Doll Thoughts

I've spent a lot of time talking about what makes a retailer good. Now it's time to turn the tables and talk about the qualities a good doll store customer has.

First and foremost, a good customer has passion for dolls and their accoutrements. Half of the fun for me as a retailer was sharing the fun of learning about and seeing new dolls with my customers. Let's face it-many people who don't collect or like dolls, think "doll people" are more than a little crazy. Having other interested, passionate people to "play" with was part of what made Dolls and Friends worthwhile. Helping someone new to dolls, or more specifically, BJDs was especially fun and gratifying. If I ever went into some kind of sales position again, it would have to be for something I was passionate about, or otherwise it would be just a job and not nearly as much fun.

What other qualities does a good customer have? Of course, I could say that a good customer has a very healthy "money tree" growing in his or her backyard, and is more than willing to share it. But while it's always nice to have affluent customers, other things are also important, such as loyalty. Does the customer always check with your business first when there's something she wants? Having loyal customers is very important to a retail business. Loyal customers recommend your business to others, and that is just as valuable as the money they themselves spend, if not more so.

Good customers are reliable in that they don't repeatedly change their minds about their orders or pre-orders. They make layaway payments without having to be constantly reminded. In other words, they take their commitments seriously. And in so doing, they are more apt to be rewarded by the retailer, in the form of extra little goodies, discounts, and advance notice of new products, for example.  Both parties benefit and both are happy.

We always appreciated customers who understood we were running a business and couldn't afford to just give away merchandise. That was a hard concept for some folks to grasp. What we couldn't understand was folks who wanted to charge their purchase to several different charge cards-I believe the record was four. We were advised by our bank not to do so, since there could have been fraud involved. My feeling is, if you have to spread out your purchase over four cards, maybe you shouldn't be making it. But that's just my opinion. :)

All of us buy stuff from various businesses. Are you a good customer or maybe not so much? Having been in retail, I try to be a little more forgiving and tolerant of mistakes made by the businesses I buy from, and try to be a good customer myself.

In her letter to Elfdoll customers, DK  claimed that Elfdoll was "not about the money" and that dolls would continue to be made even if nobody bought them.

As a former Elfdoll retailer, I have to say au contraire.That was nowhere near close to my experience.

I was constantly pushed by Elfdoll to order more dolls, more fashions, more of everything they had to sell. And of course it all had to be paid for up front. I couldn't just order one of a particular outfit, I had to order at least 3. There were minimums for dolls too. Eventually, when DK kept threatening to cut off the retailers, she and Ms. Cholong worked out an agreement: each retailer was to order at least $3,000 worth of merchandise every month or risk being dropped. When retail items aren't selling quickly, having to shell out $3,000 a month can be painful.

When I made the decision to go out of business, I was asked by Elfdoll not to sell off my remaining stock at a discount.  Not unreasonable - Elfdoll wanted to both protect the value of its dolls and the other retailers. A deal was struck: I would send my remaining stock back to Ms. Cholong in L.A., and Elfdoll would reimburse me for it within a couple of months.

In early December 2008 when we closed I sent my remaining stock, just under $17,000 in value, to L.A. And then I waited - and waited - and waited some more to be reimbursed. So much for rapid repayment. I'm sure that if I had owed DK even a few thousand dollars, I would have been the recipient of a lot of grief until I paid up.

My understanding is that part of the reason Ms. Cholong went to IDEX and had a salesroom earlier this year was so that Elfdoll could begin to pay me back. That was agreed upon by DK. Unfortunately though, after IDEX DK demanded the money go into Elfdoll's account instead. I was asked to again please be patient. More months went by. There was always some reason, even though US retailers were ordering exclusives and paying for them in full, why I could not be paid back. Finally in late spring, I got a small payment. In late summer, another small payment. Finally, earlier this month - nearly a year later - thanks to the work and insistence of both Ms. Cholong and Pasu Lau of Dollheart, I was reimbursed the final amount.

To me this was all just ridiculous, unprofessional, and particularly after recent events very, very hypocritical.

Let this be a warning for other retailers.

Mel Odom recently announced the retirement of his doll creation Gene Marshall, and others in her universe, after 15 years of production. Her last hurrah will take place in a special event next year.

Gene was primarily responsible for the resurgence of interest in fashion dolls in the mid-1990s. Barbie's ( in the shop we called her Barfie) popularity had taken a dive, and the fashion-doll market was ripe for the taking. In stepped Mel Odom and Gene. The fashion-doll world hasn't been the same since.

