After 37 years of selling Christmas decor year-round, a Carmel institution is closing its doors.

A beloved 37-year-old, year-round Christmas store, Kris Kringle of Carmel, is closing. This is the store’s last Christmas season, explains owner Carol Montana to each customer in line. She is ready to retire, at the age of 77, and enjoy Christmas herself, she says.

The clientele, many of them regulars, seem devastated and quickly buy their last Nutcracker soldier or finally decide on an outlandish gingerbread house. “I’ve bought a lot of things here,” says one customer waiting in line.

Montana cheers them up adding there will be even a bigger sale after Christmas, starting on Tuesday, Dec. 26, when customers can stock up on hand-painted ornaments, Santas, snowmen and snow globes, most in the German style of celebration. That’s because Montana and her now-deceased husband Michael decided to open a Christmas store after their honeymoon in Germany. Kris Kringle is a German Santa Claus.

“It’s bittersweet because many customers have been shopping with us for a long time,” Montana says. “When my daughter was a child, I was here less.” Since then, she has been at the counter every day.

Montana is closing, after considering her now adult daughter as a possible new owner. But that would mean a big move and house selling. Hence, it’s the end of this chapter.

“It will make Christmas a little bit less hectic for me,” Montana says. “I always know it’s coming and I’m never quite ready for it.”

Montana will be in the store until all of the merchandise is gone, then close up shop. She is not planning to keep any more items for her own collection. “I have a lot at home,” she says. “Well, I might keep one or two little things.”