Capital At Play
  • Home
  • Current Edition
    • Featured Capitalists
    • Local Industry
    • Leisure & Libation
    • Columns
    • Events
  • Archives
    • Featured Capitalists
    • Local Industry
    • Leisure & Libation
    • Columns
    • Resources: Lists, Charts & Maps
    • Capital Adventurist
  • Contact
    • Pick-up Locations
    • About Us
    • Advertiser Directory
  • Videos
  • Subscribe Now
  • C@P Co-Op
Musical Matchmaker
It’s What’s ‘ON THE INSIDE’ That Counts
Escaping the Everyday
Real Estate Year In Review 2018
February 2019 Edition PDF
A Perfect Union
Insight: The Art of Flourishing – Dargan Landscape...
App Wood
Progress & Change
Still On the GO
The State of Manufacturing 2019: A Report
The Art Of Unique Museum-ing
January 2019 Edition PDF
The Wine Column: Drink Well in 2019
Insight: Sky’s The Limit – Malcolm Morgan

Capital At Play

Western North Carolina's Free Spirit Of Enterprise

  • Home
  • Current Edition
    • Featured Capitalists
    • Local Industry
    • Leisure & Libation
    • Columns
    • Events
  • Archives
    • Featured Capitalists
    • Local Industry
    • Leisure & Libation
    • Columns
    • Resources: Lists, Charts & Maps
    • Capital Adventurist
  • Contact
    • Pick-up Locations
    • About Us
    • Advertiser Directory
  • Videos
  • Subscribe Now
  • C@P Co-Op
2018Featured Capitalists

Christmas Every Day of the Year

December 2018

Written by Jennifer Fitzgerald | Photos by Anthony Harden


Asheville’s Bruce Tompkins doesn’t wait until the first week of November to start putting up the holiday decorations in his retail store…

Christmas carols serenade you as you walk in the front door. A salutation of “Merry Christmas” is directed at you with a friendly smile. A countdown with the number of days to Christmas is prominently posted. And these are the greetings you receive very day of the year at The Olde World Christmas Shoppe.

Bruce Tompkins is the owner of the store that offers “everything you ever wanted for Christmas.” Ornaments and collectibles in a wide range of price points are showcased in the circa early-1900 house located at 5 Boston Way in Asheville’s Historic Biltmore Village.

Tompkins was born in South Georgia in the little town of Thomasville, Georgia, also the birthplace of actress Joanne Woodward. He likes to tell young people that he is from the same town as Paul Newman’s wife. Oftentimes, they look at him at ask, “Who’s Paul Newman?”

Tompkins, who attended Emory University in Atlanta, previously had a career in marketing with Southern Bell that kept him in Atlanta until they offered him an early retirement.

“We bought several of these buildings [in Biltmore Village] in Asheville about a year before I retired,” remembers Tompkins. “We didn’t move up here until 1992. We bought these buildings in 1989 and opened the Christmas Shoppe in 1989. And then decided—why don’t we move up there? Our six children had basically left home. Two were still in college at the time. It worked out well. I’m so glad I’m not in Atlanta right now. It’s a great place for young people to find jobs, but it’s miserable as far as traffic is concerned.”

 


The full article continues below. Click to open in fullscreen…

Christmas Every Day of the Year was last modified: December 2nd, 2018 by Fred
0
Facebook Twitter Google + Pinterest

You may also like

Recipe: Cashew Pesto Recipe

December 2018
Shuford Carpenter, owner of Vaughan’s Nursery

With a Little Bit of Bloomin’ Luck: Vaughan’s Nursery Adapts

April 2015

That Family Spirit

September 2017

Man*u*fac*ture 2018

February 2018

Any Way They Want it

April 2017

Current Edition

  • Musical Matchmaker

  • It’s What’s ‘ON THE INSIDE’ That Counts

  • Escaping the Everyday

  • Real Estate Year In Review 2018

  • A Perfect Union

  • Insight: The Art of Flourishing – Dargan Landscape Architects

Subscribe



Like what you see? Subscribe to get
Capital at Play delivered to your home.
Current Edition

Pickup Locations


Find a location near you &
pickup a copy of Capital at Play today!

Contact Us

Subscription Information
order online here

Advertising Inquiries
828.274.7305
advertising@capitalatplay.com

Editorial Inquiries
editor@capitalatplay.com

@2019 - Capital at Play Magazine. All Rights Reserved.


Back To Top