‘Tis the season: Tiny Tim Shoppe again open for the holidays in downtown Mansfield

MANSFIELD — Author Charles Dickens created the heart-warming character of Tiny Tim Cratchit in his 1843 novella, “A Christmas Carol.”

Nearly 180 years later, the Christmas spirit of the English lad lives on locally.

The Tiny Tim Shoppe in downtown Mansfield, which has helped children do their Christmas shopping for three decades, opened for a new holiday season on Saturday morning.

It started when the Reed’s Department Store in Mansfield closed in 1993, according to Jennifer Kime, CEO of Downtown Mansfield Inc., which is again hosting the shoppe at 128 N. Main St.

“Main Street Books wanted to provide an additional activity for the community to come downtown to shop, another activity to involve families,” Kime said. “So it’s been going on since then. DMI took it over from Main Street Books about 10 years ago.”

Tiny Tim Shoppe hours for 2022

The Tiny Time Shoppe will be open at Downtown Mansfield Inc., at 128 N. Main St., from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on the following Saturdays: Nov. 19, Nov. 26, Dec. 3, Dec. 10 and Dec. 17. It will also be open from 5 to 8 p.m. on Friday, Dec. 2, during Christmas Time in the City.

As children and volunteer “Santa’s helpers” walked through the shoppe and picked out gifts on Saturday morning, Kime said it’s become a family tradition.

“We now have parents bringing their kids who came through as kids, and we have lots of families that say it’s one of their favorite holiday traditions,” Kime said.

“It’s important to create those memories for kids in the downtown community — shopping local, supporting downtown. They come here, then they go to the Carousel or Relax or Coney Island or another business. There’s an opportunity for them to support downtown during the holidays,” Kime said.

Local businesses participate by offering their materials for sale inside the shoppe.

“All of our vendors are small businesses. Every year we have somewhere between 10 and 12 small businesses that participate in the Tiny Tim Shoppe. So everyone that’s out there is a small business,” Kime said.

Children come to the shoppe with parents or grandparents. Working with their adult, the create a budget form that shows who they are shopping for and how much they wish to spend.

Armed with that knowledge, they enter through a child’s sized door and are met by volunteers who help them walk throughout the shoppe and imagine the possibilities. Items are priced at $15 or less.

“The volunteers help them stay in that budget. And then we wrap all the stuff back here. And then when we bring it out, it’s all wrapped. And then Christmas morning when everybody opens their gifts, it’s always a really fun surprise,” Kime said.

“We often have the little kids who are like, ‘My grandpa loves like this princess cup’ or whatever and you know they’re shopping for themselves,” she said with a laugh.

“Or they get really silly things for grandparents that are probably pretty serious people. It is really funny and it’s a good time,” Kime said.

Families wishing to participate need to sign up for a specific time to shop ahead of time. One reservation must be made per each child shopping. Reservations are free and four time slots are available per each half hour.

For families with more children, overlapping times should be reserved. For example, a family of six children would reserve four tickets between 10 a.m. and 10:30 a.m. and two tickets between 10:30 a.m. and 11 a.m.

Click here to reserve a shopping time or call 419-522-0099.

“It’s a small little entryway here and it could get really crowded in the mornings,” Kime said of the need for reservations, which began during COVID-19.

“So we kept it because it’s really a lot easier for the volunteers who are working the shop to be able to plan for the flow. And it ended up being great for families because they don’t have to wait as long.

“We were having really long wait times before, so now we can kind of stagger people throughout the day,” she said.

“We make sure the kids all leave with the presents for the people they wanna buy for,” Kime said. “If kids are anxious or nervous to come back by themselves, the parents can come back with them.”

That kind of cooperative effort is what led Tiny Tim to exclaim, “A Merry Christmas to us all; God bless us, everyone.”