Doll & Hobby Shoppe is Up For Sale—NOT!!!

*meeps* I hope someone takes it over, 'cause it's one of the only places I've found to get VOLKS 1/6 bodies in the 'States. (short of eBay, naturally.)

 

This makes me sad too, the current staff has been very patient and nice whenever I've dealt with them...hope they find a buyer who understands us crazy doll people...

 

This is very intersting, coming right after an email I had from an Ebay buyer.
I sold one of my Himstedts to her, and she is a Himstedt dealer.
She told me that she would be carrying Volks dolls soon.....which either means that she is planning on buying the store, or that she has started negotiations with Volks.
I didn't really take what she told me too seriously, but....
She is located in south Florida, so this is an interesting coincidence.

Michelle

 

Well I my self have been negotiating in volks for a while to be a certified dealer. (I own www.superdollfie.org) Even though I've been selling superdollfies for 2 years now (sold about 200 so far) and have perfect feedback on ebay. Have tons of repeat customers, and have supplied Volks with alot of past customer's info to contact them (with the customers approval first of course) They want me to have a physical shop/store. Apparently online business does not count to them :/ wich is frustrating to say the least...especially since I make very little profit as it is, (like barely enough to pay rent and bills) so a physical shop is totally out of the question

 

Oh no.. I am so sorry to hear this. D & H is where I got my very first SD years ago...

 

haha I want it! Seriously though, every time I have *ever* tried to talk to them, they have been nothing but nasty and I'll be happy to see our volks contact change hands. Now if only I could get it to change into *my* capable little hands... but as kakyuu pointed out, I'd need a shop. I mean, it makes sense, given that they have their own internet business for english speaking customers.

 

Well, the person I was thinking of (and I am NOT mentioning names) is not buying Doll & Hobby.
They are trying for their own dealership.
So I guess D&H is still up for grabs.
Michelle

 

Michelle,

I hope several doll shops take on a dealership. That would be the best thing for the buyers of the dolls. I can't tell you how happy I am I have the dolls I do, and I don't think I've lost any of my hair line to get them....^0^ Some were pricey, but no blood letting....

 

roux that has also been my experience, not very nice on the phone to me twice.

Both times I was super polite especially the seond time to see if they might be nicer.

After I got off the phone I thought well they really don't sound like the nice people that I have heard they are, sounded very stressed.

Well good luck to them,

Treelore

 

In a recent issue of FDQ, there is a Doll and Hobby Shoppe ad that says:

"Now accepting applications for Volks wholesale accounts, please call for more info."

Maybe that has something to do with the other person in florida who was going to start selling them?

(I dunno) ops:

 

hey guys, I'm sorry but I'd rather not get into the rather dicey issue of whether D&H is nice or not. It seems like many people have had very different experiences with them, so maybe we could just leave it at that? Especially since no one is going to deal with them again, seeing as they are selling their store. ops:

 

I really hope you are able to set something up with Volks some day as you are one of the friendliest doll dealers I've ever met and would love to buy future dolls through you.

 

thank you so much You are so sweet :> hopefully I'll get things worked out with volks soon, the email correspondence is very slow, but I'm hoping we can work something out! ^__^

 

oops...double post >.<

 

Oh, no--!! This is very sad news to me... :cry:

I have fond memories of visiting their physical location several times... I'd go there and shop around for a while, buy a bunch of Volks goodies, have a nice chat with the staff (who were always very sweet to me), and then I'd go down the street to the candy store and buy some homemade fudge to eat while I messed with my new goodies. Sigh.

I hope the new staff will handle the place well, and I do hope they won't change their location! (Or, if they do, I hope they won't go far.)


~Kalmia

 

Ok, Doll & Hobby is NOT SELLING! I repeat, they are NOT SELLING THE BUSINESS! There was a BIG misunderstanding between Frank and the business that posted up the link online. I just spoke with a friend of mine that knows Frank personally and she told me this.

Recently, a large bank purchased space within the shopping center where his doll store is located. Because of this, the property value has gone up and his property taxes have gone up too high for him to want to stay in that location.

Whoever that company was that put up the link about his business being sold, misinterpreted that he wanted to sell his PROPERTY, not the business itself! I guess Frank didn't know that the info was posted incorrectly until he started getting calls from various members of DoA and Lunar Ark (where the link was posted before here) asking why he was closing up and such. Imagine his surprise!

So no, he's not closing up his business, just trying to get outta the place it's located at! Whew! I'm glad he's still in the doll business because Frank is one of the nicest people I've ever done business with online! :grin:

 

Thanks for the information, JoAnn...^^

I was feeling sad about him leaving. He's always been great to me. This is good news.

 

WHEW! Thank you for clearing this up, JoAnn! I feel so much better now.

Any word on where they're relocating to? I'd like to know... I'll want to investigate their new location ASAP. X3


~Kalmia

 

Thank goodness! That's wonderful news! I, for one, am grateful for Frank and all the hard work he's done to make BJDs accessible to those of us here in the US! :grin: