We’re already into Christmas? Didn’t I just take off my Halloween Costume?
If like me, you’ve been feeling that the holiday season has been arriving earlier and earlier each year, it’s not your imagination. It has in fact been speeding up, because the businesses and destinations that invest in holiday displays invest a lot, says Dan Casterella, the Chief Executive Officer of American Christmas, and they want to capitalize on their investments.
American Christmas is the company behind the scenes creating the breathtaking holiday displays in 6 states including the iconic locations in NYC, like Saks Fifth Avenue, Rockefeller Center, Macy’s, and Radio City Music Hall.
I invited CEO Dan Casterella to stop by my radio show for a warm chat to give us all a peek behind the curtains in the world of American Christmas.
The Business of Christmas:
Located in Mount Vernon, New York, (my hometown) American Christmas is the company responsible for decorating some of the most famous holiday locations in the United States. But they’re not just about tinsel and lights; they create immersive holiday experiences that enchant visitors and spread festive cheer. The feel-good power they have created there is undeniable. Anyone of any age who could use a lift should stop by.
From School to Christmas Wonderland:
Chief Executive Officer, Dan Castarella, has been part of this magical world for over two decades. His journey into the Christmas business began when he started decorating homes in high school and, after a short stint in college, decided to leave college and join American Christmas. His parents were honestly not thrilled with his choice, but his passion and talent for bringing the holiday spirit to life have paid off. (And now they get free Christmas Decorations)
Creating the Magic:
American Christmas isn’t just about decking the halls; it’s a year-round operation. With a 15-month planning cycle for some clients, and two weeks for others depending on the type and scale of the job, the process is both meticulous and expansive. It takes hundreds of employees working across multiple states, including New York, Texas, California, Florida, Chicago, and Washington, D.C., to make these holiday displays a reality. The end goal is to help clients create a holiday brand identity and gift a spectacular experience to their communities.
Dan said, “For us, it’s Christmas 365. The day our takedown season is done, we start again refurbishing for the following year. Everyone thinks we see Santa Claus all year long, and it’s anything but that. It’s mostly spreadsheets and a lot of marketing conversations.”
Bringing the Holiday To You:
For the second year in a row, American Christmas is offering the public a chance to experience their holiday magic with an event called “Holiday Lane.” Located at 30 Warren Place in Mount Vernon, it’s an immersive holiday experience that allows visitors to walk through a magical Christmas experience, pick up festive decorations, and even meet Santa Claus. It’s open Wednesday to Sunday, making it accessible for families and anyone in need of a dose of holiday spirit. Santa will be there every Wednesday and Friday night at Holiday Lane from 6 to roughly 8pm.
Dan says, “We have a showroom for our commercial clients that’s about 4,000 square feet and we open that up to the general public. You can buy tickets online to come and experience what we do at American Christmas. The tickets are inexpensive, because we’re trying to be family friendly and we’re donating 100% of the proceeds to three nonprofit charities in Mount Vernon, New York. The Mount Vernon Boys & Girls Club, Northeast STEM Starter Academy of Mt. Vernon, and Youth Community Outreach Program of Mount Vernon.
Year-Round Christmas:
The holiday season lasts for just a few weeks, but the work at American Christmas is a year-round endeavor. Planning, designing, and building take months, ensuring that the magic happens on time. Then it all boils down to a very hectic nine-week season when everything comes to life.
Color Trends and Decorating Styles:
Each year, American Christmas helps its clients embrace various color themes and decorating styles. This year pink has been a popular choice, inspired by the Barbie. Trend. But natural woodlands themes, traditional reds, and golds, and even New Orleans-style Mardi Gras displays have their place in the holiday lineup. Their Christmas store on premise is just fabulous and you’ll wish you knew about it sooner if you didn’t know about it already .
There’s Some New Christmas Technology:
“The new thing”, says Dan, “is RGB technology where we can control the lights and build a show around the Christmas Lights. It’s not that popular in New York because New Yorkers like to keep Christmas traditional with ribbons, bows, and ornaments but it’s popular for us around the country. This year for example we have a 50-foot tree at the Tanger Outlet in Tennessee that’s an RGB show with programmable alights and we run a three-minute loop with a show on the tree.”
