Vaillancourt Folk Art is a tourist destination known for its handcrafted Christmas collectibles, but before becoming a well-recognized brand, the company had much humbler beginnings starting off in the Vaillancourt family basement.
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Vaillancourt Folk Art is a tourist destination known for its handcrafted Christmas collectibles, but before becoming a well-recognized brand, the company had much humbler beginnings starting off in the Vaillancourt family basement. Decades ago, Gary Vaillancourt bought some Christmas antiques for his holiday-loving and classically trained artist wife, Judi. The gift inspired Judi to create her own chalkware Santa figurines, and what began as a craft show side job turned into a family business. In addition to the limited edition chalkware figurines Vaillancourt creates, the store sells German-made collectibles, hand-blown Polish glass ornaments, and hosts events throughout the year.
Why should people buy holiday collectibles from a small company compared to a big box store?
When we grew up, department stores were magical during Christmas time and decorated magnificently. Now, all the big box stores are all very generic and have the same pieces they sell, and they’ve lost the magic. When you walk into our store, there are 25 Christmas trees, ornaments from all over the world, lights, and music playing. You walk into our store, and it's like walking into Christmas from the 1950s.
Our prices are a little more expensive, but the fact it's an American-made product, or German-made, means we have high quality. Our store is like going back in time and walking into those original department stores. When's the last time you went into a store yourself that just mesmerized you?
You've been in business since 1984 and survived a lot of ups and downs. What is your secret for being successful after all these years?
The key to surviving is constant reinvention. You have to know when to reinvent yourself. For example, there was a time when our products were being copied by China at a reduced cost. So, we had to do something different and painted our figurines with finer detailing to make them stand out. You have to know the retail fads once popular during the Bicentennial are going to change, so we created events to make people want to come to the store.
The key to surviving over a period is a great product, a good reputation, and the ability to understand change.
What is your bestseller?
Our bestselling product tends to be our Starlight Santa. It's the one Santa we do every year with a limited run of 500, with proceeds going toward children-focused charities. We were fascinated when we saw one of our first Starlight Santas sell on eBay for $2,000.
How do you create that sense of holiday magic in your stores?
It's the lights, the displays, and the product. We moved into our 15,000-square-foot gift shop at Manchaug Mills in 1987. Now we have a Christmas museum, theater, and gallery where people can see our painters painting the products. We do family fun events like our open-air German market where visitors can shop and enjoy traditional German food, or our one-man Christmas Carol show performed in our theater by Charles Dickens’ great great-grandson.
Our goal as a company has been to create Christmas magic, to create reasons to come in, fall into the theme of Christmas, and extend that feeling out toward the community around us.
What is your proudest accomplishment at Vaillancourt Folk Art?
When Judi and I sit around Christmas morning with our son and our grandchildren, we stop and think about how many people around the country are opening presents, gifts of things we made. It is the ultimate compliment to have somebody give something you made to somebody they love.
We'll never be a multinational company, nor do we want to be. Someday down the road when a child looks at one of the pieces their grandparents bought, they will remember that it came from us, and that Christmas figurine will be passed on from generation to generation. I've seen three generations of customers already. It means a lot to create a memory and to create a tradition. It is a good feeling.
We're making a living doing what we love, but it's more important to us our pieces become part of a family's history and heritage.
This interview was conducted and edited for length and clarity by WBJ Correspondent Sloane M. Perron.
