Our Story

Global Shakeup is a small family business dedicated to the love of snowdomes.* In 1991, inspired by the book "Snowdomes" by Nancy McMichael and our own small but beloved snow globe collection, we rented a cart/kiosk at a West Los Angeles mall, built a display stocked with a few hundred odd and sundry snowdomes, and began selling to the public. Over the next few years Global Shakeup attracted a loyal group of collectors. We published a simple catalog and began selling snowdomes by mail. We took our show on the road a few times, to flea markets and toy shows, even selling our wares (including Star Trek globes) at Star Trek conventions in the 1990s. But as the catalog became more popular we left the rigors of in-person retail behind and focused exclusively on mail order. As the worldwide web developed in 1995 we were there, and snowdomes.com was born. Our first homespun web site, just an online catalog with printable order form, has grown into the e-commerce powerhouse you see before you now. Global Shakeup is still a small family business, but over the years we've bought and sold a mind boggling variety of snow globes in all shapes and sizes plus a growing selection of kits and photoglobes for the do-it-yourself snow globe lover.

Whenever we tell someone for the first time about our business (accompanied by the twisting hand gesture indicating the shaking of a snow globe) we may see a brief blank stare, then the realization of what we're talking about and the blossoming of a huge smile. "Oh, I love those things! My mom (brother, daughter, co-worker, etc) has a huge collection..." Everyone loves snowdomes. And that's why we do this - the whimsy, the magic, the love...

*also known as snowglobes, snow globes, snowstorms, snow balls, snow falls, snowshakers, blizzard weights, snow bubbles, snow scenes, snow domes, boule de neige, schneekugel, water globes, waterballs...