The name Santa might ring a bell, and I’m not talking about Christmas nor the jolly man with the red hat. By now, you’ve probably seen the colorful delivery trucks in your neighborhood or on your daily commute.

I spoke with Julie Chaump, business development manager for Santa and Lake Highlands neighbor of 23 years, about what makes the app stand out in the online shopping world. She’s held her role for about a month now. 

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Santa is an app-based store that comes to your door with select items from local and global suppliers. The selection varies each time the trucks are in your area. As of now, Santa is only available on the Apple App Store. The Dallas-Fort Worth-based startup delivers across the metroplex.

“Santa is unique in that we mostly move around suburban areas,” Chaump says. “We’ve expanded our reach to parts of Dallas and Fort Worth and we’re happy to connect with customers who think they may be out of our delivery zone. We want everyone to experience the magic of Santa.”

After creating an account on the app, you can request a personal shopper, view previous orders, or view the shop when new items are available. 

Shopping on the app is timed. Each time a personal shopper sends a text that Santa’s in the neighborhood, the items in the app have been updated. Customers then have 45 minutes to browse gifts, skincare, clothes and even pet accessories.

“If you need more time or if you missed your window, you can always text us back so we can provide you with more time or arrange another visit.”

Within minutes (to a few hours in rare cases), Santa is at your door. I tried it out and received a pop socket, hat and tote bag with my purchase of slippers.

Here are some other things I found out from Chaump:

What were you doing before this role?

For 14 years, I was the co-owner of a local restaurant franchise in town. I also co-owned a luxury travel consultancy for almost 28 years. This role is a great fit for me as it combines my deep experience in serving the local community and my expertise in curating amazing experiences for customers.

What do your role and weekly tasks as a business development manager include? 

In my role with Santa, I look to create meaningful partnership opportunities within communities, charitable organizations, and like minded local businesses. It’s so much fun to share a bit of joy through Santa and to inspire shoppers try out new products, especially those from brands made right here in our backyard.

Are the items sourced from local companies?

Our buying ethos is to curate an incredible assortment of items that surprise and delight, that maybe wouldn’t have been available to this market, while also providing instantaneous delivery of both global brands and local brands and makers. We’re thrilled to use Santa to provide a distribution channel for local brands to reach consumers who are looking for instantaneous delivery. A few of the local brands we’re working in the DFW metroplex include Ferrah, Laude the Label, Twelve Thirty Four, Jackson Vaughn, Mod + Jo, and Spirit of Salt.

How many items do the trucks hold?

Our inventory is constantly changing, and we curate each customer’s assortment to match their personal lifestyle. Depending on the size of products in that day’s shops, we could have hundreds of products or much more than that. We’ve got items as small as an eye cream, and as large as a child’s bicycle.

More info on Santa can be found here.