Holding the Holiday Line:
American Christmas does end for most of their clients by January 15th when the company finalizes their ‘take down’ portion of process for all the decorations they’ve put up. However, we all have seen some outdoor trees stay wrapped with white lights throughout the winter, bringing much needed warmth and joy to the dark months which is fine by me.
A Business That Spreads Joy:
The holiday season may start earlier each year, but the goal is to spread joy and create memorable experiences. Something we could all use a little more of these days for sure. The work of American Christmas brings a touch of magic to all of our lives. Talented ‘Holiday Lane Designer’ Juan Novoa, walked me through the experience which truly lifted my spirits and brought me joy.
American Christmas is more than just a company; it’s a team of dedicated professionals who spend all year working to make the holiday season unforgettable. From design to installation and takedown, their business keeps the magic of Christmas alive year after year.
If you find yourself in Mount Vernon, N.Y., don’t miss the chance to visit Holiday Lane and experience the enchantment for yourself.
I hope you enjoy this podcast of my live conversation on The Debbie Nigro Show with Dan Casterella, the Chief Executive Officer of American Christmas. It’s uplifting! If you’d rather read than listen the audio transcript is below.
AUDIO TRANSCRIPT:
0:00:00
It’s time for the Debbie Nigro Show with Debbie Nigro, who says she’s still a babe, or at least she thinks she still is. That’s right, attitude is everything, and Debbie’s delusionally young. No one sees the glass of Cabernet half full like Debbie. She’s fresh air with a magnetic flair. Some day has arrived, and as far as she’s concerned, it’s time to roll.
4
0:00:25
All right, these holiday people are killing me, they’re killing me, right? Anybody else feel like we’re rushing through these seasons? I just took a picture of a groundhog standing straight up not too long ago. I was like, wow, look at these groundhogs in the park. It was summer.
1
0:00:36
Then I saw one little beautiful red leaf in the shape of a heart. I’m like, oh, what a pretty picture. Then I saw a pumpkin. Then I saw a full-blown fall tree. Then wasn’t Halloween like six seconds ago? I don’t know why we’re talking about Christmas, but you’ll know why in just a second.
Hi, everybody. I’m Debbie Nigro. Welcome to the business of Christmas today. We’re back to business at the beginning of the week. I had an invitation that I took people up on last week, which ended up bringing me great joy. And I was having a tough week, was grieving actually the loss of somebody very close and was in like no mood to be cute and happy and felt guilty being happy. But I went over to American Christmas, which I’d heard about for like a thousand years in my hometown of Mount Vernon, New York, but I never went there. I’m like, where is this place? And so it happens it’s three blocks due west of where my father’s asphalt plant was when I was growing up, right, and he had a business. So I knew the area and I was like, what? I walk in, I’m like, holy cow, this is really Christmas. They are doing something again this year that was a success last year that I wanted you all to know about, and I want you to know about the company American Christmas and I want you to meet the guy who’s wanting it. Now, I should just say that if anybody out there has ever been to Saks in New York City, maybe Rockefeller Center, seeing the Angels, Macy’s, Radio City Music Hall, all those decorations for the holidays and many more come from American Christmas in Mount Vernon, New York. And there’s a local guy, I’m not going to say where he lives because everybody wants Christmas stuff from him free. Who’s sitting in the studio with me today, who happens to be the chief executive officer. His name is Dan Castarella. Welcome, Dan. Hi, thanks for having me. I could not have you after last week.
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It was a great time.
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0:02:38
I walked in not knowing what to expect. You know, you are located in an industrial area of Mount Vernon, New York, that one would not think would be so festive. It’s mostly trucks and deliveries and it’s a lot going on there with industry.
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0:02:50
Yeah, we’re tucked away just right behind Fairway and Pelham, but yes, it’s very much an industry area.
1
0:02:55
Very much, right? So I had never exactly known where you were. And as soon as I walked in, I said, oh, this is something going on here, very special. Many floors. How many floors do you have in your building?
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0:03:06
We have four floors of office space and two floors of warehouse.
