The Power of a Bear Hug
June 2, 2009 | By: Wendy
Meet our new friend Noah…with his new friend – a yellow Vermont Teddy Bear. Noah is a little boy who recently lost his mom and was alone with her when she passed away unexpectedly. When we heard about Noah’s story, some members of our Bear Crew got together and sent him a yellow Vermont Teddy Bear. Why yellow? As a result of a visual impairment, Noah can’t see some colors all that well, but yellow is one of his best. This picture was sent to us by the principal at Noah’s school, along with a note that read, “This picture documents Noah’s first smile since his mom suddenly passed away.” Quite a testament to the power a simple Bear hug can have. We wish Noah and his family peace and happiness. They will continue to be in our thoughts.
Topics: Bear Bear | 9 Comments »
Welcoming New Bear Crew
June 1, 2009 | By: Wendy
We’re celebrating the first day of two new members to our Bear Crew! Elizabeth (Liz) Nye and Scott Wildrick arrived at The Vermont Teddy Bear Company this morning ready for their first day on the job and were greeted the way all new Bear Crew members are. Colorful sidewalk-chalk signs saying “Welcome, Scott!” and “Welcome, Liz!” were scribed on the walkway outside and Ted E. Bear (our mascot) waited just inside to give both of them big Bear hugs so they could say they’d gotten pawed on their first day. Scott (in the photo below with Ted and longtime VTB employee Lisa Martell) actually started working with us back in November as a seasonal employee in shipping, and now that he has been hired full time, he’ll be our Shipping Lead and will help train our seasonal workforce. Liz (pictured at left in the image above) joins VTB as our new Quality Assurance and Safety Compliance Associate. Welcome, Scott & Liz!
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Boldly Going Where No Bear Has Gone Before
May 11, 2009 | By: Wendy
In anticipation of the premiere of the new Star Trek movie on May 8th, we debuted our first-ever officially licensed Star Trek Vermont Teddy Bears, licensed from CBS Consumer Products. The handcrafted Captain Kirk and Spock Bears are now available for sale at our website: http://www.VermontTeddyBear.com and Star Trek’s online store: http://store.startrek.com/.
We began working with CBS Consumer Products on the special-edition Bears in July of 2008. “We’d been brainstorming ideas for potential licensing partnerships and Star Trek was always at the top of the list,” says Irene Steiner, Vermont Teddy Bear’s vice president of marketing. “The collaboration of our two brands made perfect sense and we’re certainly hoping that this new partnership will ‘live long and prosper.’”
In designing the Bears, meticulous attention was paid to the authenticity of outfits and Kirk and Spock characteristics. The outfits were based on the actual costumes William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy wore in the original series, and the Bears’ shirts were made to match those colors. We also altered our traditional Bear pattern to make Spock’s ears.
The 15″ Captain Kirk Bear wears black boots and pants and a gold shirt bearing the U.S.S. Enterprise command insignia. The 15″ Spock Bear features his recognizable Vulcan ears and wears black boots and pants with a blue shirt complete with the sciences insignia. In addition to the websites, both Bears are also available by calling a Vermont Teddy Bear Company Bear Counselor at 1-800-829-BEAR (Retail: $99.95/ea.).
Topics: Bear Bear | 7 Comments »
VTB Welcomes Milan Caha
May 11, 2009 | By: Wendy
The Bear Crew is happy to announce that Milan Caha (pronounced Sa-ha) has joined our executive team as VTB’s Vice President of IT and e-Commerce. After an extensive nationwide search, we located our top candidate…in Essex Junction, Vermont!!! Milan comes to us from GE Healthcare / IDX where he spent 15 years; his most recent position was as the IT Leader of Ecommerce for Health Information Exchange. This picture was taken of Milan on his first day (today). He poses with Ted (our mascot) and Elena Jensen (HR Director). Getting your picture taken with Ted on your first day is a tradition here at VTB, as is getting the resulting sticker that reads, “I got pawed on my first day.” Welcome, Milan!
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To Whom It May Concern
May 8, 2009 | By: Wendy
(A letter from a recent customer) I am writing to you regarding a very unique and special employee you have at Vermont Teddy Bear, Anthony DAndrea, who I believe went far beyond his duties. I tried placing an order for my pregnant sister and mom-to-be online today. The details are somewhat irrelevant, the important part is that I felt discouraged and frustrated by your company, and was charged for an order that was never even placed or processed, although it was debited out of my checking account immediately (a glitch in your company’s system/process). After many phone calls back to me, Anthony went well above and beyond to help me through a very difficult situation, and I wasn’t even very pleasant with him. I actually truly felt that Anthony genuinely cared about my dilemma and did everything I asked of him to correct it. I believe that this was a personal decision on his part to “own” this task and ultimately in his words “get me access to my money and make me happy,” happy enough to still want and intend to do business with V.T.B in the future, even praising their caring and sincerely genuine employees like Anthony that any company should be honored to be lucky enough to have on their team. In closing, Anthony’s professionalism, sincerity, passion, and gift of connecting with people and determining their needs, as well as following through with his word is what ultimately saved an unsatisfied client and even put your company in high regards. I will tell everyone Ii know how this was handled and how happy I am with the result and to order the beautiful, high quality specialty bears and products for all occasions, especially the important ones. I am absolutely confident that with employees like Anthony, any and all customers will ultimately be happy and even become loyal repeat customers (the exact kind any company would want).
Again, Anthony is a true hero in my eyes; this was such an important gift for an even more memorable, once in a lifetime event that can never be forgotten. My sister will be so thrilled (as well as myself) and that is what ultimately Anthony wanted and was absolutely successful in achieving. Kudos to a job well done.
