Season’s Greetings at the End of 2020

First, I want to thank you for your great support through a unique and unprecedented year. As we all can agree, nothing about 2020 has been normal, but we appreciate, from the bottom of our hearts, the kindness you’ve expressed. We also appreciate all the orders, via phone, mail, and online, that you’ve placed with us. You have kept us ticking in this most unusual time. We are forever grateful.

Amidst all the new adventures this year, we were still honored to be able to open our newest location of Dutch Country General Store in historic Hannibal, Missouri last April. We feel very blessed to have our new store located in downtown alongside the many other stores of “America’s Hometown”. If you haven’t visited Hannibal, be sure to add it to your list for 2021! Alongside our grand opening celebration, we also celebrated 8 years at our flagship store in Bloomfield, Iowa. It’s been an honor serving the area and we look forward to many more glorious years.

As with every year, we feel that giving back to our community is one of our most important jobs. This year, with the pandemic happening, we were elated to donate 300 fresh baked cinnamon rolls to the Buddy Pack Program for the Hannibal Alliance for Youth Success and Hannibal Public School District #60. The program is amazing and feeds hundreds of kids in the area. During times like these, it’s important we do what we can for others – we were humbled to be a part of the efforts.

We also donated to various other organizations during the year, including the Salvation Army Food Bank, the iCare Program, the Great River Honor Flight, Wreaths Across America, Shop with a Cop, Hannibal Arts Council, and many more. We even sponsored video calls with Santa!

Earlier in the year we also launched our premiere catalog and we were very happy to hear that you enjoyed it. And now, it’s Christmas and we were graciously able to launch our second catalog just in time for the holidays! We have worked hard to highlight great new gift items, bring in new product selections from small family-owned businesses, offer more of your favorite product categories, and continue to keep our prices reasonable. Thank you to everyone who requested a copy and followed us through our first two editions.

Along with our first Christmas catalog came our first Christmas Memories contest. We received an outpouring of amazing photos shared by our readers which showcase some of their best Christmas Memories. It was heartwarming to see such great photos of days gone by. Thank you to everyone that submitted photos and shared their memories with us.

The Christmas season is one of my favorite times of year because it’s all about celebrating the birth of Christ and spending time with family… and good food! This year we were also able to launch new episodes of Dutch Country Kitchen which included new holiday entertaining recipes and tips from our hosts Billboard charting recording artist, Diana Upton-Hill, and my wife, Erica (who is also expecting our 5th child in April!). The Dutch Country Kitchen cooking show continues to grow and thrive and we truly enjoy sharing our traditional recipes with you all. We believe that breaking bread together as family and friends around the table is a valuable experience for everyone.

We continue to ship products across the nation now more than ever, which include many of our new lines of products launched in 2020. A few of which include Elmwood Inn Teas, Whiskey Boat Goods Candles, and Ohio Stoneware. Our partnerships with these small, family-owned companies are very important to us and we’ll be doing more of them in the coming years. We were also happy to be able to add more products from our storefronts to our website such as puzzles and home decor. All of our great customers, both in-store and online, are truly a blessing to us.

For us, it’s never about just selling things, it’s about helping you create memories in special times! We are humbled to earn your business and we can’t wait to see what 2021 has in store!

Many Christmas Blessings to You and Yours,