St. Louis doll maker tries to keep art, business

ST. LOUIS -- Just when the Old Cape Doll Shoppe was beginning to succeed, the landlord sold the building where it rented space.

Owner David Bridgewater, 31, had to scramble. It was a serious blow to his porcelain doll-making and repair business.

The business was down for three months while Bridgewater waited for space in a nearby building to become available, and he still is recovering from the move.

"I had completely given up" at one point, said Bridgewater, who moved to St. Louis from Cape Girardeau to shepherd the business. He eventually bought it from founder Danette Gocio, who left to help manage her husband's medical practice.

The porcelain doll-making industry is depressed, but the shop, which he bought a year ago, was starting to flourish.

Classes on making dolls were booked for months ahead, and Old Cape was bringing in a steady stream of customers who commissioned dolls made to look like a family member.

Once his new space was ready in the Dogtown neighborhood of St. Louis, Bridgewater was able to start rebuilding. Word has been spreading slowly, and he concedes he has an uphill battle.

Business owners can take steps to prepare or recover from having to relocate, said Ken Harrington, director of the Skandalaris Center for Entrepreneurial Studies at Washington University.

The first is to inform customers of the address change through mail -- electronic or postal -- and on the business Web site, if there is one, Harrington said. It also helps if the new location is affordable and similar to the original, he said.

"The thing they absolutely need to do is to retain their phone number, even if it costs them extra money," Harrington said.

Running an ad in the newspaper won't do the job alone and is expensive, he noted. Owners also should send a news release to media about the move and post maps of the new location on their Web site and at the old location if the landlord will permit that.

Business owners also can solicit suggestions from customers on grand opening events they might like to see. For instance, Bridgewater could hold a doll tea party as a reopening event.

"All these things need to be high-value to the customer and low cost to the business," Harrington said.

Beyond managing the relocation, Bridgewater also is fighting a trend with Old Cape. Modern demand for porcelain dolls peaked in the late-1980s and mid-1990s and has been declining since.

Competition from cheaper foreign-made dolls, coupled with the time and cost of producing a porcelain doll, the recent recession and a switch to collecting vinyl dolls all hurt the industry, said International Doll Makers Association President Sherlyn Lovell, of Duncanville, Texas.

About four years ago, the association's annual convention drew a low of 50 attendees, down from 400 at its height. The number of chapters has dropped to 10 in recent years from about 25, Lovell said.

"It's not a very profitable business," she said. "With the money that goes into making them, the best you are going to get is the satisfaction of making a really good doll."

Lovell sees signs of a turnaround, however. Last year's convention had 100 attendees.

Bridgewater expects the industry will rebound, and he's betting his business on it.

"It's not been easy for the last few years," he said. "I'm just really into keeping the doll art alive. I'm so addicted to it; I absolutely love it."

He is trying to stir interest through word of mouth, advertising and by reconnecting with his old customers.

From Old Cape's reopening in June through December, the business brought in about $25,000 in revenue, Bridgewater said. He declined to predict what revenue would be this year.

ON THE NET

* Old Cape Doll Shoppe:

www.oldcapedollshoppe.com