His obsession started with his grandparents’ 48-inch Empire Santa. Then Richard Gierlich did something most collectors only dream about: he started making new blow molds.

By Curtiss Wayne Andrews

Most blow mold collectors spend their time looking backward.

We hunt for the Empire Santa that stood on somebody’s porch in 1974.

We search Marketplace for the General Foam snowman we remember from childhood.

We dig through old catalogs, inspect manufacturer markings, compare paint variations and occasionally drive an unreasonable distance because somebody posted three terrible photographs of what might be the piece we’ve been searching for.

Richard Gierlich did all of that.

Then he asked a considerably more complicated question:

What if I made one?

Not repaired one.

Not repainted one.

Not found one forgotten in somebody’s garage.

Actually made a new blow mold.

That question eventually became Richard’s Holiday Shop—and sent a lifelong collector into the decidedly less romantic world of product design, manufacturing, painting, molds, overseas production, freight, warehousing and preorders.

In other words, Richard discovered what happens before the blow mold reaches the lawn.

And his story begins exactly where so many blow mold stories begin.

At his grandparents’ house.

The Santa on the Porch

What first got you interested in blow molds?

Richard Gierlich: I first got interested in blow molds thanks to my grandparents. They had the Empire 48″ Santa that they would set on their porch every year, and as a kid, I always looked forward to seeing him.

My collection is pretty large now. I love both the new and old pieces, so I’m always looking for the newest stuff when it hits stores, but I also love finding that older piece on Marketplace or stumbling across a rare yard sale find.

That’s part of the fun of collecting for me—you never really know what you’re going to find.

That answer could have come from dozens of collectors I spoke with while researching The Glow That Won’t Go Out.

Different decoration.

Same story.

There was one at Grandma’s house.

Or Dad put one beside the driveway.

Or the neighbors had a Santa you could see glowing from the back seat of the family car.

We remember these things because Christmas decorations become landmarks in childhood.

Richard’s landmark was a four-foot Empire Santa.

And unlike many childhood decorations that disappear somewhere along the way, Richard knows exactly where that Santa is today.

The Blow Mold He Was Always Going to Inherit

Do you have a favorite piece?

Richard: Yes! My favorite is the 48″ Empire Santa I mentioned above.

Growing up, I always told my grandparents that I wanted him whenever they decided they no longer wanted him, or when the worst eventually happened.

My dad told me they originally purchased him from Sears when he was a baby, so that Santa has been part of our family for a long time.

When my grandfather passed away and my grandmother was cleaning out the house, she told me to take him home.

He stays inside now, and I love that my kids get to enjoy the same Santa that I grew up with.

Sadly, he did take a tumble inside one year and ended up with a crack in his hat, but I was able to fix him!

This is the part of collecting that price guides can’t measure.

What’s Richard’s Santa worth?

You could search completed sales.

Identify the variation.

Assess condition.

Calculate a market value.

And you’d still get the answer wrong.

Because Richard isn’t merely storing an Empire Santa.

He’s storing Christmas at his grandparents’ house.

Now his own children get to experience the same decoration.

Grandparents.

Son.

Great-grandchildren.

One plastic Santa connecting three generations.

That’s exactly why I called my book The Glow That Won’t Go Out.

Sometimes keeping the glow alive means finding a rare piece.

Sometimes it means repairing a crack in Santa’s hat.

Then Richard Decided to Make Blow Molds Himself

This is where Richard’s story takes an unusual turn.

Collectors routinely say:

“Why doesn’t somebody make this?” Like that Buc-ee blow mold we ranted about here.

Richard decided to find out.

The timing mattered.

General Foam Plastics had been one of the major names in American blow-mold manufacturing, and its products continued into the 2010s; collector documentation, for example, lists several General Foam Christmas-tree designs through 2017. 

When that era ended, Richard saw both a loss and an opportunity.

How did Richard’s Holiday Shop get into making new blow molds?

Richard: I’ve always had a love for the holiday industry.

While General Foam Plastics was still in business, myself and other collectors would always complain about seeing some of the same designs year after year.

So, when they closed, I eventually found a factory in China that was willing to work with me.

I had searched all over the U.S. first, but I couldn’t find anyone who could handle everything I needed, including the design work, painting, and molding.

The first design I came up with was a snowman, and he ended up being shipped to collectors all over the world.

That’s a sentence worth reading again.

