ABOUT THE BEAR
SHOPPE

Let me tell you; I have not always been an Arctophile or a Collector of anything. Fate had other plans for me instead. In April of 2004, my husband David and I were visiting his family in New Zealand. We journeyed to the South Island to visit the city of Christchurch. We could see a street lined with different colored buildings behind “Cathedral Square” from the hotel window. We couldn’t resist taking a walk over to take pictures and look inside. The first shop was painted a light blue color and was filled with many items. We stepped inside and were overwhelmed by all of the teddy bears in this tiny shop. Standing, still in the doorway to take it all in, I pointed to a white mohair bear across from us wearing tiny circle spectacles and a woolen scarf; his hefty name tag said, “Winston” by New Zealand’s famous teddy bear artist, Robin Rive. David and I quietly laughed to ourselves since “Winston” does resemble my Dad just a tiny bit. The shop clerk looked at us and saw our interest and said, “that is by ‘our famous teddy bear artist Robin Rive.” David and I both said together with shock, ‘a teddy bear artist, they have such a thing’? Our shop clerk was delighted to tell us that there is such a thing and you have just seen for yourself. You could say that the teddy bear’s arrow struck my heart with full force and I was changed forever. The shopkeeper gave us a tour and explained the difference between the many different types of bears in his store. As you can imagine, Winston and two other of Robin’s teddy bears were bought there on the spot. I couldn’t wait to get back to Auckland and look her up in the phone book and call her. I did just that and left a message explaining who I was and what I had just discovered and asked if I could meet her. Robin Rive did call me back and invited me to come to her home and have lunch with her and her husband. It was one of the most wonderful days of my life. You can read more about the lunch in my Blog, ” A day with Robin Rive”. That was the beginning of what has led me here today. Collecting, educating myself, meeting other arctophiles, and learning how to make teddy bears, has turned all things ‘teddy bear’ into a passion and a true labor of love and ultimately the creating of The Bear Shoppe.