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NILES — A popular downtown Niles business’ latest project aims to reconnect customers with the community’s storied past.

Four Flags Antiques, 218 N. 2nd St., Niles, will be unveiling its new holiday window displays at 11 a.m. Saturday, Nov. 11.

Since August, owner TJ Sears and General Manager Katy Smith have been working on four window vignettes with different themes, one of which will feature a live Santa during its “Unwrap The Past” Holiday Open House Nov. 18 and 19. Four Flags Antiques will display pieces throughout the store on theme with the windows and will also feature vintage pole-mounted Christmas decorations that Niles used on its city street lights for decades. 

Sears and Smith hope the new displays will be a nostalgic throwback to days gone by when stores like Montgomery Ward were must-stop shops for holiday shopping and entertainment.

“We want to bring back a fun, nostalgic past that got people excited for the holidays,” Sears said. “You’d come to Niles to shop and look at decorations. A lot of that has gone away. The city is trying to revitalize Niles. and this is the perfect time to bring back nostalgic displays. We want to bring that nostalgia to Christmas, too.”