Joe Amato
Topics: Bear Bear | 4 Comments »
“Looking to Score” Scores
May 5, 2009 | By: Wendy
Vermont Teddy Bear’s super fierce dodgeball team, “Looking to Score,” did just that! They brought their Vermont Teddy Bear best to a recent dodgeball tournament — organized by the Shelburne Athletic Club to raise money for the YMCA and Field House summer camp scholarship program. Their snazzy uniforms were custom made using recycled PJs from our sister company, PajamaGram.
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Wear Your PJs to Work Day!
April 17, 2009 | By: Wendy
In April of 2004, The PajamaGram Company (one of our sister companies) instated the first ever National “Wear Your Pajamas to Work” Day. Since then, other companies across the country have been enjoying this salute to “comfort and casual” every year on April 16th. After all, what better way to relax and de-stress a bit the day after tax day than by wearing your pajamas to work! Our own photos will be posted soon, but in the meantime, check out this website (http://nationalwearyourpajamastoworkday.com/) to see lots of fun folks taking advantage of wearing their PJs to work. Have any fun pics of your own? Send them to us! (If you didn’t wear your PJs to work today because you don’t have any you’d be caught dead wearing in public, perhaps it’s time for a new pair. Our sister company PajamaGram is a great place to stock up, and be sure to check out the Pajama Sale!)
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Great Stories –> Great Bears
April 10, 2009 | By: Wendy
Our Custom-Made Outfits program enables customers to have just about any outfit they can dream up created for one of our 15″, 22″, or 36″ Vermont Teddy Bears. We’ve had some interesting requests over the years and have made some pretty cool Bears, including a skydiving Bear with a hand-sewn parachute, a deep sea diver Bear with a hand-sculpted helmet, and quite a few bride Bears wearing exact replicas of actual wedding dresses. And we’ve gotten a couple of inquiries lately that have come with some pretty interesting stories.
The first was a request from a proud husband, Tim, whose wife, Deborah, was to be playing the lead role of “Ada” in the French World Premiere of the new opera “Die Feen” by Richard Wagner (performed at the Châtelet du Paris, March-April 2009). The Bear, whose handmade dress was a replica of Deborah’s costume, was quite a hit at the premiere, and Tim sent this message after the event in Paris: “The opera was sensational and so was Deborah. Everyone loved the Bear… it made a huge sensation! Thanks again for everything.”
The second story is from a woman named Stephanie who was having a special Bear designed for her best friend’s son. Stephanie’s words say it best, so here’s her story:
“My best friend’s son, Ben, was diagnosed with a sarcoma in his right leg two years ago. He had Chemo therapy for six months and then a knee replacement. After that he had four more months of Chemo. In December he was experiencing pain in the right leg near the knee replacement. It was the return of the cancer. His right leg was amputated, mid thigh, on March 4, 2009. I have known him since he was 5 years of age and he is now 25.
I started to think about what would give him comfort. I thought of a teddy bear. After all…Teddy Bears are all about comfort and hope. I contacted Vermont Teddy Bear asking for a bear with its right leg amputated mid thigh. I knew that they would never agree to this so I was willing to order the teddy bear and do the amputation myself. I wanted a teddy bear which looked like Ben. I was working with Thea and she was so helpful. Anything that I asked she said it could be done. Amputation was no problem. Then the question of whether the bear should have a prosthesis or not. I decided it should have one to show that life does go on. The other difficult decision…to have the prosthesis show or not. I decided on jeans which Ben could roll up or leave down.
The bear arrived and I couldn’t believe how fabulous he was. I loved every inch of him. His tee shirt, sneakers, jeans, sun glasses. So fabulous. It was difficult to give him away. There is magic in this teddy bear.”
Thank you, Tim and Stephanie, for sharing your stories with us. And thanks to all of you out there who keep our Custom-Made Outfit designers on their toes by sending in your requests for such creative and challenging Custom Bears.
Topics: Bear Bear | 7 Comments »
University Mall Mascot March
April 1, 2009 | By: Wendy
On Sunday, March 29th, The Vermont Teddy Bear Company’s very own Ted E. Bear joined 12 other area mascots for the University Mall’s annual Mascot March & Easter Egg Hunt, held at the mall in South Burlington, VT. The parade’s path led Ted through the mall towards the new 14-foot Easter Bunny tree house, where Mr. Bunny himself was available for photos. Ted gave out lots of smiles and big Bear hugs and was a popular favorite among all the kiddos who visited the mall that day. That comes as no surprise to us…after all…Vermont Teddy Bears hug like no bunny’s business.
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What’s the Bear Crew up to?
March 13, 2009 | By: Wendy
These two look like they’re up to something, don’t they? Brett from our Graphic Design team snapped this photo of Courtney (from our Admin. Department) and Dan (also from Graphic Design) who were working on a Vermont Teddy Bear display for an upcoming event. The first thing many of us noticed about this pic was how color coordinated Dan was with his hat and his shoelaces. Guess it’s a good thing he works in our design department…he does have an eye! And Courtney always looks stylish, especially when wearing a hat with Bear ears and holding an Easter Bear. In fact, Courtney knows a lot about current fashion trends, and has been known to hand out “fashion violations” to those members of the Bear Crew who show up to work wearing plaid shorts, mismatched pastel golf shirts, and high top sneakers. The other smiling mugs in this shot are a collection of our Easter Bears, including Hatch, Hare Bear, and our Happy Easter Bowtie Bear.
Topics: Bear Bear | No Comments »
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