Teddy, Terri, and T.J.

What better for an inaugural post for this blog than a post about one of my favorite things in the whole wide world -- teddy bears!  

I should preface this by saying that I am a thrift junkie.  I LOVE to thrift.  I am not able to do it currently because of the lockdown in Ontario but usually I am in my local Value Village at least once a week.  And I also love to research my items when I thrift them, as you'll see in this post.

One thing I remember from my childhood are the Dave Nichol Insider's Report teddy bears.  I did not have these toys as a child (probably because I don't think there was a Loblaws supermarket in my area), but I knew others at school who did.  And one of the sections in Value Village that I love to check out are the stuffed animals.  So when I saw Teddy in the stuffed animal section several years ago, I knew that I had to have him.  About a month and a half ago, before the lockdown, I was lucky enough to thrift Teddy's wife, Terri!  However, I knew that there was a third bear in the set -- Teddy and Terri's infant, T.J.  This was an eBay find, as I didn't think I'd be lucky enough to thrift all three.  

Teddy was initially created by Dave Nichol -- Loblaws president, pitchman, and marketing guru -- for the holiday season in 1985.  Nichol was inspired to create the bear when he was asked to be the godparent to friends' newborn son and went shopping for a gift for the child.  A designer teddy bear in a sweater caught his eye, but he was astounded by the price.  So he sought to create a designer bear that didn't break the bank, and teamed up with the firm Robert Chenaux.  The bear originally sold for $19.99 Canadian, and the sweater on the bear is meant to mimic the Loblaws "no name" product packaging.     

Terri and T.J. came later.  I also discovered that Dave Nichol's wife was named Terri, so I'm assuming that is where Terri Bear got her name.  

Nichol passed away in 2013, but many of the products he created are still on supermarket shelves today -- for example, the aforementioned "no name" products, but additionally, Nichol was the "President" in "President's Choice."  

I simply love these bears.  I may not have had them as a child, but I cherish them now.  

Comments

  1. EvanAugust 7, 2021 at 11:05 AM

    Terri is my childhood teddy bear! I have two siblings and we each got one from this family when we were younger.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. LisaAugust 9, 2021 at 9:49 PM

      That is awesome! Thank you so much for sharing!

      Delete

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