Thanx for your interest in THE VILLAGE REGISTRY.

THE VILLAGE REGISTRY is the most current and accurate guide available for evaluating your collection. Use this information guide should you have to make a damage claim with your insurance compapy.

THE VILLAGE REGISTRY comes with -- 2 custom binders, the main book and seperation tabs. The book includes information about every village piece made since 1976. The book includes information about ALPINE VILLAGE, CHRISTMAS IN THE CITY, DICKENS' VILLAGE, NEW ENGLAND VILLAGE, NORTH POLE, SNOW VILLAGE, SNOW VILLAGE HALLOWEEN, SEASONS BAY and other SMALL VILLAGE COLLECTIONS. It also includes a secondary market section.

THE VILLAGE REGISTRY is also environmentally friendly. Instead of re-printing over 650 pages every year, you will only have to add the annual supplements. We will sell annual updates that will have all of the new pieces, secondary values, indexes, and custom-made pieces. We are estimating the supplements to cost approximately $17.00 each. We cannot predict what shipping or printing costs will be, but that is what we are quoted by the printer at this time.

THE VILLAGE REGISTRY is also the easiest guide to use. One custo-made binder can be used for what you currently collect, and the 2nd can be used for what other individuals may collect, or just for great reading. NO more loose or missing pages. You set up the book into any format that you would like. Organize the book by the year, by the villages you collect or by what your wish list is. There is no "right" way to do it...just like the village, it is your book!



HISTORY:

The owners worked part-time at a Christmas store in Boca Raton, FL, in the early 1980s. Their son Bill, who was only 12 at the time, began setting up train displays and "unknown villages" at their home so that friends and family could enjoy them during the holidays. After an 8 year hiatus from the industry, the Laughlins opened CHRISTMAS, ETC. in 1989. In the store were 2 Lionel train displays, but they declined to carry Dept. 56 villages when the store opened. Hindsight was 20/20! Bill did not collect "the villages" until 1993. He had a friend that worked at Macy's, and Bill received 40% off of all village purchases. That was unheard of back then! He spent nearly $6,000.00 in less than 2 weeks, and never looked back.

Nobody took the time to explain how the villages were separated into different village designs. He had a hodge-podge collection. Bill collected anything that was made for the Heritage Village collection. Bill read everything he could about the villages and finnally learned how the different villages were intended to be collected. Since Bill had become a "village addict" in such a short time, he realized that he could not keep up with the number of pieces being manufactured every year. In April of 1994, CHRISTMAS, ETC. by-passed the authorized dealer wating list and was approved to become a Department 56 dealer.

It was not until September of 1996 that he realized that some of the houses that he played with in the late 1970s were the original buildngs from 1976 - 1978. At that point 11 SNOW VILLAGE houses were put into a glass case for safe keeping.

While at their previous store location, a customer picked up Bill's Cathedral Church of St. Mark, not realizing that the light cord was still attached. He heard that "all too familiar ping." He thought the $1,400.00 piece that he had just purchased was broken. Thank goodness it was o.k. That led him to design, patent amd produce THE VILLAGE PROTECTOR to keep the metal prongs from touching any part of lit the houses. It was licensed by Department 56 from 2000 - 2004. THE VILLAGE PROTECTOR is still produced and sold on this web site and other dealer locations.

The Laughlins purchased a quaint building in West Palm Beach, FL, in 1997. The 6,800 sq ft building is still there and is open all year for people to enjoy averything unique about Christmas. In 2003, Bill purchased the complete collection of SNOW VILLAGE from a private collector, who also happened to be a client. Also in 2003, he built a 3,400 sq ft display in the second floor of Christmas, Etc., for everyone to view all year. It has 12 trains and a version of every village piece displayed since 1976.

WHEN YOU ARE IN TOWN, YOU ARE INVITED TO STOP BY AND LOSE YOURSELF IN A MINIATURE WONDERLAND! BUT, PLEASE CALL FIRST IN THE OFF-SEASON, BECAUSE CHRISTMAS, ETC., MAY BE CLOSED IF BILL GETS AN OFFER TO PLAY A ROUND OF GOLF!

You can contact us at:
www.thevillageregistry.com, or by phone at 561-805-7000.

We are located East of the Palm Beach Airport at:
1201 Allendale Road
West Palm Beach, FL 33405

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