Christmas Spirit
How Steve and Deb Mayfield found their calling as Vermont ’ s proud stewards of Holiday cheer
Before making Vermont their permanent home , Deb and Steve Mayfield both had long careers in corporate retail , building their expertise while working for companies like Building 19 and Christmas Tree Shops . Steve worked as a buyer and a tech expert , while Deb headed up accounts receivable . They eventually moved to Vermont in 2004 when Steve helped open the first Christmas Tree Shops location in Williston . They were only supposed to stay temporarily , but once they settled in and took in Vermont ’ s beauty , they knew that they had found their permanent home . “ We came up to Vermont with the kids and thought we ’ d be here for a year or two ,” Steve recalls . “ But we looked around and said , ‘ We ’ re not going back .’ It just felt right to stay .”
From there , they purchased and began running the Shelburne Country Store , which they operated for nearly a decade . A few years later , they had the opportunity to purchase the Country Christmas Loft , which had been established by Richard and Ronnie Vander Veer in the 1970s as a year-round Christmas store . The Vander Veers had built the store after their successful run with the Jay Country Store in the Northeast Kingdom , eventually expanding it to several other locations in Vermont , New Hampshire , and Massachusetts .
“ We ’ d been in retail for a long time , and the chance to take on the Country Christmas Loft felt like the perfect next step ,” Steve says . “ It was a unique place with so much history and so much potential . It was really a labor of love from the very beginning .”
After balancing ownership of both the Shelburne Country Store and the Country Christmas Loft for several years , the Mayfields decided to focus exclusively on the Christmas Loft two years ago , selling the general store to another Vermont local .
“ It was a hard decision to let go of the country store ,” Steve explains , “ but there ’ s so much to do here at the Loft that we realized we couldn ’ t do both places justice . We found a great buyer for the country store , someone who loves Vermont as much as we do , and we ’ ve been able to fully dedicate ourselves to this magical place .” photo : Dwelling Photography
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