Cherry Hill, N.J., firm provides a thousand Santas.

Publication: The Record (Hackensack, New Jersey) (via Knight-Ridder/Tribune Business News)

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COPYRIGHT 2004 The Record

Byline: Ruth Padawer

Nov. 21--It might sound like the punch line of a bad joke, but Santa really does come from Jersey.

No kidding: The world's biggest Santa employment agency is right off Route 70 in Cherry Hill, past the Queen of Heaven's billboard for Friday night Bingo and the storefront Divorce Center ($299 plus court fees).

Inside an inconspicuous cement warehouse, a jolly man oversees an empire of 1,000 Santas who will slide down mall chimneys in nearly every state in the land, not to mention most Canadian provinces. Seven days a week, these men in red will become the confidants of children and the guardians of their deepest yearnings, be it for a Barbie Desktop Computer, an 18-inch Spiderman with projectile shooter or the return of a real-life, estranged parent.

These guys didn't turn into Santa simply because they tired of bagging groceries...

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