The Fox's teddy bear windows have been a beloved Seattle holiday tradition for over 35 years. If you've ever wanted to know everything there is to know about them, read on!

The tradition of teddy bears in the Fox's windows predates what most of us know as the old Fox's Gem Shop location on 5th and Union. Prior to 1980, Fox's was in its original location (since 1912) across the street in the Skinner Building.

Initially, Fox's rented the bears and had them installed in the windows. Once the popularity of the bears took off, Joy and Chai started their own bear collection and Joy took over the job of lovingly creating the windows every December.

The collection now includes nearly 100 bears, as well as many pieces of Americana and pieces of local nostalgia, including 1962 World's Fair items. The bears have been collected from all over the globe. Zoey recalls a trip to London with her family when she was a teenager, and they stumbled across a teddy bear store in an arcade. The bears were so big they had to purchase an extra suitcase to take their new bears home in!

Other bears have been donated by locals who wanted their beloved but unused bears to have a good home. One particularly special bear, Teddy Baer, was donated by a local woman who was going into a rest home. The bear had been her one and only treasured Christmas gift in 1903. He still wears the outfit she made for him as a girl!

Our Rainier Square store had 10 windows. Several of them were classics that never changed from the beginning: cooking window, nurse window, sled window, beach window, fireplace/Santa window, sewing window, typewriter window. The newer windows that were developed later on were the wedding window, sushi window, and bathtub window. Which window was your favorite?

Our beautiful new store has just 2 windows, but you will see some of our most favorite bears making an appearance this year! If you want to see even more bears, you can head upstairs to the Teddy Bear Suite at the Fairmont Olympic Hotel.