Gene was unique in her storyline, the quality of the doll herself, and the quality and design of her fashions. Based on Hollywood glamour-girls such as Rita Hayworth, Gene sparked the imaginations of doll collectors everywhere and brought fun and creativity back to doll collecting.

I remember the halcyon days of Gene's popularity at the shop. For retailers, she was a godsend, bringing new customers and new energy into the store. We had Gene parties, giving away hundreds of Gene hatboxes and tiny Christmas tree ornaments. We even celebrated her birthday with cake and sparkling cider. The introduction of a new character was always exciting.

Before we knew it, Gene's 5th anniversary came along. While Ashton-Drake produced the dolls and fashions, Gallery Marketing Group distributed them, and it was Gallery Marketing we dealt with. Her 5th anniversary, I think, started the decline in her popularity. We were allocated the number of dolls we could buy, and also the number/choice of fashions. We were given no options, we had to either buy the whole package or get none at all. That left us, along with other retailers, short on some of the dolls. We just could not get enough of those dolls that year. Same goes for a few of the outfits. But many of the outfits, we were forced to buy way, way too many of. We had a few of those dang outfits until the year we closed the store. Literally. You could not give those things away.

Gallery Marketing Group, despite the pleas of many retailers, refused to change its policies for that year.  Many stores were stuck with outfits and dolls they couldn't sell, and consequently, bills they couldn't pay. The next year, fewer stores carried Gene, and the numbers continued to decline each year thereafter.  Never easy to begin with, Gallery Marketing became harder and harder to deal with. Overwhelmed by dolls and outfits, collectors gradually lost interest in Gene, or began collecting other fashion dolls. Eventually Jason Wu and Integrity Toys began working with Mel to re-invent Gene and her world, but Gene never regained the widespread popularity she'd once had.

Through it all, Mel Odom remained a gracious and kind person who was truly humbled and awed by Gene's popularity and the enthusiasm of her many fans. I wish him well in his future endeavors. Thank you, Mel Odom, for giving us the gift that was Gene Marshall. She opened the door to a whole new world of doll collecting, passion and creativity. We are still enjoying those gifts today.

Overall, I thought MDC was well-organized, well managed and well done. I already mentioned the cost as being one downside. Another downside?? The food.

When you're paying $295 for a meal event (doll included) you at least want the food to be good. The doll, you can sell if you don't like. The food, not so much. And by the time you've put out that much money, you don't feel like putting out more for something to eat after the event. Nor should you have to.

For example, I attended 3 different meal events in total. In each one, I was served rubbery green beans garnished with chopped pimento or red pepper.  I was starting to think it was the same green beans, over and over, by the time the convention was through. Seriously, green beans aren't that hard to cook well. Another example? The slab of prime rib we were served at the Kish event. It was thick-sliced, barely lukewarm as usual, tough and about half fat. Those wishing vegetarian meals didn't fare much better. They had to wait til everyone else was served, getting their food last. On at least one occasion the kitchen had run out of the vegetarian dish and some poor folks had to wait even longer. I didn't hear one positive comment about the vegetarian food. A couple folks told me it was some of the worst convention food they'd ever had.  Like many folks, I personally would rather have simple, well-prepared food than fancier stuff not done so well. Just something for the organizers and chef to consider for next year. :)

And that wraps up my MDC comments. Questions, anyone??

This year's salesroom unfortunately had fewer vendors than previous years. Two retailers, Bearzabout and Denver Doll Emporium, were notable in their absence. Fortunately (or unfortunately for my pocketbook) I still managed to find lots of stuff to buy.

Dale Rae's sales tables offered lots of shoes and stockings, for BJDs and many other dolls. Her website, for those not able to attend MDC, is www.dalerae.com.

Summer and Nancy of Strawberry Circle had lots of adorable outfits and separates made primarily for the 14" Betsy McCall. I bought a couple for my 14" Kish girls and possibly some MSDs to wear. They will be offering outfits for BJDs in the future, hooray! Their website is www.strawberrycircle.com. Unfortunately their cute outfits aren't yet shown on their website, but dolls for sale are.

Susan Langellier had cute outfits for the Kish girls and Ellowyne among others. Her website is www.suzipsews.com. Email her for information on available outfits or ask her to create a custom outfit for your doll. Her fashions are very nicely made.

I left some of my money with Cindy of Wee-Designs. She had outfits for the Kish girls, Ellowyne, and other 10" vinyl dolls that caught my eye. Her email is: cindyweedesigns@sbcglobal.net.

I managed to resist Patricia Seaton's lovely repaints, but will probably have her do some custom work for me in the future. Her website is: www.eleganttouchrepaints.com.