1
0:03:09
Okay. So this particular day, you’re having a ribbon-cutting to launch Holiday Lane, which is an annual, now, second year, immersive holiday experience walk-through for families and
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0:03:19
anybody who needs a lift. Yeah, so basically we have our showroom for our commercial clients. That’s about 4,000 square feet that we open up to the general public. Cool. And you can buy tickets online to come and experience, you know,
1
0:03:34
what we do at American Christmas. They’re very inexpensive, the tickets, because you’re trying to be family friendly. I know you give 100% of the proceeds of this particular event to three charities in Mount Vernon, New York.
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0:03:46
Yeah, so what we’re doing is the idea is you come experience our warehouse and our showroom and our facility, and what we do is we donate 100% of those ticket sales to three charities in Mount Vernon, New York, all based around students who want a better education and who want to better themselves.
1
0:04:05
Yeah, one is the Boys and Girls Club of Mount Vernon, right?
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0:04:08
Boys and Girls Club of Mount Vernon and YCOP and the STEAM Academy.
1
0:04:10
Awesome. Beautiful gesture on your part to give back. Thank you. But even more beautiful what you do there. And there’s a lot of people working for you. Yeah. Tell me about your staff at the American… How do you… You guys are working on Christmas all year to get to this one point in the year where it’s like game on.
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0:04:30
Yeah, so we are, it’s a 15-month process for some of our clients, so we start now for next year actually.
1
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Figured.
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And, you know, it could also be a two-week process depending on the type and scale of the job, but, you know, for us it’s Christmas 365, the day our takedown season is done, we start again refurbishing for the following year.
At this point, we have about 350 employees in America. Unbelievable. Yeah. We have about 150 working out of the Mount Vernon facility. Unbelievable. And on site, we have crews running in six states today.
1
0:05:07
Oh, come on. I thought it was just New York.
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0:05:09
It’s not. We’re across the country.
1
0:05:11
That is so cool. So everybody knows that you can pull it together. Tell me some things you’re doing out of state. I know what you’re doing in New York City.
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0:05:18
In New York, everyone knows the work we do, but we do a lot in Texas and Dallas.
1
0:05:24
Really? Yeah, they like big.
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0:05:26
They go big. California is a big market for us in LA and San Francisco. Florida is a growing market as well. You have Chicago and in Maryland, in the Washington DC region is our second biggest market behind New York, which we do very well in.
1
0:05:44
Unbelievable, and it all started in Mount Vernon, New York. Now, you didn’t start the company, but you have been there for how many years now?
2
0:05:49
Yeah, I started 23 years ago.
1
0:05:52
Oh, and I love your story about you weren’t supposed to get in the Christmas business at all. Your parents didn’t want you. They wanted you to go to college, finish college, and get on with your life, right?
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0:05:59
Yes, but I…
1
0:06:00
But you just kept going to college and not getting on with it.
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0:06:02
Yeah, I was in school. I actually started decorating homes in high school and then went to college.
1
0:06:09
What do you mean? You just had the gift?
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0:06:10
Yeah, I just started. It was making money and I enjoyed doing it. It was a hobby. I was doing it after school.
1
0:06:15
Like putting people’s lights up and stuff?
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Yeah, exactly.
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0:06:17
My father would have loved you. We were one of those crack Christmas houses that were on the front page of the newspaper in Mount Vernon with like reindeer on the roof because he had a construction company that he could get people to get stuff up there. Not most people can’t get up on their own roofs. Absolutely. I like
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0:06:31
to say I was ahead of my time because now every town has a Christmas decorating company that does their house. They do? It’s all over but at that point it didn’t exist. But yeah, so I started decorating homes, went to college. Ultimately college wasn’t right for me. It’s not right for everybody. So it wasn’t and I had a professor while I was working at American Christmas in their warehouse I had a professor who said why don’t you leave school and go work for that Christmas company. That’s fine. That’s going to be the best career path for you and I did and it worked out well. Your parents looked at you funny but now they must be very proud of you. Yeah I think they’re happy. It wasn’t they weren’t happy at the time but
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0:07:08
looking back 20 years ago it worked out well. Oh my gosh. So what are some of the perks of your parents now that you’re the big guy behind American Christmas around the country? What do they get to see or do that they never saw coming?
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0:07:21
They get to come and pick whatever they want for their house.
