The Dolls House Emporium is an online retailer supplying 1:12th scale dolls houses (known as dollhouses in the USA) and 1:12th scale and 1:24th scale miniature collectables. They no longer design or manufacture products themselves. It distributes miniatures worldwide via its website. The site offers more than 6,000 items of dolls house furniture, plus the houses themselves. It trades around the world and e-business methods are tapping markets in the UK, USA, Canada and Australia with web portals dealing with local currency, pricing and shipping. It was founded in 1979 by Jackie Lee and her then husband Adam Purser. Television companies and creative agencies regularly use Dolls House Emporium products in their work. For instance Montgomery Hall was used as a prop in

Upstairs Downstairs Upstairs Downstairs may refer to: Television *Upstairs, Downstairs (1971 TV series), ''Upstairs, Downstairs'' (1971 TV series), a British TV series broadcast on ITV from 1971 to 1975 *Upstairs Downstairs (2010 TV series), ''Upstairs Downstairs'' ...

on the

BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board ex ...

in 2012. Miniature accessories were used in the

20th Century Fox 20th Century Studios, Inc. (previously known as 20th Century Fox) is an American film production company headquartered at the Fox Studio Lot in the Century City area of Los Angeles. As of 2019, it serves as a film production arm of Walt Dis ...

film ''

Gulliver's Travels ''Gulliver's Travels'', or ''Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World. In Four Parts. By Lemuel Gulliver, First a Surgeon, and then a Captain of Several Ships'' is a 1726 prose satire by the Anglo-Irish writer and clergyman Jonathan ...

'' in 2010.

History

The original range comprised three 1:24 scale

model kits Model building is a hobby and career that involves the creation of physical models either from kits or from materials and components acquired by the builder. The kits contain several pieces that need to be assembled in order to make a final mode ...

of timber-framed buildings sold

B2C Direct-to-consumer (DTC) or business-to-consumer (B2C) is the business model of selling products directly to customers and thereby bypassing any third-party retailers, wholesalers, or any other middlemen. Direct-to-consumer sales are usually tr ...

via direct response advertising. There were few accessories available at 1:24 scale but an emerging 1:12 dolls’ house market and good quality miniatures becoming available from

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the nort ...

, encouraged collecting and repeat business. In February 2013 the company was sold to internet retailer and magazine publisher

MyTime Media MyTime is a software company headquartered in San Francisco that provides an all-in-one scheduling, marketing, and point of sale solution for local and International service businesses like Salons, Spa, Therapists, Fitness, Government, Financial ...

, on the retirement of founder Jackie Lee and the new firm relocated warehousing to Peterborough and thereafter to Queenborough in Kent.

Expansion

In 1983 The Dolls House Emporium moved to converted farm buildings in

Denby Denby is a village in the England, English county of Derbyshire that is notable as the birthplace of John Flamsteed, England's first Astronomer Royal, and the location of the Denby Pottery Company. The population at the 2001 Census was 1,827, in ...

Derbyshire Derbyshire ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands, England. It includes much of the Peak District National Park, the southern end of the Pennine range of hills and part of the National Forest. It borders Greater Manchester to the nor ...

, starting with one unit and by 1992 occupying five units with a manufacturing workshop, warehousing, offices and shop. In 1988 the first imports were purchased direct from the factories in

and

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

(via

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China ( abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delt ...

), and the company started selling B2B as well as

, attending its first trade exhibition with a stand at the British Toy and Hobby Fair in 1988 showcasing the Queen Anne House. It was such a success that several were immediately despatched to

Saks Fifth Avenue Saks Fifth Avenue (originally Saks & Company; Colloquialism, colloquially Saks) is an American Luxury goods, luxury department store chain headquartered in New York City and founded by Andrew Saks. The original store opened in the F Street and ...

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. In 2015, the company moved to its current premises in Queenborough, Kent.

Awards

2012: Outstanding Customer Relationship Management & Customer Service: ECMOD Direct Commerce Awards. 2011: Outstanding Customer Service: ECMOD (European Catalogue and Mail Order Days) Direct Commerce Awards. 2007: Orchard House is 'Highly Commended' Right Start toy awards.

Model kit product ranges

The Dolls' House Emporium sells over 30 miniature homes. Discontinued models and previous catalogues have become collectors items. In 2011 the company won a licence to reproduce replicas of the miniature items from

Queen Mary's Dolls' House Queen Mary's Dolls' House is a dollhouse built in the early 1920s, completed in 1924, for Queen Mary, the wife of King George V. It was designed by architect Sir Edwin Lutyens, with contributions from many notable artists and craftsmen of the ...

Windsor Castle Windsor Castle is a royal residence at Windsor in the English county of Berkshire. It is strongly associated with the English and succeeding British royal family, and embodies almost a millennium of architectural history. The original cast ...

. They were launched in 2012.

References

{{reflist

External links

The Dolls House Emporium Company website
Dollhouses