At 20, Adam and Eve celebrates with Festival of Carols

As part of activities to mark it’s 20th anniversary as a leading retail outlets in Lagos, the management of Adam & Eve in GRA, Ikeja, Lagos, will tomorrow host it’s customers and well-wishers to a special Festival of Carol. The event, which is coming after The Content art exhibition hosted by the outlet, will also mark the official opening of its Christmas Store, which offers varieties of yuletide decorations and gift items.

Speaking at a media briefing held recently in Lagos to herald the carol, the founder of Adam & Eve Mrs Modupe Ogunlesi said the event is a form saying ‘Thank You’ to their loyal customers, who have supported the business in the last 20 years, as well as celebrate the essence of Christmas.

“People may say ‘Festival of Carols in November,’ but in the past, we’ve actually had it in October. For us, it means that from now on, our Christmas room is open. If we hadn’t had the art exhibition in October, we probably would have had the carols the last weekend of October. Now, this is our 20th year, so we are making a little big noise about it. I can tell you that 20 years in the retail industry in Nigeria has not been an easy walk,” she said.

A chartered Accountant and entrepreneur extraordinaire, Ogunlesi informed that the carols Carol would follow the format of the Kings College of Cambridge Christmas Carols, which is Nine Lessons that go through the whole miracle of Christmas.

“So, you have the Nine Lessons, and then a proper priest reads the Ninth Lesson and delivers a sermon, which is the Christmas message. In previous years, when we finish, we have dinner; it’s a sort of thank you to my loyal customers. This year, I’m looking at a shorter version of Nine Lessons of Christmas; we are doing Six Lessons instead. I’ve got a nice lineup of readers; I pick different readers for each year. Last year, it was about females, who have exceled in their fields. But this year, I’m having a mix to reflect that we are 20,” she said.

Describing Christmas as a season of hope and new beginning, she said, “the message of Christmas is like a new beginning; you don’t have to be a Christian to celebrate. It’s a time that you need to look back at past mistakes, but don’t worry about them because, a new year is coming.”

Growing from a humble beginning in a store measuring about 15 square feet in 1997 to a sprawling structure sitting on about an acre of land, Adam & Eve at 20 has been a success story that tells the story of hardwork. The store consists of several departments – Kitchen, Dinning, Bedroom, Leather, Gift, Children, Outdoor, and Living. A walk through the entire store could take upwards of an hour due to the abundance of quality items that engage the attention – exquisite dinner sets and uniquely crafted cutlery that transform a meal into an event; luxuriant Persian rugs; rich leather cases and accessories; multitudes of exquisite décor pieces and the list goes on and on.