Michele Hardy offered repainted BJDs and lots of colorful BJD outfits, a couple of which came home with me. Her Dollpage address is: http://www.thedollpage.com/marketplace/store.php?login=mhardy.

Of course I also checked out the new Ellowyne and Evangeline goodies at Wilde Imagination. My new Ello is now on her way to have her painted eyes replaced with glass eyes by Jim Ash. He does beautiful work installing glass eyes on all sorts of vinyl dolls. His email address, should you be interested, is ImJimDandy <at> aol.com. He redid my vinyl Evangeline a few weeks ago and she now has a new outlook on life, so to speak. Pun intended.

The convention wasn't as well attended this year as previous years. It was a shame, but unsurprising. Hopefully next year's convention on the east coast will attract more people.

As I mentioned before, it is not an inexpensive convention to attend. I think cutting costs where appropriate might help make it more affordable. For example, who really needs yet another logo-printed canvas convention bag and badge holder? While they were both very nice, they could easily be replaced with less costly alternatives. There was a printed, bound good-sized booklet not the program) included with the convention bag that I frankly left behind. While it probably went along with the "Enchanted Adventures" theme, it was an additional cost. Another possibility: make the convention doll an option.

There were quite a few different workshops that I would imagine required paying a lot of room use fees. Instead of renting several smaller rooms, why not rent one larger room and set up different tables with different activities? Give each attendee a chance to choose 2-3 different tables to visit over the course of maybe 4 hours, and I bet the cost would be less. It just seems that with the current economic climate, the days of well-attended, relatively extravagant conventions are over. I know a lot of the folks who ran extra-fee workshops had kits and materials left over afterwards due to low attendance.

I hope the organizers of the MDC better take the economy into account while planning next year's con and take steps to make it affordable for more doll collecting folks.

 

This year's MDC was held in sunny Albuquerque.  Now Albuquerque, New Mexico is not a place I'd ever planned on going, but I'm glad I did. It's very different from the green landscape I'm used to, but has its own beauty in the red soil, hills and mesas, and long history.

I saw the MDC as being a melding of primarily three genres of doll collectors. Most numerous were the traditionalists, interested in dolls such as the Alexanders, with some carryovers into the Kish and fashion dolls. Then there were the fashion doll collectors, who also were interested in some of the Kish, Ellowyne/Evangeline and Goodreau dolls. Last, and least in number I think, were the BJD contingent. I'm glad the organizers of the MDC recognize the popularity of BJDs and encouraged folks to participate in the BJD related workshops/activities that were provided.

I went to two different meal events. These were extra cost over the convention cost, because of the dolls each person received. It was not an inexpensive convention at all. Many of the workshops and of course meal events had extra charges.

First up was Evangeline Ghastly's "An Unfortunate Event" luncheon. Debra DeForte and Joe Petrollese  talked about how Evangeline came into being, and showed a cute, funny video that I hope will be posted on Evangeline's website for all to enjoy. Each attendee received a souvenir doll-sized tombstone and the limited edition "An Unfortunate Life" Evangeline doll. She is beautiful, with dark auburn hair and a lush victorian-era costume with really cool shoes. The centerpiece doll was another limited edition Evangeline with long red hair and a long, flowing black cape with a bat collar.

The second meal event was the Kish "Diamond Awards" dinner. The Kish Company should learn from Wilde Imagination and the Tonner Company, and produce humerous, whimsical videos to show at collector events instead of the tedious video they showed us. If I don't see another doll spinning in slow motion for ten years, it'll still be too soon. Anyway, the "Lace and Gossamer" Lark is cute as could be with blonde hair and a pink and green "shabby chic" outfit. Her companion doll, the first 14" boy doll in the Chrysalis line, is named Phoenix. Phoenix is simply charming. Both dolls are still available at the MDC website store.

More soon on the MDC. For now, here's a link to some of the photos we took: Modern Doll Convention 2009 - Albuquerque.

I will be blogging about the Modern Doll Convention shortly. I have not felt well since returning home, which is why I haven't written anything yet. Pictures will also be made available.

Just tonight, I realized the Ryung-Soah Yahoo group had had quite a lot to say about my blog entry asking for a boycott of Elfdoll products. It's too bad more group members didn't respond to my post directly, or to my response to the group member who did.

To restate my position: while Elfdoll certainly had the right to drop its retailers, and Ms. Cholong, the way DK went about it was unprofessional, unnecessary, ungracious and certainly ungrateful.

Someone mentioned that Elfdoll had a love/hate relationship with its retailers. That is certainly true. Had Ms. Cholong, or someone equally enthusiastic and charming, not been the liason for Elfdoll, I probably would have given up on them long before I went out of business.

