In the age of the megastore, a few small, specialized businesses still thrive in Old Town Torrance
by William Foss
There was a time when most stores specialized in delivering just one product or service, before the advent of ‘department’ stores that do almost everything. It might seem that specialty retailers are becoming obsolete in the era of Wal-Mart and the internet, but a few hang on and even thrive.
Old Torrance has some unique businesses that are incredibly specialized, all within four blocks of each other. One store focuses on doll houses, another carries only decorating supplies for home bakers. Around the corner is a a World War II book and goods shop, and a few blocks away is a store selling only jazz records.
Such businesses are small and don’t have a budget for advertising, so they surprise even longtime residents. They are the product of enthusiasm rather than commercial calculation, run by owners who have turned passion into a livelihood.
My Doll House
My Doll House specializes in doll houses and their furnishings – from lighted chandeliers and dining tables to the butler, maid and family cat. Marge De Koster has run this place for 25 years in the same location.
“We started because we had no choice,” she said. “My husband Roger was going blind and lost his job. One thing that he did enjoy was woodworking, which he could still do by feel and by holding the pieces close to his face.”
The high quality of his tiny houses made them think that perhaps there was a business opportunity. For over three years they could not get a loan from the Small Business Administration. “Roger had been in the Navy at the same time as George H.W. Bush and wrote to him asking for help as a fellow veteran, and within two days we had the money.” The dollhouses that Roger created were wonders, with hand-laid wooden floors and working lighting, all meticulously created by a man who was functionally blind. Roger passed away seven years ago, but the family business is kept alive by Marge as the manager and her son James Stewart as the new craftsman.
“Only about twenty people a day walk through the door”, says Marge, ‘but nearly every one buys something. We ship all over the country, with dollhouses ranging in price from $29 to over ten thousand dollars.” About three quarters of the business comes from the Internet. The dollhouses are not only for collectors but are used by movie studios, with Steven Spielberg and Disney using them on-camera. Purchasers include movie stars and Playboy models along with architects and industrial planners. Accessories include lawns, patio furniture, Christmas and Halloween decorations and even tiny surfboards for the California beach bungalow look.
My Doll’s House, 1218 El Prado Ave., 310-320-4828.
Down the block is Sprinkles N’Stuff, which only sells decorating supplies to home bakers. Owner Cynthia Blackledge has been here for almost three years, not only selling but teaching classes. Who is their market? “People are starting to cook and bake more,” Blackledge says. “That way you know what is in what you eat. We also have students who want to learn how to bake, sometimes for school projects.”
The popularity of the Cooking Channel has helped her business, she acknowledges. “We also have our own YouTube channel, with tutorials you can watch on your laptop while you decorate your homemade goods in the kitchen,” Blackledge says.
Blackledge worked in finance for eleven years while saving to open her business, then went from banker to baker. “I loved baking and decorating things for my son when he was small, and it just became a passion,” she says.
Some decorative themes never go away: Ninja Turtles, Hello Kitty, Star Wars and Frozen are popular. One of the most requested themes is one that they are about to expand into: the “naughty” market. “We will have to create a special space in the back of the store that kids can’t go into for those products,” Blackledge says with a laugh.
Why should people come to Sprinkles N’ Stuff when they can just go to Ralphs?
“I love a lot of the products that they carry at those places, but if you want to know how to melt and mold chocolate I can tell you, and even show you,” Blackledge says. “They just don’t have that expertise and can’t give the one-on-one service. We also import some supplies from Britain that you just can’t find anywhere else – gluten-free, all natural, vegan and they the colors are better than anything else that you will find.”
(Sprinkles N’Stuff, 1272 Sartori Avenue, (424) 558-8042)
A moment’s walk will get you to The World War Two Store, run by Gary and Cheryl Zimmerman for over 15 years. Gary started the store because of a dilemma: “I was trying to figure out what to do with the 3,500 books that I had collected, and a friend suggested that I just open up a shop and sell them,” he recollects. “Then suddenly people came in and started selling me other stuff, so now I sell that too.”
How did he come to have so many books on the topic? “I was just interested in it, and I can read a book a day so I ended up with lots of books,” Zimmerman says. “It was a tremendously complex subject with all the factors that led up to the war politically and how it was waged tactically, and there was so much to say from so many angles. People are still writing about it.”
Glance around the shop and you will see swords, medals, flags, posters, dummy artillery shells, and of course books. Mannequins wear flight suits, bomber jackets, Wehrmacht and GI uniforms and nurse’s smocks. “You know what has been selling well?” he asks. “Condoms. They had military issue condoms.” He adds that they are probably not safe to use at this point.
Few of his customers actually remember the war. “No, those guys are too old. There is still interest by young people,” Zimmerman says. “There are a lot of re-enactors out there, but some people just walk in off the street. We have things here for as little as ten dollars, and go up to a two hundred at the most.”
What’s the store’s best time of year? “Halloween, of course,” he says. “But Christmas is also good, and all year it is steady business.”
For people interested in learning about the war he recommends two books: “The Good War” by Studs Terkel and “The Greatest Generation” by Tom Brokaw. Both are for sale at the shop.
The World War Two Store, 1422 Marcellina Avenue 310-533-4992.
Where Sartori meets Torrance Boulevard you will find P.M. Sounds, and will immediately notice a turntable in the window. That’s not just an ornament – this is a shrine to vinyl records, specializing in jazz. Owner Erving Johnson has run the place for 18 years in the same location.
“I have always been a vinyl guy, starting as a DJ in Buffalo, New York,” Johnson says. “I had a production company called P.M. Sounds, and I just transferred that to the record store.”
Part of the reason he came to California was the weather. “I would see USC playing in January with all the fans in t-shirts, and there I was wearing a coat inside my house while watching the game,” he says. “I thought, that’s where I want to be!”
His personal passion is jazz, with a lot in the store from the forties through sixties. “We have had some 78 rpm classics, but there is not too much call for them,” Johnson says. “I still have plenty of 45s too, and people come in just to buy the adapters from me.”
The store also carries a good representation of soul, rock from the 50s to 70s, funk and some big band. Most records are very reasonably priced, with some great music for around $10. The most expensive thing he has in the store is the first record Motown ever produced, “Bad Girl”, by The Miracles, which will set you back $800. Johnson stocks albums by T-Bone Walker, James Brown, The Chantelles, John Coltrane, the Marvelletes, Django Reinhardt, Cannonball Adderly and others who are less well-known.
Johnson thinks he owns about 50,000 records, plus a few CD’s. “If I didn’t buy another record for two years I will still have plenty to sell,” he says.
The business is growing. “Young people are learning about jazz and blues. I just wish that more radio stations played it so people heard it more often,” says Johnson. “I have jazz from Japan, Europe, Africa… the whole world does jazz.”
P.M. Sounds, 1115 Sartori Ave. 310-787-8200. ER
