Gale Griswold hoped she was onto something, opening a year-round Christmas specialty store. A year later, her instincts are paying off.
Gale’s Gifts opened Oct. 1, 2023, at Bell Tower Shops in south Fort Myers, near Dave & Busters on the north side of the shopping center in what years ago had been a Tommy Bahama store.
Griswold, a resident of Fort Myers since 1976, continues to make and sell Christmas trees, wreaths, ornaments, decorations and other gifts.
“I wanted to bring the joy of Christmas to people year-round,” Griswold said. “Because I feel like people these days really need to have their spirits lifted. And I wanted to create beauty and something different from what you normally see.”
October through December are the busiest months of the year for Gale’s Gifts. But January through September gives Griswold time to make everything. And she has the occasional good month during her offseason, noting she sold seven Christmas trees in March.
“That’s when I create all of this,” she said. “It’s a very lengthy time involvement to do all this. A lot of times some of the trees will take me an entire day to do one tree.
“I’ll come up with a theme first. A color theme. And then I’ll go from there and just build it. Starting from the flowers and the ribbons. I like to make them all special and one of a kind. So, when somebody goes home with one of the trees, they’re not going to see them anywhere else. They’re one-of-a-kind trees.”
Ornaments and other gifts can be found for less than $20. Wreaths range from $65 to $400. Trees range from $35 to $500, depending on the size and decorations.
Griswold wires all decorations and lighting into the trees. She does so from her on-site workshop. Her lease includes 6,500 square feet of space, giving her plenty of storage for her craft items and sales space. She also has an on-site classroom.
Griswold said many of her customers become repeat customers, and she’s hoping to build that base.
“A lot of people have trees in every room,” Griswold said. “I have customers who say they have 19 trees in their house. So, each room has a different theme. And they have different trees. And they even have trees in the kitchen. They have trees everywhere. So, it’s a good thing.”
