ROANOKE TIMES 
                      Copyright (c) 1995, Roanoke Times

DATE: Thursday, December 14, 1995            TAG: 9512140022
SECTION: BUSINESS                 PAGE: B-8  EDITION: METRO 
DATELINE: CANNON FALLS, MINN.
SOURCE: KARREN MILLS Associated Press 

SANTA'S A MAJOR HANG-UP FOR ORNAMENT COMPANY

Angels come and go. So do snowmen and nativity scenes.

For people who make their money selling holiday ornaments, Santa is the one thing that never goes out of fashion, says Kathleen Brekken, chief executive officer of Midwest of Cannon Falls.

``You can do anything with Santa. He can ride a fish, he can be an angel, he can be a pig. The American public loves it when you take Santa and do all kinds of weird things with him,'' Brekken said.

Brekken ought to know. Midwest, located about 40 miles southeast of Minneapolis, is one of the major producers of Christmas ornaments. The wholesaler sold about $85 million of ornaments to retailers last year.

Midwest has 5,000 items in its product line, with suggested retail prices ranging from $2 to $500. About 60 percent of its line is Christmas merchandise.

There are hundreds of hand-painted European blown-glass ornaments, limited-edition nutcrackers from Germany, folk art from U.S. woodcarvers and lighted porcelain villages celebrating America's heartland and the Easter and Halloween seasons.

Next year, vintage Disney, Warner Bros. and Winnie the Pooh ornaments will be added to the line.

``We still say with a laugh that we don't sell anything that anybody needs,'' she said. ``But it's an emotional thing, an impulse buy. I would guess that well over 50 percent of what we sell is for the person buying it.''

The company's more than 20,000 active customers include department store chains such as Saks Fifth Avenue, Nieman Marcus, Nordstrom and Dayton Hudson; catalog gift companies; and small gift shops.

``I think they have a niche in the market,'' said Sharon Hutchinson, a senior buyer for 60 Dayton, Hudson and Marshall Field department stores.

Most of Midwest's products are manufactured in China, Brekken said. The company also has staff in Taiwan, the Philippines and Hong Kong and has a British subsidiary, Midwest Design, outside London.

Midwest's most expensive items are large, limited-edition German nutcrackers sought by collectors, but one of its biggest sellers this year is a folk art nativity set designed and crafted by Washington state woodcarver Eddie Walker, then reproduced in resin and hand painted.

Although the company has ballooned in size, it retains its small-town flavor.

``This is a design-driven company. They're very careful about not squelching the creativity,'' said designer Ceal Bialobrzeski, who has worked for Midwest for 11 years.

LENGTH: Medium:   62 lines
ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO:  AP. 1. Kathleen Brekken, chief executive officer of 
          Midwest of Cannon Falls,
          talks about one of the ornaments in the company's Christmas product 
          line in
          Cannon Falls, Minn. 2. Snowmen and angels are among the items at 
          Midwest of
          Cannon Falls. color.