The Christmas Store

A mysterious holiday shopping emporium harbors many unanticipated experiences, such as the incredible discovery among the shake-and-snow paperweights, romance across the countertop, a surprise result from a free perfume sample, and more. Reprint.

In attempting to evoke a sweet old-fashioned feel, Sipherd ( The Courtship of Peggy McCoy ) has overshot his mark with this cloying collection. The 12 stories are set in and around a big-city department store during the Christmas season. The store locale supplies the sights and sounds; the characters (maintenance men, mannequins, customers, salespeople); and the various enchanted props like the "Eau de Noel," a mysterious perfume that provides the catalyst for romantic love, or a magical date book that renews a depressed man's spirit of giving in "Lost and Found." Sipherd's magical store helps tormented, lonely city dwellers find the Christmas spirit in "The Crystal Silver China Club," in which casual co-workers form a club and host a Christmas party, and in "The Star Checker," in which an elderly widower at last finds happiness. Charm proves elusive here, succumbing to banality.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.