Father-Husband-Marketer-Geek

September 14 - Kristmas Kringle - meet artist Tom Bates - Fond du Lac, WI September 15 - Kris Kringl - meet artist Greg Beilke - Leavenworth, WA September 15 - Milaeger's - meet artist Tom Bates - Racine, WI Check out the stores by clicking on the links above. Each store has been added to our Google Map of Recommended Department 56 Shops . You can use the map to find directions and map out a cross-country trek!

I belong to the Yahoo! Group for Department 56. It's a great group of knowledgeable villagers. I posted the following question to the group: "What are the best local shops in your state?" I was hoping to get some good answers that I could then post about, and I wasn't disappointed. The following are some of the excerpts and I will eventually post about each of their nominated shops: "I'm in New Jersey near Cherry Hill but I don't care for the shops around here. I love Amato's Garden Center in Monmouth Junction.it's about an hour but a nice drive." "Our favorite shop in the San Francisco Bay Area. The Presence Gift Shop is on 422 Hartz Avenue in Danville, California . The owners are Kit and Debbie. They carry the full line of D56 Villages" "The Village Shoppes in New Carlisle, Indiana , at 129 E. Michigan St. has 27,000 sq. ft. of accessories, furniture, gifts, and collectibles. They carry the full line of D56. Just 20 minute...