For many years while I was growing up, my mother and I would head to Owego to shop in a store called "Hand of Man" - at the time, it was VERY Christmas-focused. While we're not big shoppers, it was definitely a holiday tradition... so it was quite sad when Hand of Man closed (after closing in 2019, I believe the store has since re-opened as a general gift shop & home décor-type store). Cut to a couple of months ago, and one of my mother's friends mentioned a Christmas store in Lyons, NY that we might want to visit. We discovered it was this store, fully known as Evolve For the Home - The Christmas Store. I took a vacation day so that we could run a number of holiday-related errands, and stopping at this store was on the list. We weren't really sure what we'd find, but we were pleasantly surprised once we entered the store and it felt somewhat reminiscent of our visits to Hand of Man. There are various Christmas tree displays set up throughout the store, full of ornament and various design colors and themes - including a "Life is better at the beach" tree display, and a corner of cardinal-themed decorations. There's a large variety of ornament, décor, and other home good-options. and I managed to find a couple interesting ornaments - including a bowl of ramen ornament, as well as a packet of Twizzlers ornament (which reminded me of my bff, as he's OBSESSED with Twizzlers). Very cute. It's worth noting that some of the items, including ornaments, are more expensive here than other stores. The "old world"-style glass ornaments probably average $20-$25, and I'm not going to be buying many ornaments at that price range - even if I really like the design. My mother and I each ended up picking up more items than we expected. The folks that were tending the checkout area were lovely, and ensured that we had the boxes that we needed and everything to keep our purchases protected. TL;DR All in all, I enjoyed this store a lot more than I thought I would - and it's nice to have as an option if my mother and I want to bring back one of our holiday shopping traditions. read more

See all