1
0:07:24
Hey, you know what was great that I didn’t know? The store you have there with decorations are the best I’ve ever seen and very reasonable prices.
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0:07:31
Yeah, so what we did was we basically put together this retail shop that is just unique pieces that are really good. And you know I like to say it’s what Westchester and Connecticut used to have many years ago. Yeah. At what the garden centers. So now you can come and Mount Vernon becomes like a Christmas destination. You can come see Holiday Lane and shop.
1
0:07:52
I tell you, I’m a Marshalls, TJ Maxx, you know I love like all the other girls do getting the fun stuff. Yours beat it. Thank you. Totally beat it. Even the prices and the uniqueness, you know, it was so good. I’m coming back to buy some snow globes. I took a picture of them because I was like, I love snow globes. I saw my granddaughter this week and I go, hey, gee, I’m going to get you a snow globe. She goes, oh, good, because Giovanni just broke one. It was all over the place, Grammy. It exploded and mommy had to mop it up. And I was going to make a laugh about the snow globe. Anyway, that was my Italian hand eating the other microphone. Sorry about that, Dan. Yeah, so this is great. You’re the chief executive officer of Christmas, American Christmas. Brings you a smile, but you said that a lot of people think you like driving around in your car with ornaments like just what?
2
0:08:36
Yeah, everyone thinks we see Santa Claus all year long, and it’s anything but that.
1
0:08:42
I know, I know. Mostly spreadsheets, you said, right?
2
0:08:44
Spreadsheets and a lot of marketing conversations.
1
0:08:47
So I want to just point out for those who like to get their holiday posing of children for cards with Santa that Santa is actually part of this holiday experience down there and he’s already coming like this week or next week?
2
0:09:03
Yeah, this week. Santa will be here every Wednesday and Friday night at Holiday Lane from 6 to roughly 8,
1
0:09:09
8.30. That was smart after work so parents can bring their kids down. Can you hang out with me just a little bit more? I really want to understand, you know, the SACs and the Rockefeller Center. I want to know what this business does and how it kind of operates a little bit. If you guys are just tuning in, we’re kicking off the business week and the week in general with the backstory of Christmas. There’s a big story with American Christmas, which is located in Mount Vernon, New York, and their chief executive officer is in studio with me today, Dan Castarella, who’s a Westchester guy and you know kind of grew up in the business. I’m shocked that we’re starting Christmas so much earlier than in years past. I’m sure there’s a reason for that since we I just took off my Halloween costume. You’re gonna tell me why when we come back right after this on the Debbie Nigro Show. It’s so hard to believe that I’m playing this song, or Bob is playing this song here on the Debbie Nigro show, but there’s a reason for it. Hi, everybody. I’m Debbie Nigro. Christmas is starting way earlier than I ever remember it. It’s not just me, I don’t think. In studio with me today, my guest, and it’s bringing a smile, because how could you not smile when things are pretty and sound nice and, you know, feels good for a minute, Chief Executive Officer of American Christmas, Dan Castorella. Hey, Dan, welcome back.
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0:10:52
Thanks for having me.
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0:10:53
I’m loving having you in the studio. I guess it feels good to be around things that make people feel good. That’s number one. So that’s a good business to be in.
2
0:11:01
One of the best parts of the job.
1
0:11:02
Right. A happy business. But it’s also a business that seems to be really starting a lot earlier. And you said it’s not my imagination every year.
2
0:11:12
No, it’s not, Debbie. It’s really our clients who want to capitalize on their investment. People don’t recognize it. There’s a big chunk of money that gets put into these programs and they want to capitalize on it. Some of these projects take a month to put up.
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0:11:27
Let’s do a case study. Let’s do New York City since most people in this listening area, the New York, Connecticut area have been to New York and the rest of the people listening around the country when they hear the podcast may very well be tourists who come for this exact reason. So what’s your, give me a place in Manhattan that would everybody would know that you’re involved with. Midtown Manhattan
2
0:11:47
Rockefeller Center. Oh let’s start with that. Okay. So we do everything around Rockefeller Center. Everything. Almost everything. So on Avenue of the America and Fifth Avenue I would say 85% of the work is ours. That’s incredible. So. And
1
0:12:01
are you involved with the tree, the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree? No. OK, that’s the only thing you’re not involved with, but everything else around it. OK, so they get you have these meetings. Is that how it all starts and what the theme they want this year? Give me a give me a back run up.
