You'd stand a better chance of getting rich by winning the lottery than by opening a doll store.
I kid you not. Most people just do not realize how little money there is to be made in the doll business, especially when you're dealing with BJDs.
The reason is, most BJD manufacturers just do not give retailers very big wholesale discounts on the dolls. Manufacturers claim their costs are simply too high. But that's a topic for another day...
By the time the retailer pays the wholesale price for the doll, then pays EMS shipping here (and EMS is the only way most Korean companies want to ship their dolls), there is not a lot of margin left. Out of that margin has to come a share for necessities such as rent if there's a storefront, employees, business and occupation taxes, the ISP, telephone lines, any advertising, conventions, and no doubt stuff I am totally forgetting about. Most BJD manufacturers do not let their retailers mark up the dolls to cover shipping and other costs. Retailers have to sell the dolls for the same price as the manufacturers sell them on their own websites. Profit? What profit? Very little, unfortunately. Unlike you, the retailers have to pay for their dolls in full when they order them. No layaways available, no 30 or 60 day terms. It's cash up front, usually by wire transfer, which costs $20-$30 for each transaction. Youch.
Wholesale discounts for things like outfits from the BJD companies were often even worse than for the dolls themselves. That is why we turned to other items from other companies, such as Dollheart. The outfits, wigs, shoes and other accessories from places like Dollheart and Monique basically helped us compensate for the money we weren't making on the dolls.
I never, ever drew a salary from Dolls and Friends, nor did Leo. Thank heaven Leo could do all the software for both the cash register and the website, as well as the bookkeeping. And if we'd had to eat from the store profits, we'd both be a lot thinner than we are. Diet by low profit margin...hmm..potential there.
Wondering why we did it for so long if it wasn't all that profitable? Some days we did too. What it boiled down to for me was plain and simple. I love dolls. Always have, always will. I really meant it when I said I started out as a doll collector run amok. Opening a doll store is what you do when you run out of room in your house for dolls. Why did Leo do it? Because he loved me, loves me and hopefully always will love me. I've been very blessed in having him as both a business and a life partner. He has made my life rich in so many ways.
Hi Kathy!
It is great to see that you have NOT left the public dolly world....you've got a super blog here, I'm hooked! The honest, refreshing tell-all approach is just that, refreshing! Take care, have fun and I'll be checking back often.
I'll overlook the sap- this time- don't let it happen again! :)
But I have heard this before from another shop owner who quit the business. I was amazed how very low the profits are from such expensive items. I guess as consumers, we always assume that sellers take a decent amount of profit from high-ticket items.
Boy, do we assume wrong?!?!?!
See? I would have even less profit, because I would never be able to sell one if I took it out of the box to check for breakage or anything- I would "bond" easily and no one would ever have dolls but meeeeeeeeeeeeee. :)
But I'd sure have a helluva collection before I lost my house to store them. :)