With the yuletide season following hard upon Halloween, it should come as no surprise that commercial Christmas decorating is a $6 billion-a-year industry albeit one fragmented by region, with key players in each, said Dan Casterella.
He should know. If Santa Claus has many helpers, Casterella is among the chief. As CEO of American Christmas, he oversees a Mount Vernon-based company that creates, manufactures, installs, removes, refurbishes and stores holiday displays for malls, stores, hotels and office buildings, including some of the most iconic spaces in New York City. Think Cartier, Macy’s, Saks Fifth Avenue, Rockefeller Center, Radio City Music Hall “ the kinds of places we see in our minds when we think of Christmas in New York.
Founded in the Bronx in 1968 by Marvin A. Schwam as an offshoot of his artificial plants and flowers business and subsequently run by son Frederic, an Armonk resident, American Christmas has not been the type of company to rest on its ornamented laurels. In 2017 it was sold to MK Illumination USA, making MK the largest provider of festive lighting in the world. Four years later, American Christmas opened its first retail store on its site. And this year it has added a first-ever tour of the 110,000-square-foot warehouse where its “elves” work their magic for Halloween and Easter but mostly, Casterella said, Christmas. (There are actually 250 employees and 150 subcontractors on 80 yearly projects in 30 states.)
Moving through Santa’s Village, visitors can interact with Charles Dickens vignettes and enjoy 50 animatronics before heading to the shop, whose overwhelming wonders include pieces by Scarsdale-reared designer Christopher Radko, the genial ornament czar to the stars. (American Christmas is the only store in Westchester County to sell Radko”™s yuletide creations, Casterella said.) Fans of “Christmas Past” will want to check out the pop-up store of one-of-a-kind vintage decorations, including pieces used on television shows and in major department store displays.
All proceeds from tour ticket sales will benefit the Boys & Girls Club of Mount Vernon, the North East STEM Starter Academy at Mount Vernon (NSSA) and the Youth Community Outreach Program (Y-COP).
Mount Vernon has been good to us, he said, “so we want to give back to the community.”
Giving back and expanding the business grew out of a need to make lemonade out of lemons during and after the Covid year of 2020, Casterella added.
“We”™re going to figure out how to be greater” was the thinking and that meant diversifying ”“ selling wholesale, reaching out to smaller companies and making new products.
Meanwhile, Christmas 2020 was looking like something out of the early chapters of Dickens”™ “A Christmas Carol” at American Christmas, with Covid as Scrooge. “Sales were down in New York City, and I didn”™t have money for company bonuses,” Casterella said. But in the true spirit of the season ”“ and many a Christmas story ”“ he found a way, opening the warehouse to sell items to the public. The revenue became staff bonuses and the idea for the retail store and partnering with charities was born.
Creating such joy is not without its challenges, he said: “What we do is nine months true work-life balance and three months of just work.”
Adding to the high pressure are the occasional emergencies. Last year, a homeless man set fire to Fox News”™ red, white and blue Christmas tree, designed by American Christmas.
“We actually had a new one made overnight,” Casterella said.
No doubt he has had other similar experiences in the only company he”™s ever worked for. Casterella ”“who grew up in Mamaroneck, graduating from Mamaroneck High School ”“ attended St. John”™s University in Queens, where an art professor expressed what was becoming clear to him: “You shouldn”™t be here. You should work for them full-time.” “They” were American Christmas, where Casterella started as a production/installation manager in July 2003. For almost 20 years, the Harrison resident has worked his way up ”“ from sales assistant to logistics director, retail sales director, senior director of national retail sales and client services, chief creative officer, president and now CEO, a position he”™s held since 2018.
“I”™ve had a wonderful time,” he said, visiting 37 countries on behalf of the business. In return, he added, he and his team are returning the favor.
“We make people happy,” he said.
Through Dec. 23, Santa”™s Village is open to the public 11 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. weekdays and 9:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. The vintage pop-up store is open 10:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. weekdays and 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. weekends. Tickets are $10 for a 15-minute time slot during the week and $15 on the weekend. Free parking is available in the front of the building. For tickets and more, click here. https://tinyurl.com/santas-village
For tickets for the special Dec. 3 Ronald McDonald House fundraiser, visit www.rmh-ghv.org or www.universe.com.
