Skip the mall — stuff your own teddy bear at WLB shop
Teddy bears galore now occupy former office supply store
BY SUE M. MORGAN
Staff Writer

PHOTOSBYSCOTTPILLINGstaff T.B.’s Stuff Your Own Teddy Bear has opened in West Long Branch. At right, a teddy bear is being stuffed at the store.

WEST LONG BRANCH — T.B. Bear, his “grandma” and hundreds of their friends have a new home on Locust Avenue.

After living in West End, Fair Haven, Red Bank and Shrewsbury, T.B. and his grandmother, a.k.a. Leslie Bear, owner of T.B.’s Stuff Your Own Teddy Bear store, have come back to their roots — that is, West Long Branch, where the perky shop owner grew up.

It’s also within shouting distance of Long Branch’s West End, where Bear first put out a shingle after hand-tracing, designing and stuffing T.B., the first of her 120 teddy bear creations, eight years ago.

But T.B.’s is more than just a bear market. It also sells teddy bear and doll clothing, crystal miniatures, blankets, bear-themed accessories such as pocketbooks, cellular telephone cases and children’s tea sets.

“Teddy bears and tea go together well,” said Bear, whose current shop, like its predecessors, offers teddy bear tea parties by special arrangement.

Even if you can’t find a bear that tickles your fancy, T.B.’s will let you pick out one you can stuff yourself.

Guided by store employee Kelly Bennett, adults and children can stuff their own teddies without traveling to the corporate-owned stores in the malls.

Such personalized service sets TB’s apart from mall and department stores, Bear said.

“It’s modeled after the teddy bear shops in England,” she said. “This is a store where people get to know who and what we are.”

Since May, Bear has occupied the storefront space at 219 Locust Ave., where Valenzano’s Office Equipment and Supplies thrived for almost 40 years before closing its walk-in retail business.

Ann Valenzano, the building owner, has been very accommodating, even arranging for a new front door, said Bear, a Long Branch resident.

Over the years and throughout the course of her moves, most recently from Route 35 in Shrewsbury, Bear herself created 120 teddy bears of various sizes.

Clad in a T-shirt, cargo shorts and athletic shoes, T.B., namesake of the business, was Bear’s first stuffed creation. Inside the shop, he rules as “The Boss.”

“I live in the world of bears,” she said.

Among her other bear creations on display are Hairy Cotter, who resembles the hero of J.K. Rowling’s popular books; Sonja, a figure skater; Remmy, to commemorate America’s spirit after Sept. 11; and Punky, sporting a black leather jacket, multiple piercings, and spiked hair of various psychedelic shades.

Punky was inspired by a youthful patron of a bar on Red Bank’s West Front Street, across from the space occupied by TB’s in 2002 and 2003.

Red Bank’s crowd-pleasing events such as KaBoom, the town’s annual Independence Day fireworks display, brought in a steady stream of customers, Bear recalled.

“Our best times were when anything was going on,” she said.

Proximity to Riverview Medical Center in Red Bank also boosted T.B.’s sales, but metered parking in the downtown business district ultimately squashed business, according to Bear.

“The parking became too big an issue,” she said.

While parking was readily available in the Shrewsbury location, vehicular accessibility from Route 35 on the heavily traveled stretch just north of The Grove was not, she said.

However, the teddy-stuffing machine that Bear brought in for children’s parties at that location proved to be a hit with the small fry.

But bears are not just for children. In fact, many of the designer bears crafted by well-known artists such as Mary Meyers, Irene Heckel, Barbara Ann Cunningham and the German manufacturer Hermann are tailored for adults, Bear explained.

“Those are not intended to be a child’s toy,” she said.

Even more well-known bears from Bearington and Edison-based Gund can be found inside T.B.’s shop, with counterparts made in England, Germany, Holland and Scotland, Bear noted.

“Teddy bears like to be together,” she said.” They live in a hug.”

Aside from the cute and cuddly bears, T.B.’s is selling “natural bears” that resemble lifelike models of animals such as grizzly bears and eagles.

An animal rights activist, Bear donates any merchandise she does not sell through her eBay business to the Monmouth County Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) in Eatontown.

Though much of its stock is geared toward collectors, T.B.’s offers a quality bear for any taste, including those of bargain-hunters, she pointed out.

“There’s always something on sale,” Bear said.

This fall, Bear hopes to start classes for those looking to custom design their own teddy bear creations.

Most of all, teddy bears, unlike flowers and candy, always stay around, she notes.

“To send a bear hug, you’re sending something that lasts forever,” Bear said.

TB’s is open Tuesdays through Fridays from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Saturdays from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Parking is available adjacent to the building.