Believe it or not, Christine’s, the little gift shop in Dexter owned by the same family who owns Hackney Ace Hardware next door, has regulars from as far away as Birmingham and Plymouth.

“It’s amazing. They feel like they don’t have as much variety out there as we do here,” says Christine O’Haver, who founded the store located at 8107 Main St. “We have a lot of customers that come in as a group of a few ladies, and they just take the day and go shopping and have lunch in town.”

Christine O'Haver, in her Dexter gift shop.

Laura Blodgett | for AnnArbor.com

This kind of customer loyalty is the key to their success.

“We have loyal customers as well as wonderful people working here,” says O’Haver. “One lady who works here, Barb, has been with us for 19 years.”

It’s all in the family at Christine’s, where former owner O’Haver still tends to the store since selling it to her son Dan and daughter-in-law Abby along with the hardware store.

She and her husband, Tom, originally bought the hardware store in 1972 from her own father, who had run it with her uncles since the 1930s. They had taken it over from her grandfather, who had started it in the 1800s.

O’Haver started the gift shop 21 years ago, when she was looking for a new challenge.

“I was teaching at Little Folk’s Corner in Ann Arbor, and my youngest child was finishing high school,” she explains. “I really wanted to come back to Dexter and be a part of the community again. I had kind of lost that.”

She tried working in the hardware store, but “didn’t know a nut from a bolt.”

She started the gift business at the beginning of the beanie babies craze.

“It was absolutely wild and wonderful,” she remembers. “We had really eclectic items, and it was a lot of fun.”

O’Haver says the store has gone through some slow years since then but her daughter-in-law Abby has breathed new life into it.

“She has brought in fresh new ideas and added a spark to the store. It’s really perked up and we’re doing well again.”

Some of those new ideas can be seen with the merchandise they started to carry in the last few years, which has expanded into home and kitchen specialty items, baby and children’s clothes and toys, and jewelry from local artists.

Christine's specializes in unique gift items. Owner O'Haver said about 30 percent of annual income comes from holiday sales

Top sellers include Danforth Pewter jewelry, Barefoot Dreams sweaters and throws, North American Bear Company bears, Jellycat stuffed animals, Shannon Martin note cards, Thymes soaps and baabaaZuzu mittens.

“We carry a great line of jackets from Winding River that only are found in specialty shops,” says O’Haver. “Our socks from Vermont are amazing.”

The holidays accounts for roughly 30 percent of their annual sales, says O’Haver.

They employ some of the standard marketing moves during this time such as extending holiday hours, gift wrapping packages, holding an Open House and participating in downtown Dexter festivities like cookie walks.

“Abby also started doing things like email blasts to regulars and Facebook,” says O’Haver, who does not maintain an email address herself. “I’m just glad she’s doing it.”

O’Haver expects this holiday season to be even better than last year.

“So far, this year has been better than last year so we’re hoping that follows through to the end of the year.”

This is one in a series of stories by AnnArbor.com’s Business Review about local retailers and their strategies during the biggest sales season of the year. Get more local business news by subscribing to the Business Review newsletter and breaking email alerts.

Laura Blodgett is a freelance writer and a frequent contributor to AnnArbor.com.