Starting in January, Adrienne Mennemeyer, owner of the Olive Tree Marketplace Christmas Pop-Up Shop, begins scouting for the Christmas season. Traveling with her daughter Karli, Adrienne visits product distributors in Texas, Nevada, and Georgia, handpicking unique products for the shop with the aim of curating the perfect Christmas collection for her customers back in Lake Saint Louis.
Working year-round, Adrienne and her team of employees create a 10,000-square-foot marketplace for Christmas-loving customers. Visitors can shop one of the many themed Christmas tree sections of the store or browse through other Christmas decorations such as ornaments, wreaths, garlands, artwork, kitchen decor, tree toppers, tableware, and vintage Christmas-themed furniture pieces.
In 2016, Adrienne opened Olive Tree Marketplace, a home decor and furniture store featuring locally handcrafted items, in Wentzville. Three years later, she moved the shop to St. Louis. Then, in 2020 as the covid-19 pandemic surged, the joy of Christmas was desperately needed by all. Adrienne responded to this need by taking a leap of faith to open a second store, a pop-up shop for Christmas items.
“A lot of people are dealing with loss and missing a loved one. Maybe some have had some recent life changes to where the holidays aren’t exactly the most happy time, but they love coming into the store. I think it’s kind of an escape for some people,” she says.
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Adrienne hires extra help in July to sort inventory as packages are delivered. “It takes a team,” Adrienne says. “My daughter prices and opens the inventory with a few of her girlfriends. A lot of friends and their daughters work here, and it’s kind of like a family.” After unpacking the items, lead decorator Jamie LiCausi begins organizing them into themes. This year, the shop will feature woodland, traditional, snowman, and nativity Christmas themes.
“Every designer and decorator that I have has their own unique style,” Adrienne says. “I empower my employees to use their creativity. If they have a vision, I let them go for it.” At the beginning of September, the crew had already decorated and placed over twenty Christmas trees.
Besides organizing and designing the decor, it is also the job of employees to exude the Christmas spirit. “For all the employees that I hire, Christmas has to be something that they’re passionate about,” Adrienne says.
This store doesn’t just pour out passion, but also offers sales. The store opens with a storewide sale November 1–3. Then on November 16, there is the reindeer hunt. When deer season opens, reindeer are placed all over the store for customers to find, each of which correlates to a discount. After Thanksgiving, there is a Black Friday sale and a Small Business Saturday sale: an annual event founded by American Express and cosponsored by the US Small Business Administration that celebrates and supports small businesses.
Visitors can find the Olive Tree Marketplace and its Pop-Up Christmas Shop at 10 Meadows Circle Drive, Suite 100, Lake Saint Louis. For additional information, visit the website at OliveTreeMarkets.com.
Photos by Olive Tree Marketplace.
Article originally published in the November/December 2024 issue of Missouri Life.