A collector designed a snowman—and copies eventually went to collectors around the world.

Richard’s public product-development work also documents concepts including a 24-inch snowman, a companion Snowlady and a large Easter sign, while his more recent reflections describe just how much he learned about manufacturing, packaging, freight, storage, pricing and the difference between people liking an idea and actually purchasing it. 

Suddenly the guy searching yard sales was standing on the other side of the hobby.

He wasn’t asking:

“Who made this?”

He was asking:

“How do we make this?”

Making a Blow Mold Is the Easy Part—Except It Isn’t

There’s a romantic version of product creation that goes something like this:

Have idea.

Draw snowman.

Make snowman.

Sell snowman.

Christmas!

Richard discovered the actual version.

Design.

Engineering.

Molding.

Paint.

Minimum quantities.

Packaging.

Shipping.

Freight.

Warehousing.

Pricing.

Customer expectations.

And somewhere in the middle of all that, you presumably still need to sell the snowman.

Richard has written publicly that one attempted Grand Venture snowman revival taught him an important distinction: collectors may enthusiastically support an idea in principle but have different expectations when it’s time to purchase the finished product. 

That’s something most collectors never see.

We see the finished decoration sitting on a store shelf.

We don’t see the hundreds of decisions required to put it there.

Richard says he has also collaborated with designers Justin and Jerry on future concepts.

Are more Richard’s Holiday Shop designs coming?

Richard: I currently have an Easter sign planned, but due to warehouse and storage issues, I’ve had to pause the business until I can find a new place to operate out of.

While I know the preorder model can be annoying to some people, it’s the way I operate the business.

If I receive enough preorders, the mold goes into production.

If I don’t, everyone is refunded.

It allows me to create unique pieces without ordering a huge quantity and hoping they eventually sell.

That may sound less exciting than discovering a rare Santa at an estate sale.

But it’s part of the modern blow mold story.

The companies of the golden era could manufacture enormous production runs for national retailers.

A small independent creator faces a completely different economic equation.

Richard’s preorder approach effectively asks collectors to help prove demand before committing to a production run.

It’s not simply:

Do collectors want this?

It’s:

Do enough collectors want this enough to actually buy it?

Those are very different questions.

You have to give guys like Richard credit for having the courage and fortitude to really commit to making a product like a blow mold and seeing it to market. Right before COVID, I met with a 3D printer out of Costa Mesa, CA to inquire about the possibility of creating blow mold-style Christmas ornaments. While it was certainly a cool idea and something I was interested in, I couldn’t realistically pull the trigger at that time – not knowing the real manufacturing logistics related to overseas production or the real demand.

You can now buy a blow mold Christmas ornament manufactured by Mr. Christmas at Walmart for $5.97. Oh well.

Why Are Blow Molds Back?

If you’ve been collecting for any length of time, the resurgence is impossible to miss.

Vintage pieces have become desirable collectibles.

New blow molds are appearing in stores.

Long-dormant styles are being reconsidered.

Licensed characters have brought different buyers into the category. See my article about Taz.

And younger collectors are discovering decorations manufactured decades before they were born.

Richard thinks the explanation begins with one word.

Why have blow molds become popular again?

Richard: I think blow molds have become so popular again because of the nostalgia they bring.

For a lot of people, seeing one instantly reminds them of their childhood.

It might be an older collector who remembers their parents putting them out, a younger person who remembers seeing them at their grandparents’ house, or someone who remembers their family driving around looking at Christmas light displays.

I also think the fact that companies are releasing new designs every year has helped bring more people into the hobby.

We’re seeing characters and designs that collectors have wanted for years but that were never made before.

Then you have companies like Mr. Christmas that are actually listening to collectors and bringing back nostalgic pieces.

While those pieces aren’t the originals, they still capture that feeling—especially for people who can’t find or afford an original piece.

It gives another generation the chance to experience them and make their own memories.

There’s an important point there.

Nostalgia doesn’t necessarily require the original object.

Collectors understandably value originals.

But a newly manufactured decoration can become somebody else’s original.

The blow mold a parent buys today might be the one their child desperately searches for thirty years from now.

Tradition has to begin somewhere.

The Great Blow Mold Civil War: Vintage vs. New

Every collecting hobby eventually develops rules nobody actually agreed to.

What’s authentic?

What’s collectible?

What’s worth owning?

Richard has a refreshingly simple answer:

Who cares?

