A dealer's view of the Department 56 industry

It's been what seems like a year since my last blog post. Well, little Liam is now here, healthy and vibrant in our home. He is amazing. He is pretty strong, holding his head up and moving around quite a bit. Being a parent is the most wonderful thing that has ever happened to my wife and I. We look forward to sharing our love for Department 56 and Christmas with Liam.

It seems like I've missed quite a bit on the Yahoo! Department 56 boards.

One post of note that I wanted to share was Kristin from the Satin Button posted about the industry and a drop in demand:

"As a dealer, I can say that the drop in demand from having less
collectors lead to an overstock situation with dealers allowing many of
you to buy your village pieces at steep discounts. Selling stock at 1/2
off can't go on for long because dealers are losing money at those
prices - especially those who sell online and offer free shipping on top
of it!

Dept. 56 seems to have finally begun to address this problem by reducing
the supply. In the past, dealers had to order in minimum quantities of
4 of each piece. They started introducing so many new pieces that, if
you (the dealer) wanted to offer the full assortment of new pieces for
the year, you were looking at at least a $20,000 investment, and the
need for a large amount of storage space. The limited edition pieces
are "allocated" to dealers based on past buying history. They're
supposed to be considered "hard to get," but many dealers last year were
not purchasing as many pieces as they had been allocated. This left
enough stock available for any new dealer (who may not have been
allocated a piece) to get anything they wanted.

As you all know, Dept. 56 is introducing fewer new pieces this year. In
addition to that, they reduced the wholesale minimums from 4 of each
piece to 2 of each piece. From what I've heard from my reps, the
reduced minimums were hugely popular with dealers. Those of you who are
accustomed to waiting for the 1/2 off sales may end up missing out this
year. On the one hand, it will be disappointing to collectors who may
lose out on some savings. On the other hand, if the value of Dept. 56
is not maintained, and a higher percentage of the sales made at regular
price, dealers will continue to die out.

It will be interesting to watch and see how this new strategy affects
Dept. 56 values over the next couple of years. Reviving the retail
value may help improve your resale values as well."