Should You Sell Breathtaking Snow Globe? A Buyer's Department 56 Story

The week we had no snow globes

The Tuesday after Thanksgiving in 2024, I stood in our stockroom staring at a wall of empty shelves. Three days later, our town would hold its annual candlelight walk, and for a small gift shop, that one evening can make or break the season. I've handled 40-plus holiday rush orders in my 14 years as a buyer for an independent gift shop, but this one had no easy fix. The snow globe shipment we'd counted on was sitting in a freight terminal two states away, and nobody could say when it would move.

Every shop on the street was trimmed and stocked. We had a window full of paper snowflakes and nothing behind them. That's when the co-owner asked what we were going to do with the department 56 christmas village set that we kept in the back room. We'd used it as a photo prop and a display piece, but I always thought of Department 56 as a specialty brand, not something for our everyday customers. We had an empty wall, and we had that set.

Why I almost overlooked the Department 56 Christmas village set

We built the village on a long riser, added a few bottlebrush trees, and put a small sign next to it that said "ask about the pieces." I expected the sign to be ignored. Instead, people stopped. Not just people who were already collectors. People who wanted the little grocery store because it reminded them of their grandmother's porch. People who asked whether the bakery window really lit up. By noon the next day, we had two firm offers on display pieces we hadn't planned to sell.

The liveliest moment was a woman in her 30s who asked if we had the house from Home Alone. I showed her the display. She said she'd searched for "department 56 home alone village" the night before and figured it was out of reach. The little porch light on the model was on, and she just stood there smiling. That's when I called our distributor and bought the last carton of the Department 56 Home Alone village they had left.

The glass figurine surprise

I'll be honest: I thought the glass figurines would be the slow movers. We had a few ornaments from other lines that mostly gathered dust until the week before Christmas. But the Department 56 glass figurine display had a different rhythm. People bought them as hostess gifts. They bought them for coworkers who collect "all things with owls." One woman bought a pair of glass snowmen because her mother had a set from years ago that broke. She didn't want a replacement. She wanted something new that felt like the old one.

That's when I realized most buyers, including me, look at a glass figurine and see a risk of chipped inventory. We worried about breakage and missed what collectors actually do: they buy gifts for each other. The question everyone asks is "how much is it?" The question they should ask is "who will receive this?"

What our numbers actually showed

I don't have hard data on how many active Department 56 collectors exist nationwide. I can tell you what our store moved in one season. We ordered 52 pieces between the village set, the Home Alone village, snow globes, glass figurines, and a few home fragrance items from the same line. I want to say we sold 47 by Christmas Eve, but don't quote me on the exact carton count. What I remember clearly is that the shelf space paid for itself, and the leftovers sold in January to people replacing broken pieces.

That comes with a caveat. Our shop is a small independent store in a town that gets a lot of fall and winter tourism. We have customers who stroll in for a candle and leave with a village house under their arm. If you sell mainly online or to corporate clients, your mix and margins might be different. This worked for us because seasonal displays and home decor are our whole model. If that's not your model, the calculus is different.

So, should you sell breathtaking snow globe?

I get asked this by other gift shop buyers. "Should you sell breathtaking snow globe?" is now a real question we hear from store owners who see snowy domes on social media and wonder if they've missed a wave. My answer: yes, if the snow globe feels like a keepsake. No, if you're only chasing a trend. A snow globe doesn't sell because it's expensive. It sells because it holds a tiny scene you can shake awake whenever you want to remember something.

The same logic applies to the larger question of carrying Department 56. It earned its place in our store because it serves customers who want something made to last. It is not a guaranteed investment. We don't price it that way, and we don't talk about it that way. Anyone who tells you a collectible is a sure thing is leaving their lane. Our lane is gifts and home decor. We can speak to quality, to the way light catches the glass, and to the fact that people come back for pieces they saw in someone's home. We cannot promise future market value.

That boundary has become part of our buying philosophy. At first, I was tempted to make every Department 56 conversation about "collector value." It felt like the professional thing to do. But the more I talked to customers, the less they asked about resale and the more they asked about sentiment. Let me rephrase that: we don't sell these because they'll be worth more someday. We sell them because they mean more to someone.

This isn't a claim that every store should stock a full Department 56 Christmas village set. Some shops don't have the floor space or the customer base. That's okay. The better question is whether you know who your customer is shopping for. If the answer is "themselves, with a story attached," a quality snow globe or glass figurine might earn its spot. If the answer is "a quick impulse grab," there are easier products to stock.

The vendor who says "this isn't our strength, but here's who does it better" earns trust for everything else.

I've seen that from both sides of the counter. We now carry Department 56 in a small but permanent home decor section. It's not the biggest section in the store, and we don't pretend to be a full collectibles dealer. When someone asks if we can find a retired piece, we tell them honestly that our network is limited. Then we give them the name of a shop that specializes in that search. That has done more for our reputation than any "we can get anything" promise ever did.

So yes, I'd sell a breathtaking snow globe again. I'd also sell the Department 56 Home Alone village, the decorative pieces, and the glass figurines. But I'd do it because they fit our story, not because they fit a universal formula. If you're weighing the same decision, start with a small order, put it somewhere customers can touch it, and watch what happens. Your numbers will tell you what no national chart can: whether you're the shop they remember.