What advice would you give a new collector?

Richard: The biggest advice I can give is just to have fun!

Who cares if you love the new stuff, the old stuff, or both?

A lot of people get into the hobby because they see a new blow mold in a store that catches their attention, and that’s perfectly fine. Other collectors have been around for years and only collect vintage pieces.

One thing I’ve learned from being in the hobby for a long time is that opinions are always going to be strong.

Years ago, collectors complained that we kept seeing the same older designs and wanted something new.

Now that we’re getting new molds and designs every year, you’ll sometimes hear complaints about those too!

You can’t please everyone, and that’s okay.

Don’t let someone else’s opinion about what’s “collectible” determine what you enjoy. If you like it, collect it.

I couldn’t agree more.

A hobby stops being fun remarkably quickly when you’re collecting according to somebody else’s rules.

Want nothing but vintage Empire?

Wonderful.

Love new character molds?

Great.

Want a 1960s Poloron piece standing next to something you bought last Tuesday?

Plug them both in.

Christmas will survive.

Learn the History—But Don’t Turn It Into Homework

Richard does encourage new collectors to learn.

Manufacturers.

Designs.

Production history.

Differences between molds.

Those details add another layer to collecting.

That’s also one of the reasons I wrote The Glow That Won’t Go Out.

Knowing why a decoration looks the way it does, who manufactured it and where it fits into the industry’s history can transform an interesting piece of plastic into something much more meaningful.

But Richard makes another good point.

If researching every manufacturer’s catalog number doesn’t interest you?

That’s okay too.

You don’t need to pass a certification exam before you’re allowed to put a glowing Santa in your yard.

One Thing Every New Collector Should Worry About

There is one area where Richard gets considerably less relaxed.

Online scammers.

What should collectors watch for?

Richard: The biggest thing I would tell people to look out for is scammers.

If you’re buying online and something seems too good to be true, it probably is.

Don’t be afraid to ask questions, request additional pictures, or ask other collectors or group admins for their opinion before sending money.

I also recommend using PayPal Goods and Services when purchasing from someone you don’t know so that you have purchase protection if something goes wrong.

That’s particularly important when you’re hunting rare pieces.

Excitement makes people move quickly.

Scammers know it.

A photograph of a rare blow mold plus an improbably low price plus a seller insisting you need to send money right now should produce skepticism, not adrenaline.

The mold you’ve spent ten years searching for is exactly the one that can make you ignore warning signs.

Don’t.

There will always be another blow mold.

The Collector Who Crossed to the Other Side

The more I thought about Richard’s story, the more I realized why I wanted it included alongside the collector stories surrounding The Glow That Won’t Go Out.

Richard started exactly where many collectors start.

A decoration at his grandparents’ house.

He became a collector.

He learned the manufacturers.

He hunted vintage pieces.

He bought new ones.

And then he crossed an invisible line.

He became part of the process that creates the objects future collectors might someday hunt.

That’s remarkable when you think about it.

Somewhere, a Richard’s Holiday Shop snowman may be standing in a family’s Christmas display right now.

A child sees it every December.

Maybe that child loves it.

Maybe twenty-five years from now that person is scrolling through whatever replaces Facebook Marketplace, desperately trying to find another one.

And perhaps they’ll finally locate it.

They’ll plug it in.

It will glow.

And suddenly they’re eight years old again.

That’s how this works.

Richard inherited the Santa that once stood on his grandparents’ porch.

Now he’s helped create decorations that could become somebody else’s version of that Santa.

The technology changes.

The manufacturers change.

The collectors change.

But the reason these strange illuminated pieces of plastic matter?

That hasn’t changed very much at all.

Richard said it best:

Collect what makes you happy.

Because at the end of the day, that’s what the hobby should be about.

And every once in a while…

someone who loves collecting them decides to make one too.

The Story Continues in The Glow That Won’t Go Out

The Glow That Won’t Go Out: The Complete Collector’s Guide to Vintage Holiday Blow Molds by Curtiss Wayne Andrews explores the manufacturers, history, identification, restoration and collecting culture behind America’s glowing holiday decorations.

It’s also about something larger:

How one generation’s Christmas decorations become the next generation’s memories.

And Richard Gierlich’s journey—from his grandparents’ Empire Santa to creating new blow molds of his own—is a pretty wonderful example of why that glow isn’t going anywhere.

Go to his shop today and look around.