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0:12:16
Every building retailer client has their own, I would say, agenda and campaign.
1
0:12:22
What department is that the Christmas department?
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0:12:24
It’s not. It just depends on the client. It could be marketing to facilities. It really just depends on the client that we’re working with. But those clients spend a lot of time building out their holiday brand identity. Okay. And then from there what happens is there’s no real return other than what they like to say is it’s their gift back to New York. How nice. So they know that millions of people come to New York City every year to celebrate the holidays and to shop and to see decorations and to ice skate and to have fun. So in their mind, they’re decorating their building for their tenants and their clients, but also for Christmas in New York.
1
0:13:05
And they do a great, great job. So okay, each theme every year changes. How long does it take you to say, okay, we can do this and then go get all the stuff that they’ve desired.
2
0:13:15
Yeah, it’s roughly from, I would say from the time we sign a contract to finishing the install, it’s roughly, to do it right, it’s a six month process.
1
0:13:25
Oh wow, I would imagine for sure.
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0:13:26
But then the design process is also anywhere from a month to three months, I’m in front
1
0:13:30
of that. Oh man, so it’s really all year long.
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0:13:33
It is an all year long business.
1
0:13:35
Absolutely. As far as installing, what do you have? Contractors that you work with in different cities, in New York City and places around to get this stuff up
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0:13:44
there?
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0:13:45
It’s a little bit of both. We have our own staff. We hire, again, 250 seasonal people. But we also have subcontractors that we work with around the country and in New York to help us.
1
0:13:56
I mean, you need, what, cranes? What do you need?
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0:13:58
Yeah, a lot of it’s construction. Anytime we’re doing something on the front of a building it basically becomes a construction project. So yeah, cranes, booms, bucket trucks, street closure permits, there’s a lot. Oh it’s intense. Yeah. So many pieces to the puzzle. There is. I like to say we’re an engineering and logistics company more than anything else.
1
0:14:17
Yeah. So what happens when light bulbs burst? I mean, do you have a light bulb
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0:14:21
replacement people? We do have a fix-up team but we like to say that that
1
0:14:25
happens very little. Oh that’s good. It happens to me more than it should I guess.
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0:14:29
Can I ask a question?
1
0:14:30
Yeah sure Bob.
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0:14:31
.
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0:14:50
Using LEDs or something?
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0:14:52
Exactly. But that’s not so popular in New York. It’s really popular for us around the country. But New Yorkers and a lot of our clients like to keep it traditional. They want to have their tree have ribbon and bows and ornaments on it and not necessarily a show. The technology is around RGB Christmas lights and it’s growing for us rapidly.
1
0:15:15
Wow.
2
0:15:16
Yeah, this year we have a 50-foot tree at Tanger Outlet in Tennessee that’s an RGB show, essentially. So the lights are programmable and it will run a three-minute loop with a show on the tree. Oh, cool.
1
0:15:30
I told you this was a cool show we were going to do today and talking about Christmas and November. I feel bad for the turkeys. They’re just looking at me like, I thought I passed something today, they’re like, seriously? Now we’re not even getting a moment here. Yeah, so the holidays come earlier, understandable. The drama is bigger, and so the planning is much bigger. And then what day do you have everything up, ready to roll?
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0:15:52
Yeah, the majority of our work will be up by November 23rd.
1
0:15:57
Okay, and then you lay down for a minute? What do you do?
2
0:16:02
Hey, yeah, I would say we relax after December 5th for two weeks and then we actually start our takedown season right before Christmas.
1
0:16:10
Oh, I forgot the takedown season. What’s the furthest out you’ll leave up Christmas lights? Because there are some people who just never got the memo Christmas ended. They still have their lights up. I’m like, what is wrong with these people?
