Rearranging Doll Furniture Sales

Dan Harrell, sales manager for Town Square Miniatures, a division of Aztec Imports, told TDmonthly, “Sales have been up the last few months — usually the weakest months of the year. We’ve had to hire more shippers to pull orders.” At his Aztec Miniature Show, he now has 120 vendors.

“Interest and enthusiasm are up!” he said.

“Customers are going for the more expensive, signed and dated, one-of-a-kind pieces,” noted Shellie Kazan, owner for 30 years of Shellie´s Miniature Mania in San Carlos, Calif. She added, “at Christmas, people are looking for the least expensive stuff they can find. The middle priced items aren’t really doing anything.”

At Walter’s store, The Miniature Scene, which she opened two years ago in Campbell, Calif., her clientele is divided evenly between collectors and children. Dayle Dodds, author of children’s books such as “Henry and the Amazing Machine,” and owner of the new Carmel Dollhouse & Miniatures in Carmel, Calif., said that she has an even mixture between moms and kids, grandparents and collectors. No matter what the demographic, once they’re in the door, they come back for more.

Although some doll furniture can be bought in room sets, such as those offered by R. B. Foltz and Town Square Miniatures by Aztec Imports, others, such as Bespaq, sell their items separately. Kids and collectors return over months or years, furnishing their houses one piece at a time. Walter’s local paper covered two little sisters who saved their $2-per-week allowance for almost 9 months so that they could buy a house from her.

“Every month they come back in to buy another piece of furniture,” she told TDmonthly.

Choosing just the right piece means seeing it and getting the advice of the shop owner. “I really enjoy working with customers and helping them choose, in a casual way, the different pieces of furniture and accessories,” said Dodd.

A new trend that Walter has noticed is that kids like to populate their dollhouses with animals on the 1/12 scale. These aren’t family characters, such as the Calico Critters, but pets for the dollhouse inhabitants, including a tiny goldfish in a bowl by Dijon.

Handcrafted accessories are popular with older collectors. Bone-china tea sets and dishes by Rachel Munday’s A Woman’s Touch do well for Dodds, as do mirrors by Jim Coates. Miniatures by Brooke Tucker are among Walter’s favorites.

Walter also teaches miniature-making classes in her store, as does Kazan. It’s the personal touch and each storeowner’s love for their products that keep their businesses going, they said.

Walter advises retailers who want to make space for dollhouse items to find the best products possible. Many customers have expressed frustration with cheaply made kits they’d found in other stores.

“Start small with one line of dollhouses and make sure you buy high quality,” advised Walter. “Increasingly, our society is looking for the lowest price possible, but that doesn´t always bring you the satisfaction you want.”

Here are some mini furnishings that dollhouse collectors will find irresistible: