Department 56

The defining name in collectible lighted Christmas villages, established as a wholesale division of a Minneapolis florist in 1976 and now nearing its fiftieth year as an Enesco brand based in Eden Prairie, Minnesota.

Founded

1976

Headquarters

Eden Prairie, Minnesota

Founder

Edward “Ed” Bazinet (at Bachman's)

Ownership

Enesco LLC (acquired 2009)

Parent

Ad Populum (since January 2023)

Categories

Lighted villages, ornaments, figurines

Core villages

Snow Village, Dickens', Christmas in the City, North Pole, Halloween

Licensed lines

10+ including Harry Potter, Disney, Peanuts, The Grinch

The story

The name comes from a numbering system. Bachman's, a Minneapolis florist founded in 1885, used numbers to identify each of its internal departments. The wholesale gift imports division was Department 56. In 1976, Bachman's employee Ed Bazinet convinced the family to invest $50,000 in a new product line for that division — six hand-painted ceramic buildings called The Original Snow Village. They were a hit. Department 56 was spun off as a $15 million subsidiary in 1984 with Bazinet as president, a role he held until his retirement in 1997.

Ownership has changed several times in the decades since. The company merged with Lenox in 2005, the combined Lenox Group filed for bankruptcy in 2009, and Enesco acquired Department 56 from Lenox the same year. Enesco itself was acquired by private equity firm Tinicum Capital Partners in 2007, by Balmoral Funds in 2015, and most recently by Ad Populum in January 2023. Through all of it, the Department 56 brand and product strategy have continued largely unchanged from Eden Prairie, Minnesota.

What they make

The flagship product is the lighted Christmas village — ceramic and cast-stone buildings, designed in series, that retailers and collectors arrange into elaborate seasonal scenes. Four core villages anchor the line: The Original Snow Village (American small-town, since 1976), Dickens' Village (Victorian England, since 1984), Christmas in the City (1930s-40s urban, since 1987), and North Pole Series (Santa's workshop, since 1990). The Halloween-themed Snow Village Halloween launched in 1998.

Beyond the core villages, Department 56 produces ornaments, figurines, and seasonal accessories, plus an extensive licensed-product program. Current licenses include Harry Potter, The Nightmare Before Christmas, Disney (with its own Mickey village), National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation, The Grinch, Peanuts, A Christmas Story, Ghostbusters, Game of Thrones, and Elvira. New villages introduced more recently include First Frost and Holiday In The Woods (2016) and a Williamsburg series.

How they sell

Distribution is wholesale through specialty retailers — gift shops, Christmas stores, garden centers, and seasonal department-store sections. Department 56 also sells direct-to-consumer through department56.com and through national retail chains and Amazon. The company maintains an active collector-club program; the National Council of Fifty Six Clubs serves as the umbrella organization for more than 60 regional Department 56 collector clubs across the U.S. and Canada.

The Enesco wholesale platform handles trade-account ordering. Independent retailers can also visit the Department 56 Gallery & Gift Shop on the grounds of Graceland in Memphis, which displays more than 1,500 lighted villages — the largest known display of the product anywhere.

Why they're worth knowing

For Christmas-shop and gift-store retailers, Department 56 is a category-defining brand that simply cannot be substituted. The collector audience is loyal, multi-generational, and motivated by completion — once a customer commits to a village series, they generally come back annually for the new pieces. That's a structural advantage few gift categories offer.

The licensing program (Harry Potter especially) has expanded the customer base meaningfully in the last decade, drawing in younger collectors who didn't grow up with the original Snow Village. For a buyer planning a holiday department, the Department 56 line gives both a heritage anchor and a contemporary growth driver in a single vendor relationship.

Where to find them

• Consumer site: department56.com
• Wholesale (via Enesco): enescobusiness.com/department-56
• Headquarters: Eden Prairie, Minnesota
• Trade show presence: Atlanta Market, Las Vegas Market, NY NOW, Dallas Total Home & Gift
• Notable display: Department 56 Gallery at Graceland, Memphis — 1,500+ lit villages

Profile based on public information from Department 56's official sites, the Enesco corporate site, Wikipedia, and the Journal of Antiques. Updated September 2025. Return to all profiles →