildings which we have joined together. One of the buildings has two lower-level floors and the other has one. Those levels are all stacked with inventory. Ornament design and production changes every year so I cannot order the same ornaments twice. I do all the ordering and generally place an order of some type almost every day. We have thousands of gift boxes in different sizes, and we can ship ornaments.

Q: What challenges have you faced over the years?

A: I had two big challenges when starting the business. First, I needed to secure funding, and second, I needed to learn the fundamentals of running a business. Conventional wisdom might say that opportunities for women were widely becoming available in the 1970s, but, in fact, that was not true when applying for a bank loan. Three banks and the Small Business Administration all turned me down. One loan officer was so emphatic that he marched me to the door. My only option was to borrow against my own life savings.

My degree was in sociology, which has turned out to be helpful relative to customer relationships, but not relative to knowing how to run a business. I started by choosing a specialized retail business, collectible dollhouse furnishings, because there weren’t any similar stores in the Portland area. I didn’t want to worry about competition while I was taking time to learn about operations, human resources, marketing, finance. In the beginning I had to find suppliers in person — there was no internet to search. On a trip to the wholesale district in New York City looking for dollhouse merchandise I discovered several companies specializing in Christmas ornaments and decided that adding ornaments would be a way to expand my store’s reach.

During the time that I offered both dollhouse furniture and ornaments a gentleman stopped by my Portland store and enthusiastically encouraged me to consider expanding by opening an ornament store in Lincoln City. I thought the idea was worth investigating, and on my first trip to the coast I unexpectedly found that my current building was for rent for just $195 per month. I launched a second store here, open just on weekends. Eventually I closed the Portland store and sold the dollhouse business and I’ve been “Christmas only” since 1984. Over time I have been lucky enough to be able to purchase the building I originally rented and the one next door, so the shop is twice as large as it was originally.

Q: What does your shop do to make customers feel welcome?

A: I have six employees, and they are critical to the store’s success. One of my employees has been with me for 28 years, and the newest one has been here for almost three years. They are all cross trained to do everything, the most important thing being customer service. We work hard together to make the store friendly and positive. They are all very familiar with the store layout, so they can help customers find the ornaments they want quickly.

Every ornament in the store can be customized with names and dates, free of charge. All the employees know how to write very neatly, using the right pen for the surface of the ornament. This sometimes jams up our checkout lines, but virtually every customer wants his/her ornament customized, and they are willing to wait. We have two large fiberglass Santas perched on the roof of our building and somehow they make the store instantly approachable.

It’s important to me to treat my employees fairly and to give them the stability that good benefits provide. It’s also important to me to be part of the Lincoln City business community.

Q: What is Christmas like for you?

A: The only two days the store is closed are Thanksgiving and Christmas. My husband, Bob Gibson, and I generally have a traditional Thanksgiving together at home, but on Christmas Eve we often drive to Portland to enjoy a beautiful hotel room, a fancy meal, and possibly a theater performance.

Tell us a secret.

I am not emotionally attached to Christmas myself. I never take ornaments home and I don’t decorate my home. Instead, my focus is on finding merchandise that will help my customers enjoy memorable Christmases with their families and friends.

• Christmas Cottage: 3305 SW Hwy 101, Lincoln City; 541-996-2230; Website: Christmascottage.net; Email: [email protected] and Facebook: Christmas Cottage

• Kathleen O’Connor is a Waldport freelance writer who can be reached via email at [email protected]