From my first visit in the 1990s to the most recent in September 2019, the Vermont Teddy Bear of Shelburne, Vermont, remains a favorite place to visit.
The First Time
They say there is nothing like the “first time” and that is true of my first visit to the Teddy Bear store. It was in the early 1990s when I started my annual trips to Vermont to visit my husband’s family.
At that time, the store located in a too-small shop within a shopping center was overflowing with bears. I delighted in the many shelves stuffed with all shapes and sizes of bears; and surprised their heads, arms and legs swivel! Precious collectibles.
I grabbed my future mother-in-law with a couple of bears and had the timeless photo taken as shown above. Timeless because the shop relocated to a massive facility on several acres of land, and my mother-in-law died from cancer in 2016.
I visit the Vermont Teddy Bear home often, especially when friends accompany us to experience the beauty of a New England Fall.
My First Bear
The Vermont Teddy Bears are a bit pricey. However, they are exceptionally well made and come with a lifetime guarantee (more on that in a bit.) Still, I didn’t buy my first bear. In the early 2000s, my sister-in-law TRADED her limited edition PEACH colored Vermont Teddy Bear for a cute stuffed lamb I owned. The trade was a no brainer! That peach beach bear still graces my bed after all these years.
Somewhere along the line in later years I did purchase a small teddy bear. They were priced special, so I grabbed one. So I owned two Vermont teddy bears for a long, long time.
That changed in October due to a family tragedy.
The Memorial Bear
In late August, we received the devastating news that my husband’s youngest brother, Barry, died unexpectedly. We, being in California, could not fly out to Vermont for the viewing held just a few days later. Instead of flowers, I ordered a custom made Vermont Teddy Bear with a t-shirt that read “Barry ‘Bear’ Mallette” on the front and “Gone but never forgotten” on the back. Delivered with a stand, the bear stood among the flowers and mementos in the visiting room.
The burial for Barry took place on October 5th. My husband flew in for just a few days. Wanting to show yet another friend (Circe), the splendors of Vermont, we arrived in Vermont late September and stayed until October 9th.
The Vermont Teddy Bear Tour
Unlike the two previous visits with friends in prior years, Circe and I took the Vermont Teddy Bear factory tour. Just one hour long and full of bear puns, it was an intimate look at the thoughtful, tender loving care that goes into the making of the bears. We witnessed just THREE people sewing and stitching bears! So surprising to see that the “factory” is not a massive, impersonal manufacturing one.
Earlier I mentioned that the bears come with a lifetime guarantee. During the tour, we saw the area where one person receives damaged bears and does his level best to repair them. One bear was badly chewed up by a dog, another by a lawnmower! The lawnmower bear was irreparable thus replaced, but the one damaged by the dog was fixed and return to its rightful owners.
I resisted buying another bear, although the white and black spotted cow-themed bear was mighty tempting! I did, however, finally buy a Vermont Teddy Bear t-shirt!
My Third Bear!
Laurie, my sister-in-law ( the one who gave me the peach bear) surprised me with a COW BEAR! Her partner, Scott, won it in a raffle. Knowing how much I love cows and Vermont Teddy Bear, they decided to give it to me! Am I lucky or WHAT?
So now I am the happy owner of THREE Vermont Teddy Bears. The last, however, is probably the most precious given the circumstances of that particular visit to Vermont.
