Claus still holds court in downtown Richmond, first shifting to Thalhimers in 1990, then to the Sixth Street Marketplace after Thalhimers closed, and currently sees children at the Children's Museum of Richmond. The Santa Tea's event is held each holiday season. The real magic of the Miller & Rhoads' Santas was that they knew every child's name - greeting them by name as they walked up to him - a tradition that lives on today. Stories exist of parents who've driven their children to Richmond from as far away as Texas - or grandparents who've flown their grandchildren from Colorado just to see THE Santa. Postwar expansion Between 1956 and 1960, Miller & Rhoads began to expand, opening stores in downtown Lynchburg, Charlottesville and Roanoke. The stores were full-line, multi-level operations that were traditional in design and included many features popular at the Richmond store, like the Tea Room. By the late 1960s, the chain also added new suburban stores at Southside Plaza and The Shops at Willow Lawn in Richmond, Walnut Plaza in Petersburg, Newmarket Shopping Center in Newport News, Southern Shopping Center in Norfolk, Pembroke Mall in Virginia Beach, Barracks Road Shopping Center in Charlottesville, Pittman Plaza in Lynchburg and Roanoke-Salem Plaza in Roanoke. Generally, the first wave of Miller & Rhoads' suburban expansion was smaller specialty stores that focused on family apparel, primarily ladies' ready-to-wear. In 1967, Miller & Rhoads merged with Washington, DC-based department store Julius Garfinkel & Co and New York-based specialty chain Brooks Brothers to form Garfinckel, Brooks Brothers, Miller & Rhoads, Inc. The suburban age After successfully opening smaller suburban locations, Miller & Rhoads set its sights on large stores in regional malls. However, its first attempt at a larger store in the suburban Richmond market was thwarted because of a clause in a lease on an existing location. Because of a section in their lease at Southside Plaza that prevented additional locations within five miles of that shopping center, Miller & Rhoads was unable to be an anchor at Cloverleaf Mall, Richmond’s first large regional mall, which was only four miles away. In the mid-1970s, Miller & Rhoads opened three large stores in new shopping malls Regency Square and Chesterfield Mall in suburban Richmond and Newmarket North Mall in Hampton, with the latter relocating from a shopping center across the street. It also opened a number of specialty stores in Roanoke and