CHARLESTON — It’s not even October yet, but “Uncle Kyle’s Christmas Sweater Emporium” is already open on King Street.
The holiday-themed clothing store has filled the 10,000-square-foot former Talbots spot in the historic Woolworth Building with hundreds — if not thousands — of glittering, vintage and delightfully over-the-top holiday sweaters and onesies.
“You give it a moment for your eyes to adjust,” said owner Kyle Kelly, a New York native who plays the “uncle” in the shop’s name. “We don’t call it an ‘ugly sweater’ store — beauty and ugly are in the eye of the beholder.”
Kelly first launched the concept in his home state of New York after hunting for a sweater of his own at various thrift stores and spotting a niche. His first shops were inside traditional malls. After moving to Charleston, he shifted his model to a standalone on King Street.
For the past decade, Kelly’s opened seasonal storefronts along King Street, sometimes for a quick holiday run, other times for a full year depending on the lease.
A recent location was 494 King St. near Marion Square, now home to Koehler’s bathroom and kitchen fixture store and showroom. Kelly’s current lease at 261 King St. runs through the first of the year.
“People love to see the store open up, that feeling, that time of year,” Kelly said. “King Street has been good to me and it’s part of the tradition.”
Most sweaters are priced at $24, the same rate they have been for 10 years, with specialty pieces closer to $40. The lower price point is a departure from King Street’s increasingly upscale turn.
Kelly contracts buyers across the U.S. and Canada to keep the racks packed with vintage finds from the 1970s through the ’90s.
“I have a huge team that works for me who are the boots on the ground, going to estate sales, vintage markets,” he said. Kelly also procures Christmas sweaters through bulk after-season retail sales from department stores.
A smaller yet still robust section of the store is dedicated to vintage fan gear — bomber jackets and letterman coats from college and professional teams spanning all sports.
A late 2000s era gold Yankees jacket is displayed in the window, and Kelly holds a licensing agreement to put College of Charleston and The Citadel official logos on bomber jackets.
The shopping experience leans into nostalgia: a tube TV loops 1980s movies, strings of Christmas lights set the holiday mood and a giant chair invites shoppers to snap selfies.
The shop’s four-legged friend, Bandit — a Bernese mountain dog and certified Medical University of South Carolina therapy pet — happily looks on from his designated area.
During second Sunday on King Street Sept. 14, when Uncle Kyle’s Sweater Emporium made its debut at its current location, shoppers streamed in to browse the racks and say hello.
“It’s a fun store, he’s an insanely clever guy and his dog Bandit is an asset to the event as well as the community,” said Susan Lucas, founder of Second Sunday. “We’re so glad he popped up in that space.”
Whether it stays open well into 2026 or just through the new year, Uncle Kyle’s Sweater Emporium has officially marked start of the 2025 season.
“We’re exactly 14 weeks away from Christmas,” Kelly said.