2
0:16:20
Yeah, that happens. Decorations wise, I would say January 15th, the last. That’s the cutoff? That’s the cutoff, but some people keep their outdoor trees wrapped all winter. I love white lights all year long. I have no problem with white lights. It creates a nice environment and to keep them up during the winter just warms
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0:16:37
everyone a little bit. Okay, here’s your move for the masses, right? You know those commercials you see on TV where you get to put lights on your house but your house is not really lit up but it’s like a zoom or strobe? Yes. Okay, that’s one thing that makes it easy. But for people who put their lights all up, and it’s exhausting, right? Can’t you do one of those RGB things to have them be able to change seasons with their lights without having to take their lights down?
2
0:17:02
That’s a thing, and those companies do exist. They call them permanent lighting solutions where it could act as landscape lighting. It could act as architecture lighting.
1
0:17:12
You should do this.
2
0:17:13
So we like to focus on what we’re good at. Yeah, I got that. But there are companies out there doing it, and it is nice. I like to say it doesn’t look as good, but it’s a successful, useful option.
1
0:17:25
It’s funny, I was reading about the theme colors for Christmas this year. You know, those decorator people, they always want to shove themselves in, like, oh, the color of the year, we’re going to do pink Christmas. I saw in your store, you actually have like a magenta pink Christmas section what are some color themes that are running this year?
2
0:17:43
Pink is popular right now because of Barbie. Barbie, very popular. This weekend and we sold I think a half a dozen six-foot pink nutcrackers in the store.
1
0:17:54
There you go. I knew that was going to happen.
2
0:17:56
Pink is very popular but also the woodlands has been popular for us, more natural feel. And then the reds and the golds are very traditional.
1
0:18:05
I even saw an New Orleans style section in your store if anybody wants to celebrate with that color combination.
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0:18:12
Mardi Gras is very, very popular.
1
0:18:14
I didn’t know that.
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0:18:16
It’s not my favorite, but it’s a lot of people’s favorite.
1
0:18:19
So you know how they say the shoemaker has the worst shoes. Is your house like always Christmas ready? Do you live up to your reputation?
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0:18:27
It used to not be, but now that I have two young kids, I go all out.
1
0:18:31
Oh, you must be fun.
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0:18:33
It is a good time.
1
0:18:35
It’s embarrassing if your house doesn’t look good. I’m sorry to tell you that.
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0:18:39
That’s what people say.
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0:18:40
I know, I’m sorry. I do it on the inside, not so much on the outside.
1
0:18:43
Really, that’s great. Is there anything negative about being in the Christmas business?
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0:18:50
Negative, I like to, the negative part of the business is the season. We work all year for nine weeks, and those nine weeks are crazy. So if I hire someone new in February, they can’t see the end of the process until December 5th, and it becomes very difficult for them to understand what’s gonna happen. So the worst part about our business is that we execute on all of our work over nine weeks versus over 12 months.
1
0:19:19
That’s crazy. That’s good. How many people do you bring on for the holidays extra?
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0:19:24
Roughly 250.
1
0:19:25
And have you already gotten all those people already? We have them all. You got them all ready. Okay, that’s good. People want to work.
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0:19:31
Good sign. Yeah, people want to work. I would say it’s one of the more difficult challenges we have within our seasonal business.
1
0:19:38
Sure.
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0:19:38
But I think we have a solid crew this year, a great foundation, and yeah, they’re working very hard right now.
1
0:19:45
Awesome. I just think it was very insightful to come by to understand how big a business you really are running there. It’s not just some, you know, Christmas trees and a few lights. It was incredible. Your designer, by the way, I want to give a shout out to Juan. He was extremely talented and lovely, gave me the royal tour. What’s his last name?
5
0:20:03
Juan Nivoa.
1
0:20:04
Yeah, he was a gentleman, you should know. As were everybody who worked at your place. Very sleek place to work if anybody’s looking for a new job. Are you hiring? Will you be hiring or what’s going on over there?
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0:20:14
We’ll have a few jobs open at the end of the year.
1
0:20:16
Yeah, very cool. Parking I found to be just a bit of a challenge. Can you talk to that for a second? Because when you’re coming to an industrial section of Mount Vernon, obviously in off hours it’s a lot easier. So I did only have to park a little ways away. But are you doing anything about parking for people? You want to shout out about that?
