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"Boyds Bears, bears and hares you can
trust!"
We started collecting Boyds Bears in 1996.
Especially bearstones; little sculpture of bears,
expressing all kinds of occasions & moods.
Although we have plush also. Of course, how can
you not love these bears… |
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In
2004 we’ve visited Boyds Bear Country, the
world's most humongous Teddy Bear store, located
in Gettysburg, PA. The 120,000 square foot
PA-style bank barn is home to some 70,000 Boyds
Bears, hares, cats, dogs - everything Boyds has
up for grabs all under one roof!
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It was a one-of-a-kind shopping adventure, free
museum, hands-on activities and a whole floor
dedicated to the heartiest of appetites.
In the meantime we have a nice Boyds Bears
collection.
Here’s a little history about the man who
started it all: Gary Lowenthal.
In 2000 I (Sally) was fortunate and I met Gary
at a fair in Atlanta.
Gary Lowenthal - "The Head Bean" Hisself
Having touched the hearts and minds of all kinds
of people with his actions, manners and words
that were outrageous, unbelievably impossible to
believe and absolutely wonderful, Gary Lowenthal
aka The Head Bean, established himself as THE
connoisseur of fun, fun and more fun.
Gary grew up in Manhattan and then headed off to
Alfred University in upstate New York to get a
degree, in of all things, biology. After
graduation, he joined the Peace Corps and with
his personality and smarts, was shipped off to
the island of Fiji to teach the islanders all
sorts of lessons. When he returned, he went
directly to Bloomingdales in Manhattan where he
spent the next seven year honing his skills in
purchasing, design and merchandising.
In 1979, Gary and his wife, Justina, found
themselves, like many folks, longing for open
spaces and a more peaceful way of life for their
family. They moved to Boyds, Maryland and now
you know the secret as to how the company came
to be named Boyds Bears. Gary’s lifelong dream
was to own an antique shop and so they did.
Before long, his heart’s desire - creating
hard-carved duck decoys and Gnome Homes
overshadowed the antique business. They then
moved on to Pennsylvania where he started
working to create brand new plush bears that had
personality and Boyds Bears were born then and
there!
The demand for plush grew and grew and one day,
Gary decided to experiment with an offshoot of
the plush bears and eventually developed the new
line called the Boyds Bearstone collection.
Gary’s clever use of words and using famous and
infamous poetry to describe each piece made for
an instant hit.
On behalf of The Boyds Collection Ltd, Gary
Lowenthal has been honored with a number of
impressive awards through the years. He was
named the “Central Pennsylvania Entrepreneur of
the Year and“Artist of the Year” from the
National Association of Limited Edition Dealers
(NALED). The company earned The Collectors’
Choice Award for “Best Manufactured Teddy Bears”as
well as several others from NALED, Golden Teddy
and TOBY awards.
Up to 2000, The Head Bean, Hisself, spent long
hours at collectors’ shows parading in front of
and providing loads of fun and entertainment as
he got to know the folks who buy and enjoy Boyds
Bears products. He even surprised some of them
when he suggested maybe they should buy fewer
pieces and focus more attention on family and
friends. Nobody knows if anybody took his advice
but it sure made collectors and visitors feel
that this was a wonderful product produced by a
wonderful man.
A number of years ago, the Boyds Collection, Ltd
was so successful that the major interest was
acquired by the Wall Street firm of Kohlberg,
Kravis and Roberts (KKR). However, Gary still
retains personal control over the quality of all
his company’s products, stepping in to change
colors or production methods if a piece “just
ain’t right”.
Through it all, Gary has remained the same
down-to-earth, friendly, family oriented and
slightly off-the-wall man he always was. His
wife, Justina and children, Bailey and Matthew
and Indy, the family dog, come first for Gary.
In the Fall of 2000, The Head Bean, Hisself,
retired from all public appearances to spend
quality time with his family.
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Visit the official website >>
Visit the official Belgium website >>
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