If you remember shopping in downtown Richmond at Christmastime, then I don’t need to tell you that it was a special experience! As early as the 1910s and 20s, Thalhimers featured special Christmas decorations and Toyland for the children. If you shopped at Thalhimers in the 1940s or 50s, you may remember your mother putting on long gloves and a fashionable hat to take you shopping. You would be dressed in your holiday finest from head to toe, and perhaps the most memorable thing was riding a small train on Thalhimers’ rooftop.
The 1960s and 70s brought with them animated holiday windows along Grace Street full of model trains, animated characters, carolers singing, and snow-covered scenes that captivated the young and the young-at-heart. Hundreds gathered to watch Santa climb a ladder from the corner of 6th and Broad Streets into Thalhimers’ second floor, waving to the crowds below. Santaland in the 5th floor auditorium was a wandering maze of festive scenes leading up to Santa in his big red chair. Thalhimers erected big candlesticks on the walkway over 7th Street, declaring Richmond the “City of Candlelight.”
In the 1980s, while listening to Wham’s “Last Christmas” on the radio, you’d drive down to see the annual Christmas Parade, formerly known as Thalhimers’ Toy Parade. Perhaps you’d catch a glimpse of a celebrity…my sister gave Chevy Chase a high five as his float passed by! Inside the store, special attractions included LegoLand on the Fourth Floor and The Snow Bear Shop, where kids shopped for gifts in a life-sized artificial igloo. (No parents allowed!) Snow Bear Breakfasts were a special treat, singing along to the “Snow Bear Hokey Pokey” and doing a special rendition of “Here Comes Santa Claus” to summon Santa and Snow Bear to join in the fun!
Christmas at Thalhimers was a magical time. It may have been cold outside, but inside the store people’s hearts were warmed enough to stoke a lifetime of memories.
Finding Thalhimers 
It is lovely to see these pictures and hear all about the long history and legacy of Thalhimers in Richmond!! Congratulations again on the book and all this represents for you and your family and for Richmond. I remember my own forays downtown with my mom when I was in high school, to see the decorations and shop for Christmas at Thalhimers. Best to you, Robbins
I remember Thalhimers at Cameron Village and Crabtree Valley Mall in Raleigh, NC. I would save my money to buy my best school mates their Christmas presents from Thalhimers (usually a necklace or bracelet from the jewelry counter). I was sad when Thalhimers was no more. It was an end of an era. (and now when I see the Harris Teeter at Cameron Village and the Belk’s Men’s Store at Crabtree I still think of them as Thalhimers!)
What memories! Thank you so much for this. I remember many parades in my childhood. Waiting for Santa to appear, frozen noses and hot chocolate afterwards. Thalhimers desserts were the very best ever!
I just simply loved your book; I read it in two days. I just couldn’t put it down. It was a birthday present from my son and daughter-in-law.
Thank you so much for telling your family’s story and helping me to relive all the wonderful August trips down to Thalhimers to get all of my school otufits and pair of Weejuns. One of the sale ladies would have 6 outfits for my sister and me all laid out in the dressing rooms for us to try on and get final approval from my mom. Of course all the outfits were delivered the next day, and the excitement was great as we looked at and tried on again all of our outfits. What a great story of service, dedication to our beloved city, and family stength and togetherness. I too have done some research on my family’s ancestry. So I was doubly inpressed by your book.
One of my Christmas decorations is a Dementi photograph of one of the windows on Grace Street, Santa’s workshop. That is how I remember Christmas shopping, visiting Thalhimers and Miller and Rhoads, looking at all the windows outside, having meals in the Tea Room and The Richmond Room, etc. etc.
You are a great credit to your family and our wonderful city. Sincerely, Diana Gee Woodward Schlein
When did Snow Bear begin at Thalhimers? I grew up in the 60s, going to the Broad Street store to see Santa and remember the winding walkway through an almost life sized (to me) diorama of a winter wonderland and a secret shop, but Snow Bear looks unfamiliar to me. Obviously it is an important thing in many Richmonders memories; is my memory slipping?
Snow Bear became a Christmas tradition in the early 1980s.
Thanks! It’s reassuring that I haven’t lost my mind in that aspect! 😉 By the way, I purchased your book via Amazon Kindle last night and am zipping through it, thoroughly enjoying it!
I’m thrilled you’re enjoying the book, Cindy! You haven’t lost your mind…Snow Bear definitely wasn’t born in the 1960s. It’s not too late to get to know him: he’s currently a part of Theater IV’s children’s theater and occasionally appears in Richmond during the holidays!
I’ll have to look for him if I find myself in Richmond during the holiday season. Unfortunately, I don’t get back to Richmond very often. I enjoy visiting it electronically though!
Hello! My Dad was Raymond Siegfried and worked in the rug department until the store closed. He was in all the Thalhimer’s Toy Parade’s and answered the Santa Phone and I never knew I was calling my own father to speak to Santa.
What a great story! Thanks for sharing, Linda. Tell me more about the Santa Phone…what was it? I’ve never heard of it!