2
0:20:32
Yes, so we have Mount Vernon did one hour parking in front of our building which is now enforced, which will help people come and go. One hour free? One hour. It’s free parking all day but it’s one hour which will because it’s an industrial area, gives us a big open lot. Yeah, good I like it. In addition we have Brush Park right around the corner from our building which Mount Vernon has opened up to overflow parking. Oh wonderful, wonderful. Have you thought of ballet? So I have but it’s difficult with the amount of people we get on the weekend because they come and go so quick.
1
0:21:08
Yeah, yeah, okay. I can’t get a ballet out of my head though because I was thinking about somebody’s poor grandmother, like me, who maybe liked to feel that day
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0:21:18
he could make it happen.
2
0:21:19
You can drop them off in front.
1
0:21:20
Okay, we can drop off grandma in front.
2
0:21:21
We also had a lot of people at one time for that event, but I do think parking is, it is an industrial area. The nighttime shift, it kind of clears out by four o’clock, so we haven’t had issues. That’s why we fluctuated the hours. We used to do it in the morning, but now we’re going into the evening when it’s slower
1
0:21:40
Okay, so I also decorated the front of the building. Yeah, right so good chief executive officer of American Christmas Dan Casarela is who you’re listening to in studio here on the Debbie Nygro show Dan why don’t you give everybody the address of your headquarters for the holiday lane that has kicked off already and
2
0:21:56
Remind them again of the days in the hours. It’s American Christmas at 30 Warren Place in Mount Vernon, New York, 10550. The hours are Wednesday to Sunday. Wednesday, Thursday and Friday are 12 to 8. Saturday and Sundays are 9 to 9.
1
0:22:19
Okay, very, very cool. And for those of you who have never driven to Mount Vernon or Pelham or anywhere like that, it really is an easy, easy little ride. And I was actually surprised. I put it in my little ways and I was like, right there, just like that, just like that. I was like pleasantly surprised.
2
0:22:36
Yes, and there’s really good restaurants around us too if you want to stop and eat.
1
0:22:40
Very cool, I always want to stop and eat. Why do I always want to stop and eat? Like everything has an eating piece of the pie to it. I noticed you have a kitchen by the way in there. Do you guys have food in there? I mean, whoever designed that, your building was gorgeous. Are they employees?
2
0:22:54
Yes, we do do food for the employees once in a while, yes.
1
0:22:57
He had nice glasses. I wanted to live in your kitchen. I was like, these people are having a good time here.
2
0:23:03
Excellent. We try to have fun.
1
0:23:05
I think it matters to retaining employees. I’m sure that you stayed at the same company for how many years?
2
0:23:10
Yeah, I’ve been there for 23 years.
1
0:23:12
And why did you stay there for 23? It’s very hard to get anybody to stay at one company for more than three minutes these days
2
0:23:16
Yeah, I think it’s because we’re growing and there’s growth there before I took on the company there was growth opportunities and I found something I enjoyed doing and that’s what we look for in people
1
0:23:27
You also mentioned in a just a sidebar before we leave each other that you know If somebody retaining good employees these days is hard, but you have no problem rewarding people who show interest to grow with the company, which I thought was very loud and might be something worth sharing with the public for anybody looking to be appreciated in a job.
2
0:23:49
We have a great group of people who have grown over the years. That comes with financial reward, but it also comes with, I like to say, a responsibility reward where they get to do more, they can travel, they have a little bit more freedom. The average employee has been with us for eight years.
1
0:24:11
Just a quick shout out to the founders because without them for blood, sweat and tears all those years, go ahead.
2
0:24:17
Yeah, Marvin Schwamm started the company over 50 years ago and then his son Fred Schwamm took it over and then passed it on to Klaus Mark and I with MK Illumination.
1
0:24:28
Okay, Dan, you did good. Shout out to your parents. Dan did good. Proud to know you, Dan Castarella, Chief Executive Officer. Nice to meet you, Dan. Proud to know you. Yeah, you too. Just again, guys, if you haven’t seen anything they do, go over to their website. It is AmericanChristmas.com and they have iconic brands in all the places in this country that you’ve admired the holiday decorations. Most likely it’s them, hotels, commercial real estate, office buildings, you know, holiday destinations, and they customize all the programs if you’re a company looking to get involved with American Christmas. Thanks again, you’re a company looking to get involved with American Christmas. Thanks again, have a good day.
Transcribed with Cockatoo