Somebody else mentioned that if Ms. Cholong were the cause of Elfdoll's constant problems and delays, then getting rid of her would cure a lot of the company's ills.

My prediction? Elfdoll will have the same problems as before, if not moreso, without Ms. Cholong to smooth things over. At least DK won't be able to blame Ms. Cholong, or anyone else, for her problems. Sour grapes on my part? No, I don't think so. I think I'm being realistic, knowing what I do of the company, its history, and its staff.

I find it interesting that before DK got involved with the Yahoo group again,  which was approximately shortly after the time Elfdoll posted about dropping its retailers and Ms. Cholong, there was a fair amount of criticism of Elfdoll's lack of creativity, poor business practices, etc.  After DK  got involved again, voila'. Suddenly Elfdoll could do no wrong. Makes you wonder, doesn't it?

I love Rainman's dolls and probably always will. I  consider Rainman a great artist and I hope he will always create dolls for appreciative collectors. Hopefully someday he will have a better, more efficient and more friendly way of getting them to his customers. Just my opinion.

 

As you may have heard, Elfdoll has unceremoniously, and rudely, cut off its retailers.

Phrases such as "biting the hand that feeds you" and "cutting off your nose to spite your face" come to mind. Unfortunately, by the time the director of Elfdoll figures out that cutting off its retailers was the wrong thing to do, it may be too late for recovery. And the director may never actually admit she was wrong.

This latest in a series of what I see as bad decision-making on Elfdoll's part may be the one that sounds the death knell. Many, many people don't want to buy  directly from Elfdoll's site for various reasons. I am now one of them.

Elfdoll doesn't currently offer layaway, but if it wants to survive, it had better start doing so, pronto. However, that won't appease the folks who want to actually see the dolls in person before making such a substantial financial investment. Nor should it. A large part of the reason Elfdoll has made it this far is precisely because of its retailers. The retailers made possible seeing the dolls in their resin glory before purchase. They offered layaway and helped with troubleshooting doll misfunctions. They interfaced with Elfdoll to get replacement parts when needed. They hosted BJD meet-ups so people could share their doll creations, and newbies could join in. They generated a lot of positive buzz for Elfdoll while not making a whole lot of profit.

Don't blame Rainman for this or for Elfdoll's rude putdown of Ms. Cholong on its  website. He has been freelancing for the company the last several months, and doesn't have much if any say in day to day operations. The responsibility for these decisions lies squarely with the director and her staff. They have not done themselves any favors by acting in such short-sighted and mean-spirited ways.

I love the BJDs made by Elfdoll, truly I do. I own several myself.  But considering Elfdoll's recent actions, I won't be buying any more of its dolls. I don't wish to further support a company that treats the people who have spent so much time and energy promoting their products, like dirt. Elfdoll no longer deserves my business. I hope all of you will join me in not buying their dolls. Sometimes you just have to stand up for what is right, and hope you will be heard. I hope Elfdoll hears us, loud and clear.

 

I just read what Elfdoll posted on their site about Ms. Cholong. As a former Elfdoll retailer, I know that what Elfdoll claims about Ms. Cholong couldn't be further from the truth.

Ms. Cholong is largely responsible for the success of Elfdoll in the USA. She worked endlessly and at times to her own detriment to promote them. That Elfdoll is trashing her so badly now is unforgivable and totally unprofessional besides being ridiculous and rude.

Ms. Cholong is the one who worked with the retailers to solve problems. She mediated between Elfdoll and the retailers if either side had issues with the other. She was in the unique position of understanding just what it took to produce dolls and also what it took to market and sell them. She tried to help Elfdoll understand what the retailer's reality was, and vice versa.  Good customer service to both the retailers and individual Elfdoll collectors was very important to her.

As I understand it, Elfdoll's financial troubles are primarily due to bad business decisions made primarily by the director and her staff . Not for the first time, Ms. Cholong is being used as a scapegoat by people unwilling to admit their own mistakes. Not for the first time, Ms. Cholong is being blamed for circumstances beyond her control.

When Elfdoll sent its abrupt, rude email to its retailers to tell them they were dumped, I wrote a blog post about it, but refrained from posting it, not wanting to cause trouble for Ms. Cholong. Now all bets are off and I will be posting the blog entry shortly.

I urge all of you to write Elfdoll regarding their incredibly nasty announcement about Ms. Cholong. They should know how unprofessional their conduct is and how badly they have damaged their own reputation, (no doubt not for the last time). Please also join me in boycotting all Elfdoll products. If nothing else, maybe Elfdoll will finally understand it has gone too far when their sales go downhill.

Money talks.

It even speaks Korean.