The Jingle Bell Shoppe in Los Osos and proprietor Dee Corcoran are gearing up for their first big holiday of the year as an established business.
While Corcoran opened up the Shoppe in June, just in time for July Fourth, locals hadn’t yet cottoned onto her, “it’s the holidays all year round” philosophy and she’d just narrowly missed being ready for Cinco de Mayo due to a series of unfortunate events.
Still, she got good foot traffic for the location in the small complex at 1230 Los Osos Valley Rd., between the Ascendo Coffee Shop and Nichols Pizza -N- Grill.
As word of mouth grew so did repeat business, at the very least folks who stopped in on their way to ‘coffee and a quiche’ or ‘pizza and a soda’ proclaiming that they’d return afterwards usually did.
“Not just people from Los Osos,” said Corcoran, “no one realizes, but we get a lot of traffic from Atascadero, Arroyo Grande, people who visit all the time and the tourists from further away.”
That could have something to do with the general demeanor that she greets visitors with and the willingness to be something of a “mother hen,” guiding shoppers to the gift item that will suit their intentions best rather than what will earn the business the most immediate financial return.
Her retirement, if she ever did plan on stopping work, is not at risk over creating happiness before returns, Corcoran added. This is the sixth business startup on her resume, as well as the one she’s wanted for 20 years.
“It’s not about me anyway,” she said, “it’s about the joy of the shop…I always say, ‘come back when you need a gift for someone.’…This is a happy place. There is so much, you’ll forgive the term, ‘crap’ in the world. This is a place for things that put a smile on your face.”
While the universe is never short of things to bring one down, as Corcoran knows all too well after 12 years locally assisting people in financial planning – a decade at the nearby Edward Jones office, then independently – she means also that not all holiday merchandise is created equally.
“I find things that are high quality, a good value,” she adds, although there’s an effort to keep the price point reasonable for both buyer and seller. Among the merchandise representing everything from Saint Patrick’s Day to, well, Christmas and Halloween, there are collectables such as Vermont Bears (embroidered with Los Osos on their custom clothes), or licensed porcelain figures from Peanuts or Disney.
She’ll also help the occasional tourist with shipping back home if needed.
“I don’t want to become an Ebay warehouse though,” she said.
A bit of a perfectionist with her own work, Corcoran is creating a line that will be sold online (perhaps as soon as this issue hits the stands).
“I’m calling it ‘Dee-Cor,’” she said of the seasonal wreaths and lit-orb creations that she either sells in shop (soon online) or creates on commission. “I won’t put something out that doesn’t make me happy to look at. They have my name on them. That goes for commissions too.”
As for a favorite holiday, she adds that New Year’s Eve, a time of renewal and hope, is her favorite. For the moment though, there is a somewhat fanatical following for the “cult classic” 1993 film The Nightmare Before Christmas that the Shoppe is embracing with a large display at the Los Osos Rabobank branch, also on Los Osos Valley Road.
See anything interesting while cashing a check? Walk, don’t run, down to the Jingle Bell Shoppe. After all, it’s the holidays all year round.
Story and Photos by Camas Frank
