The Village People

A new addiction is sweeping the country each Christmas. Its victims, if you can call them that, come from all walks of life, and they range from teens to seniors. And they have no intention of giving it up.

It’s called Snow Village.

To be fair, the members of Village Addicts Anonymous aren’t really addicts. The Encino-based club is just one of dozens of organizations around the country for those obsessed with collecting the vast line of handmade Christmas collectibles form Department 56, and Eden Prairie, Minn.- based craft maker that started a craze 20 years ago with its ceramic and porcelain miniature churches, houses and other buildings.

“It’s very easy to become addicted,” said Frank Collins, 67, of Reseda, who started collecting in 1990. “It’s very easy to go broke, too,” he laughs. “But it’s really a good investment.”

Department 56 makes several “villages” for enthusiasts to collect. Snow Village, the most popular, is a ceramic, hand-painted, snow-covered wintry town complete with a Starbucks coffeehouse, a cathedral and a police station with an adjacent doughnut shop.

The company introduces a handful of new pieces to each line every year, with prices ranging from about $30 to $175 for the largest the largest items. To make the hobby even more compelling, it also “retires” certain pieces periodically, thus driving up the value of the most prized items.

For example, a small Victorian lodge that sold for about $30 when it was introduced in 1985 now sells on the open market for around $3000, said Shirley Pascal, owner of the Gift Gallery in Northridge.

“I have one customer who sold three pieces and made enough to carpet her entire house,” said Pascal. “But most people collect because they want to hold onto pieces. It’s a wonderful new tradition.”