Picture this, you turn into a driveway with big painted paw prints on it. To your right and left is nothing but land for as far as you can see. The place you are about to come upon is a place that you would not believe is a store, but instead every little kid's dream. There is a beautiful mural on the side of the barn with a Boyds Bear leaning up against a board fence and smoke from an airplane that says, "Welcome". As you walk towards the front of the barn there is a big silo that says, "Home of the World Famous Bears and Hares You Can Trust!" with a Boyds Bear painted like he, himself, painted the sign on the tall structure. Boyds teddy bears and figurines cover everything as you enter this wonderland! Sounds pretty awesome, huh?! Yeah, I thought so too! Let's continue on in our journey...
There was a space where they decorated Boyds Bears with the season. Whether it was Easter or Christmas, you were going to find a scene of some kind sitting there and delighting every kid who walked by in awe. Speaking of Christmas, Boyds Bear had a very special thing they did around the time you would see Ole' Saint Nicholas. I can't remember exactly if it was stairs or a ladder but you would climb up to tell Santa what you wanted for Christmas. To make the visit even more memorable, after you sat on Santa's lap you went down a tall slide and landed in a big pile of stuffed Boyds bears! It was so great and one of my favorite memories! As you exited an elevator to what was like the basement of Boyds, you could smell a wonderful aroma of cookies and pastries with a hint of coffee that came from the cafe.You also had escalators running all day long to take visitors to the next level of teddy bear world. There was a nursery, just like what you find in the maternity wing of hospitals, but each bassinet had a boy or girl teddy bear swaddled in a baby blanket waiting to be adopted. As you continued on you could hear screams, but not of terror- of excitement and fun! This enthusiasm came from no other place than the small jungle gym that was always filled with children. On another level, you had your Boyds Bear version of Build-A-Bear. You got to pick out what bear you wanted and filled it at different stations with certain colored beans that represent your bear's personality. At the end you picked out what outfit you wanted to put on your bear and get a picture with your brand new furry friend to take home. As you went up the different levels there was more bears and many different things to see in this gigantic barn. I can remember there being a restaurant you could sit down and enjoy a nice meal after your long but nice adventures. There were big windows with an incredible view. A huge field and a line of pine trees- not another building in sight!
There was a space where they decorated Boyds Bears with the season. Whether it was Easter or Christmas, you were going to find a scene of some kind sitting there and delighting every kid who walked by in awe. Speaking of Christmas, Boyds Bear had a very special thing they did around the time you would see Ole' Saint Nicholas. I can't remember exactly if it was stairs or a ladder but you would climb up to tell Santa what you wanted for Christmas. To make the visit even more memorable, after you sat on Santa's lap you went down a tall slide and landed in a big pile of stuffed Boyds bears! It was so great and one of my favorite memories! As you exited an elevator to what was like the basement of Boyds, you could smell a wonderful aroma of cookies and pastries with a hint of coffee that came from the cafe.You also had escalators running all day long to take visitors to the next level of teddy bear world. There was a nursery, just like what you find in the maternity wing of hospitals, but each bassinet had a boy or girl teddy bear swaddled in a baby blanket waiting to be adopted. As you continued on you could hear screams, but not of terror- of excitement and fun! This enthusiasm came from no other place than the small jungle gym that was always filled with children. On another level, you had your Boyds Bear version of Build-A-Bear. You got to pick out what bear you wanted and filled it at different stations with certain colored beans that represent your bear's personality. At the end you picked out what outfit you wanted to put on your bear and get a picture with your brand new furry friend to take home. As you went up the different levels there was more bears and many different things to see in this gigantic barn. I can remember there being a restaurant you could sit down and enjoy a nice meal after your long but nice adventures. There were big windows with an incredible view. A huge field and a line of pine trees- not another building in sight!
Boyds Bear Country opened its doors and it's big, furry arms to the public on September 27th, 2002. It was owned by, of course, Boyds Collection Ltd. Their goal was to build a place not only for kids, but for fellow Boyds collectors and adults too! To give you some statistics on how big this barn really was and how rural its location, the barn was 130,000 square feet and it sat on 123 acres in Gettysburg, PA.
Fun fact: The Boyds Bear Country in Gettysburg was actually not the only one of its kind. There was actually a twin Boyds Bear Country located in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee. It opened on November 5th, 2004 but closed its doors in 2007. The Tennessee location was 110,000 square feet. The reason why I am stoked about sharing that is because it shows there is so much more to our little towns. While we had Boyds Bear Country in Gettysburg, Boyds Bears was headquartered at one point in time in McSherrystown, PA near Hanover. And you thought this article was just about my memories of the store!?
As time went on Boyds Bear Country accomplished eight years of business before announcing they were going to be shutting down the barn for good. Everybody counted down the days till the world of bears faced it's ending. When you look up Boyds Bear on Wikipedia and read in the section about their stores it says, "The public reason for closing the stores was to put more "emphasis on supporting independent retailers versus our own superstores"." Is that the true reason or not? We will never know but that still didn't change the fact in January 2011 the doors were going to shut and never be opened again.
It was a big event about the closing. They started working on how they were going to shut everything down. In true Boyds fashion, they did it with class. The sad part about time and how long you wait to do things like writing about a place you were actually at is time itself did not forget these places but sometimes technology does. I cannot find any videos or pictures of the events they did as everything was coming to a close. I can remember articles popping up on my Facebook newsfeed regarding everything. Their mascots did a goodbye in front of the public. First, it was the main teddy bear's friends packing up their stuff, giving hugs to each other, and getting on a bus to leave. Then on one of the final days, the main teddy bear waved goodbye to everyone and walked through the open field away from the barn. In a matter of time, the outline of a furry bear disappeared into the line of pine trees symbolizing not only jobs being lost, but of an era ending. January 31st, 2011 was the very last day of Boyd's Bear Country. Later, an auction was held, everything was sold and the property was put up for sale.
A cafe never to make another cookie or brew another cup of coffee. A restaurant to not hold anymore conversations about the latest and greatest happenings in a family's life. A jungle gym to never hear another laugh. A Make-and-Take factory that will never see the smile on a kid's face again. A nursery that will never enjoy a child cuddling their newborn teddy bear. A driveway with fading paw prints of it's past and a chain to keep all public out from what used to be open to them. Many levels and rooms will never get to see the light of day till who knows when. Constantly being shown to rich investors and let down again and again. A beautiful barn will slowly decay as it's outside falls to pieces and it's inside gathers spiderwebs. A gorgeous field will be taken back by Mother Nature herself and left to wonder what it's next life will be.
There has been no more news regarding the former Boyds Bear Country but the barn looks abandoned while the fields are used for planting crops. People still do take visits to see how the building is holding up but you will always be stopped by the chain that keeps all visitors at a far distance as you look at the faded Boyd's Bear mural that was once bright and vibrant in color just like the store once was.
References:
https://www.fredericknewspost.com/archives/bear-heaven/article_fabe565c-a581-5ec2-9fbe-664f5b382521.html
https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2004/10/20/317324/65857/en/Second-Boyds-Collection-Ltd-Retail-Store-Means-Big-Business-to-Smoky-Mountain-Region.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boyds_Bears
http://www.gettysburgtimes.com/news/article_edcbec9c-0deb-11e0-8c15-001cc4c002e0.html
Exact Date for Boyds Bear's closing- https://www.theboydsbearsstore.com/apps/webstore/products/show/4009326
Want more Boyds Bear Country photos??? I made an album dedicated to all of Boyds Bear Country! It has photos both from this post and photos that didn't make the cut along with a video of the barn and how it looks now. Link is down below! Check it out!
No comments:
Post a Comment