Willow Glen Resident

Business

Photograph by Vicki Thompson

Collectibles: Bob Rystad has joined his father, Dean, in the family business, Rystad's Limited Editions. February marks the shop's 40th anniversary. The shop will celebrate with 30 percent to 40 percent markdowns.

Rystad's celebrates 40 years in Willow Glen

By Mayra Flores De Marcotte

A stroll past the familiar storefront at 1013 Lincoln Ave. will have Willow Glen residents doing a double take.

The familiar blue and white Royal Copenhagen Christmas plates that adorned the Rystad's Limited Editions storefront for more than 30 years have been replaced with antique dolls and figurines.

"We wanted to show that we have collectibles as well," says general manager Bob Rystad.

Bob is store owner Dean Rystad's eldest son and has been helping his father run the business since April 2006.

"My dad just started to slow down, and his help left because of health issues or family obligations," Rystad says.

Bob Rystad's touch around the store is evident. He has changed the storefront's ornamentation. With the store's anniversary around the corner, Rystad has a few more surprises for the community.

This February marks the family's 40th anniversary. To celebrate, the store will hold a Valentine's Day sale through Feb. 14, and all the overstock items such as plates, Llardo figurines and dolls are 30 percent off and the M.I. Hummels are 40 percent off.

Bob Rystad worked in the family business on and off during his school years. When he needed extra money, he would pack boxes for his father. He attended trade shows and even toured the Royal Copenhagen factory in Denmark. Bob Rystad knew it was time to return to the family business when people began leaving the banking and lending company he worked for in droves.

"I though it was a good time to get out and get reacquainted with the family business and help my father out," he says; "but he's still very involved."

Dean Rystad, a former teacher, became an avid collector of the blue and white Christmas plates in the 1950s. As he tried to track down new plates, he traded and sold his duplicates. His efforts grew into a mail-order business by 1967.

"In 1978, my dad took a year off from teaching to open his first retail store," Rystad says.

The original location, at 1045-A Lincoln Ave., now May's Beauty Salon, was half the size of the current location.

"It was obvious from the beginning that his store was filling a niche," Rystad says. "He only went back to teaching three days before he came back to the store for good."

Rystad's became one of the first collectible stores in the South Bay, he says.

The family soon outgrew the small location and moved into its current site at 1013 Lincoln Ave. When the adjacent space became available in the late 1980s, the family expanded to fill both sides.

"Dean thought it would be good to have a gallery to complement the collectibles offered," Rystad says.

Now, the store's notable blue and white plates, along with its collectibles, live in one space while the other is used to display artwork by Thomas Kinkade and Red Skelton.

"It's a different store," says Susan Grover, a friend of the family, "but it's never changed. It's a wonderful business to be in."

Grover was in the collectibles business herself, and Dean Rystad was an important teacher.

"Knowledge is so important in this business," Grover says. "Without it, you can't thrive. I just want to pay tribute to Dean. He was a great teacher and mentor. I am thankful for the knowledge he has shared. We have all learned from him."

The elder Rystad's knowledge and willingness to work for his customers is what has kept him in business for the last 40 years, Bob Rystad says.

A recent example was when a customer came into the store with the intention of buying his grandmother a Christmas plate.

"But we had just sold the last one," Bob Rystad says, "so my dad asks the customer when his grandmother was born."

Quickly, the customer made a phone call and found out the date was 1922. Within minutes, Dean Rystad located a 1922 Christmas plate for the customer.

"His grandmother got a Christmas plate made the year she was born for Christmas instead," Bob Rystad says. "That's pretty unique."

Rystad's Collectibles is at 1013 Lincoln Ave., 408.279.1960.