Mass. furniture store purchases Enchanted Village display at auction

Scene from Enchanted Village, auctioned on June 18, 2009. Image courtesy LiveAuctioneers.com.

BOSTON (AP) – The Enchanted Village has a new home and will continue to enchant Boston-area shoppers during the Chrismas holidays.

Jordan’s Furniture purchased the iconic holiday display from the City of Boston for $140,000 at a public auction on Thursday, June 18. Jordan’s president Eliot Tatelman – who topped six other bidders – said he fondly recalled strolling through the Enchanted Village as a child.

Tatelman plans to set up the display at Jordan’s store in the Boston suburb of Avon.

The 8,000-square-foot attraction includes dozens of mechanized people and animals in a traditional New England holiday scene.

It was originally set up at the old downtown Jordan Marsh department store – no connection to Jordan’s Furniture – to attract holiday shoppers.

The Enchanted Village was most recently housed at the Hynes Convention Center, but hasn’t been open to the public since 2006.

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