Month: November 2025

Why I’m living the Hallmark Channel lifestyle

I realize that I’m putting my Man Card at risk for this, but I’m coming out of the closet on a lifestyle choice. I, ahem, watch Hallmark Channel movies. A lot.

I’m not sure when this all started, but I’m thinking sometime last year. My wife had it on a lot, so I would just sit down and watch with her.

Then I began tuning in for myself even when she wasn’t around. Now, it’s a daily habit.

I know there’s a lot of Hallmark Channel hate out there, and for good reason. Most of stories are predictable, full of cliches like that of the up-and-coming big city girl who goes back to her quaint Vermont hometown for Christmas and meets up with her long-ago high school crush. He’s wearing flannel and is an incredible boy scout, helping old ladies cross the street and doing repairs free of charge for anyone and everyone.

And there’s more, like no sex. Ever! And Christmas seems to last year-round in Hallmark land. New England has a lock on locations. We see the same leading actors over and over.

Then why am I watching? Here’s what keeps me there:

First, we have a 6-year old in the house who watches with us a lot. He gets wrapped up in the Hallmark stories, and it seems pretty age-appropriate to me.  He loves the weekly Hallmark mystery episode.

But the big draw for me is the sense that, ultimately, each Hallmark Channel movie is positive and upbeat. I’m looking to escape the violence and horror that the daily news routinely brings. That’s why I can’t bring myself to follow true-crime podcasts or shows with antiheroes like Breaking Bad.

It all wears me out.

Now, over the past couple of years, I have escaped the Hallmark Channel enough to watch each season of Ted Lasso all the way through — twice. But, Ted Lasso may be the most positive and upbeat show I’ve ever seen, although not nearly as predictable — or innocent — as Hallmark movies.

I know I’m not alone. I have a friend I’ll call “Ed” who also watches a lot of Hallmark Channel, although he recently told me that he can’t get into this year’s crop of movies.

Your loss, Ed.

Christmas season launched on the Hallmark Channel the first of October, and we’ve still got dozens of new movies to watch. What’s not to like? It’s New England at Christmas. Snowfall. Town Square. Christmas tree lighting. Pushy, micro-managing boss back in NYC. Bed and breakfast. Beautiful girl. Plenty of flannel.

I’m always there, ready to hope against hope that the lovely young starlet and her handsome would-be beau can finally admit they have a thing for each other and share a Hallmark kiss in the final minute of each episode.

OK, there, I admitted it. I’m hooked on Hallmark. Whew, the weight is off my shoulders.

Wait, where is my Man Card?

BONUS CONTENT:

Favorite female Hallmark actor: Lacy Chabert

Favorite male Hallmark actor: Paul Campbell

Favorite episode: Three Wise Men and a Baby is a favorite. Plus an episode I can’t recall the title for, but revolves around a young woman/attorney who sets out to save her parents’ mom-and-pop restaurant against destruction by big city developers.

Theodora’s Elegante Wigs thrives amid generational ch-ch-changes

Linda (Faubus) Lewis is surrounded by wig-covered mannequin heads at her Theodora’s Elegante Wigs shop.

When I saw the ‘Theodora’s Wigs” sign as I was driving past in Fort Smith, Ark., this week, it took me back more than 55 years into an earlier life. So, I veered off Towson Ave., into the Phoenix retail center lot and parked outside the wig shot.

No, I wasn’t there to find some faux hair to cover my chrome dome.

Let me explain the back story.

In the fall of 1970, I was a senior at Southside High School in Fort Smith and worked at a small retail shop called Tom’s Levi’s in what was then known as the Phoenix Village Shopping Center. It was next door to Theodora’s Elegante Wigs.

Our shops were connected by a back hallway, so I became friends with Theodora’s owners, Thelma Faubus and her daughter, Linda. They were positive and upbeat and kind to this 17-year-old kid with little retail experience or maturity.

I worked at that shop until 1972, then went on to college and a newspaper career that eventually brought me to OKC. But my parents continued to live in Fort Smith, and that’s why I was in town this week, celebrating my widowed mom’s 92nd birthday.

Over the vast expanse of years, I’ve seen many changes to the Phoenix Village Shopping Center where Theodora’s is located and I once worked. One whole portion of the strip center across the parking lot from the wig shop was torn down. A grocery store on the west end of the center is long gone. The adjacent Phoenix Village Mall shut down and now is used as call center space by various companies. The center’s original developers died and ownership groups changed. The name of the strip center was shortened to just Phoenix Center.

Through it all, Theodora’s Elegante Wigs stayed in business, holding down the same tiny retail space it’s had since 1967.

That drew me in on this November day. When I parked and walked through Theodora’s door, there was Linda Faubus seated behind the counter. She is now Linda Lewis and she runs the shop as the sole owner in the wake of her mother’s passing a few years ago.

“Linda Faubus!” I said as I entered. “I’m Jim Stafford.”

She jumped up and gave me a big hug. I told her I was there to find out how the shop had stayed in business across all those years and amid changes the retail environment.

We were surrounded by mannequin heads covered by wigs of various colors and lengths. The shop looked almost exactly as I remembered from more than 50 years ago.  Along with her late mother, Linda has owned the shop since 1967.

“How have you kept this shop going for almost 60 years,” I asked. “You’ve outlasted virtually ever business that was here in the 1970s and outlived most of their owners. What’s your secret to the longevity of your business?”

“it’s from making a lot of friends, being good to people and quality and service,” Linda said. “They like to come in here.”

Many longtime, loyal customers were drawn to the shop by her mother, Thelma, she said. I could see that because Thelma was such an upbeat personality and treated everyone with what you might call Southern charm.

Thelma passed away in 2016 at the age of 97.

“Everybody loved her, and that’s how you build a business” Linda said. “She was my role model and was a very attractive lady. You have to build on customer service and how you treat people.”

I looked around the shop. I wanted to know how business is in 2025. Linda has modernized enough to have a presence on Facebook. 

“We’re busier now than we’ve ever been,” she said. “We have customers from all over, Oklahoma City, Little Rock, Fayetteville, Bella Vista. I can’t tell you how many people come in from Springdale.”

Who knew there was such a demand for wigs?

“There aren’t that many wig shops any more,” Linda said. “And people love to come in and try them on.”

The exterior to Theodora’s Elegante Wigs in Fort Smith, Ark.

Next door to the wig shop, in the space that Tom’s Levi’s once occupied, is a bridal shop.

“I can’t tell you have many businesses have been in that space,” she said. “A stereo shop, a business called The Gentry Shop and even a doll shop.”

With that, we said our goodbyes and I headed back to my car and on to OKC. One last glance at the Theodora’s Wigs sign as I drove away.

It seems that everything in this world has changed over the past 55 years, except Theodora’s Elegante Wigs. And that made me smile as I pulled back on to Towson Ave.

Not just a survivor, but a thriving business in a completely different generation.

Well done Linda (and Thelma).