Worthington's Holiday Season Runs the Length of High Street This Year

At 661 N. High St., the room that used to be a gym is now a bookstore with a coffee bar downstairs and couches upstairs. The beans come from Florin Coffee in Clintonville and the beer from Zaftig and Wolf's Ridge Brewing. The bakery case holds treats from Worthington's own The Little Dot and Mrs Goodman's, according to Columbus Underground's report on The Whispering Page Bookstore, which opened September 3. Sisters Ashley and Devin McCoy own the shop. Upstairs there is a Book Club Room for up to 10 people and a children's section in the back corner.

Farther north, at 7227 N. High St., the Worthington Farmers Market moves indoors to The Shops at Worthington Place for the winter. That property has just been put on the market.

Between those two addresses sits most of what Worthington does from early November to late December. This year the two ends of High Street are headed in different directions. Old Worthington has added storefronts in 2026. The north end has lost tenants, and its long-discussed redevelopment is now in question. Your holiday weekends will take you to both.

Old Worthington added storefronts in 2026

The Whispering Page wasn't the only new bookstore on High Street this year. NBC4 reported in September that Celestielle Bookstore, another independent shop, opened at 677 High St. in May. That puts two new bookshops a few doors apart in the historic district, both open in time for the first holiday season either has worked.

Off the main strip, El Burrito Bowl opened in early September at 455 E. Wilson Bridge Rd., near the Huntley Road intersection. Columbus Underground listed its hours as Monday through Saturday, 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. That stretch of Wilson Bridge is also home to the Worthington Community Center, which hosts the Holiday Craft Fair on a Sunday, the one day El Burrito Bowl's listed hours have it closed.

The new shops join a group of established ones that Experience Worthington's retail directory lists along High Street and its side streets:

• Birch, a clothing boutique at 689 High St.
• Fritzy Jacobs at 635 N. High St.
• House Wine at 644 High St.
• Worthington Candle Works at 646 High St.
• Ride Home, a bike shop and coffee shop, at 650 High St.
• Worthington Jewelers at 692 High St.
• Shift Studios at 693 High St.
• Sew to Speak at 752 High St.
• Branch Line Leather at 39 W. New England Ave.
• The Shop at Old Rectory at 50 W. New England Ave.

For dinner, the Experience Worthington dining directory lists Chapala Mexican Grill at 530 High St., Everest Cuisine at 652 High St., Joya's at 657 High St. and Kittie's at 693 High St. The directory pages aren't dated, so check a shop's own hours before you build an evening around it.

The calendar, in order

Every major Old Worthington event this season is set on or around the Village Green. That gives the new storefronts more evening foot traffic in their first two months of holidays than most businesses get all year.

1. Holidays on High Sip & Shop, Thursday, November 5, 6 to 9 p.m. Old Worthington merchants stay open late, with sidewalk vendors along High Street. It falls one week after this post goes up and is the first late-hours night of the season.
2. Indoor Worthington Farmers Market opens, Saturday, November 7, 9 a.m. to noon, at The Shops at Worthington Place.
3. Worthington Holiday Craft Fair, Sunday, November 22, noon to 4 p.m., at the Worthington Community Center, 345 E. Wilson Bridge Road. Experience Worthington's event listing says more than 70 local artists, makers, crafters and small businesses take part.
4. Holiday Open House, Sunday, November 29, starting at noon, in Old Worthington. The listing includes horse-drawn carriage rides, train rides, live music and a photo opportunity with Santa. The City of Worthington's event page gives noon to 5 p.m. The Experience Worthington listing header shows 6 p.m., so confirm the closing time before you go.
5. Tree Illumination, Sunday, November 29, 5:30 p.m., on the southeast Village Green at SR 161 and High Street. The City lists activities on the green starting at 5 p.m.
6. Illuminated Shopping, Wednesday, December 2, 6 to 9 p.m., in Old Worthington, with retailer promotions and sidewalk sales.
7. Wreaths Across America, Saturday, December 19, 11 to 11:45 a.m., hosted by the Worthington Chapter DAR at Worthington Presbyterian Church, 773 High St. It runs the same morning as an indoor market, so you can do both.

The Sunday after Thanksgiving is the longest stretch of the season. Carriage rides and Santa photos fill the afternoon, the Village Green activities begin around 5, and the tree is lit at 5:30. If you want to sit down between the open house and the tree lighting, The Whispering Page's Sunday hours were 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. when Columbus Underground reported them in September. Celestielle and the Whispering Page sit almost side by side at 677 and 661 High St., so a book-gift stop on either late-shopping night takes very little walking.

Saturday mornings at 7227 N. High St.

The Worthington Farmers Market spends May through October outdoors in the Old Worthington Historic District. From November through April it moves to The Shops at Worthington Place, the former Worthington Mall, on Saturdays from 9 a.m. to noon. According to the market organization, its vendors usually carry seasonal produce, cheeses, jams and jellies, honey, maple syrup, meat, eggs, flowers, herbs, plants, soaps and prepared foods.

Two dates differ depending on which calendar you check. The City's online calendar shows markets on November 28 and December 26. The market's own page lists both as closed, along with January 2. The market runs its own schedule, so plan around its page. That means no market the Saturday after Thanksgiving or the Saturday after Christmas.

The building the market winters in is changing

The north end of High Street has had a harder year than the historic district. Pies & Pints at 7227 N. High St., the mall's own address, closed December 30, 2025, NBC4 reported. Just south, Maple Street Biscuit Co. at 7105 N. High St. shut down the week of July 20, 2026, according to NBC4.

Then, at the end of September, Columbus Business First reported that Direct Retail Partners had listed the mall site for $25 million and that the listing puts the long-planned redevelopment in question. For a baseline, Columbus Underground reported in 2020 that Direct Retail Partners bought the property in December 2019 for just under $20 million.

The plan that may now be on hold was called High North. The 2020 concept described up to 250,000 square feet of office space built in phases, smaller commercial buildings, and either a hotel or apartments, with one eastern wing of the mall kept in place. By April 2021, Shopping Center Business reported that the approved first phase would be a 125,000-square-foot Class A office building over structured parking with a public courtyard. Panera Bread, First Watch, Pies & Pints and Kroger were expected to stay. Those plans date from 2020 and 2021. The September listing is the most recent public development on the site.

For this winter, the market's posted indoor schedule still runs Saturdays through April at 7227 N. High St. Where it winters after that depends on what happens to the property, so it's worth checking the market's page as spring approaches.

If you're planning to sell in the spring, these weeks are a good time to walk your part of High Street with a buyer's eye, from the new bookstores near the Village Green to the north end where the mall property is listed for sale. If you'd like to talk through what this season's changes mean for your own plans, The Threshold Collective is happy to sit down over coffee on High Street. Get in Touch Now.