Welcome to Mostly Bears... The Blog

Greetings to all,

As many of our friends are aware, Mostly Bears has been faced with a mandatory move from our location on Broadway. The City of Tucson notified us at the beginning of 2012 of their plan to widen Broadway Blvd., with many buildings slated to be demolished for the project. Our building is in the demolition zone!

The decision we faced, given the state of the economy and the teddy bear business as a whole, was not an easy one. Every bear store owner and artist I know (those still in business) are hanging on & hoping for a better tomorrow. And I've no doubt they all have faced the same decision: should we close our doors, throw in the towel? Or should we go on and keep moving forward?

I'm happy to report that Mostly Bears is going on!

Although...

I must admit, even after we had finally decided to move into our warehouse location and keep Mostly Bears open, I still had many lingering doubts.

Until...

I got a notice a few days ago to pick up a package from the Post Office. It was a surprise package, my favorite kind! And it was from a truly lovely Tucson family who for many, many years even after they had stopped collecting Steiff and started collecting (i.e. having) children, would stop into the store at random times just to make a delivery of some small teddy bear related gift. A bunch of flowers in a teddy bear vase, a package of teddy bear stationery, a teddy bear garland... their simple act of kindness always, always brightened my day and OFTEN came at times when I needed it the most. If by some unseen connection, they knew just exactly when I needed a teddy bear "care package."

So, when I opened my wonderful surprise package and read the hand written, thoughtful note... it reminded me just why we do this.

Because the power of the teddy bear is HEALING. And because the love of the teddy bear is BOUNDLESS. And because the connection of the teddy bear is TIMELESS.

When I opened the store in 1998, a man stopped by one day and asked, quite incredulously, "HOW did you get from nursing to THIS? Taken aback, I answered the first thing that came out of my brain... "Teddy bears are an extension of nursing." He laughed. Then turned and walked out.

But, little did I know how true those words really were.

This "little bear store that could", Mostly Bears, IS moving forward... to our newly remodeled warehouse, where the power of the teddy bear will transform this space into a healing, peaceful, creative place, where you can still... and always... get FREE HUGS.
 
And yes, our local friends might have to take a cue from Winnie the Pooh ~ be a wee bit brave ~ when they come into the warehouse district to "play bears." And we probably won't be open after dark! But I guarantee your visit will be worth it. (And, we'll be sharing the building with Ron's newly opened retail business, The Survey Shop, so we will have some built-in bodyguards around...) 

I do hope you'll stop by for a visit and check us out. For now, our retail hours will remain Wednesdays from 11-4, during classes and by appointment. On Wednesdays, we will have bear making in our bright new bear making room. And, of course, we will still be available all the time "on the web".

And finally, a special THANK YOU to the wonderful, dear LeCompte family for the goodies and especially for reminding me (at a time I really needed to be reminded) just "why bears?"

Hugs from Tucson,

Trish