How the Vermont Teddy Bear Company turned a pushcart into a Shelburne factory
Photo: Tessa Bury, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
In the early 1980s, John Sortino started making teddy bears for his son and selling them from a pushcart on Burlington’s Church Street. He incorporated the Vermont Teddy Bear Company in 1983, and the bears’ jointed limbs and lifetime guarantee set them apart from cheap imported toys.
The company’s breakthrough was the Bear-Gram. Instead of selling bears only in stores, Vermont Teddy Bear sold them by phone, and later online, as a gift delivered in a box with a candy and a card, much like flowers. Radio advertising, especially on morning shows in big cities, made the idea work, and Valentine’s Day became its busiest season by far.
The Shelburne factory
In the 1990s the company moved to a 57-acre property on Route 7 in Shelburne, where it built a factory, retail store and visitor center. The factory tour, where guests watch workers cut, stuff and sew bears, became one of the region’s more popular family attractions.
Vermont Teddy Bear went public in the 1990s and was taken private in 2005. The company also expanded into other gift brands over the years.
Made in Vermont, with limits
The bears are designed and assembled in Shelburne, and the company has long emphasized that its signature bears are put together there. Some materials and other products are sourced elsewhere, which is typical for gift manufacturers.
For Shelburne, the factory is one of the anchors of the Route 7 tourism corridor along with Shelburne Museum and Shelburne Farms. Its seasonal hiring around Valentine’s Day and the winter holidays is a reliable bump for local job seekers.
