Southwood Christmas Shop

Southwood Christmas Shop, a festive retailer in Cottingham

Southwood Christmas Shop is a family-run business based in the small town of Cottingham, in East Yorkshire. According to its own account, the venture began in the early 1980s as a small fruit and vegetable shop and later expanded into a garden centre. Over the years the business has built a reputation, in its own words, as one of the area's best Christmas experiences, with large displays and an on-site coffee shop, Lucy's Coffee Shop.

The Christmas shop operates alongside the garden centre and presents itself as a one-stop Christmas destination, with a catalogue of more than 4,000 festive items intended for homes of any size. Its online store serves customers across the country, and the company describes itself as the UK's largest online Christmas shop.

Product range

The catalogue is organised around broad festive categories: lights, trees, garlands and wreaths, decorations, animated villages, light-up figures and novelty items, alongside a special offers section. Within decorations alone the shop lists thousands of references, including glass baubles, felt and fabric ornaments, bows, ribbons, candleholders, candles, tableware, gonks, nutcrackers and advent calendars.

• Indoor and outdoor lighting, including battery, cluster, curtain and string lights.
• Artificial Christmas trees, among them fibre-optic and pre-lit models.
• Baubles and ornaments, with ranges themed around Disney, Harry Potter, Star Wars, Coca-Cola, gingerbread and woodland motifs.
• Garlands, wreaths and decorated door sets.
• Animated villages, village houses, figurines and accessories.
• Novelty and light-up pieces, such as large nutcrackers and water spinners.

Brands and themed collections

Among the brands named in the catalogue are Everlands for artificial trees, Premier for LED lighting, NOMA for candles and light fittings, Gisela Graham and Floralsilk for decorations, and Hallmark for cards and ornaments. Licensed ranges include Disney, Marvel, Star Wars and Harry Potter, as well as seasonal themes such as Grinch, Hello Kitty and Elves Behavin' Badly.

The shop also groups its stock into twelve decorating themes, described as a way to help customers find a Christmas style. The themes named on the site include Traditional Christmas, Disney Christmas Magic, Enchanted Woodland and Cocoa & Cream, the last built around warm neutral tones.

Buying and delivery

Orders placed online can be delivered nationwide, with free delivery on purchases over £75. The shop also offers a free click-and-collect service, with next-day pickup in store, and accepts returns within 14 days for an exchange.

Customer feedback

The site displays a rating of five stars based on 3,178 reviews, and includes short comments from customers praising the selection of decorations, the packaging and the speed of delivery. One reviewer describes the business as family-run.

The garden centre connection

The Christmas shop shares its name and operation with Southwood Garden Centre, and the contact addresses published on the site use the garden centre's domain. The physical shop is located at the Southwood Farm Shop site on Ganton Avenue in Cottingham.