By Donald Wittkowski
Some people may not be aware that there is a hospital in the middle of Ocean City’s downtown business district.
Patients are given great care when they are rushed in for emergencies.
“We are a doll hospital. We repair dolls,” explained Katy Himes, owner and head “doctor” at Kay Jay’s Doll Shoppe at 737 Asbury Ave. “People come in and ask us, ‘Can you fix it for me right now? My child can’t sleep without it.’”
Himes has a room in the back of the store where the dolls are patched and stitched. Some dolls are in need of extensive TLC, while others require a mere touch-up.
The so-called hospital is just one part of the elaborate doll shop that Himes started in 1985 with her late mother, Kathryn Nichols. Her mother went by Kay Jay, hence the store name.
Himes recalled that her mother, a colorful character, reveled in playing the role of doll doctor. She would walk around the store dressed in surgical scrubs or a physician’s coat while wearing a stethoscope.
These days, the attire is far different for Himes and her daughter, Jamie, who helps to run the store. For the holidays, they dress up in pink, Christmassy elf outfits that match the shop’s decidedly feminine color scheme.
“It’s our pinkdom,” Himes declared, laughing.
The shop once had an earthy color palette. It was given a pink-tinged overhaul after Hurricane Sandy in 2012 flooded the store with 18 inches of water and ruined the green carpeting.
Fortunately, Himes was able to save the dolls and their accessories from the hurricane’s wrath by moving the merchandise to her home, her daughter’s house and her neighbor’s residence after some frenetic, last-minute packing.
After cleaning up the storm damage, Himes made the decision to decorate the store in pink. We’re talking about a sea of pink. Pink walls, pink carpeting, a pink storefront and a large pink sign emblazoned with the shop’s name dominate the pinkdom.
The store’s holiday decorations also have a pink hue, including the stockings, the garland and some of the Christmas trees. Of course, many of the dolls and their accessories are pink, too.
“Whenever I see pink, I buy it,” Himes said.
Himes owns the store with her husband, Rich. Their four daughters, April, 37, Rachael, 23, Jamie, 19, and Maggie, 17, have all taken turns working in the store and learning the doll business. Jamie is set to take over when Himes retires.
“I know it so well,” Jamie said, alluding to all the time she has spent in the store since she was a little girl.
The doll business runs in Himes’ family. Her grandfather, Milton Emmert, owned a doll hospital in Philadelphia in the 1940s. Himes’ mother learned the business from her father and then passed that knowledge on to Himes. Now, Himes’ daughters are the latest generation of doll mavens.
Ninety percent of the doll clothes in the store are handmade by Himes, her daughter or a seamstress. All of that stitching and sewing experience, no doubt, comes in handy when dolls are in need of repairs in the hospital.
In an age when children often clamor for high-tech smartphones, computers and video games, Kay Jay’s remains a bastion of old-fashioned toys.
“We don’t bring in anything electronic,” Himes stressed. “That is so important to us – the old-school mentality.”
The store brims with every type of doll accessory imaginable. For instance, Himes noted that Kay Jay’s sells more than 600 styles of shoes for the American Girl brand of doll. About 60 percent to 70 percent of the store’s sales are related to the American Girl line, Himes said.
“If there is something out there for this doll, I will find it or I’ll make it,” she said.
Another big seller is a line of newborn baby dolls that are uncannily realistic, right down to being anatomically correct.
“We sell hundreds of these dolls. I think it’s because they look so real,” Himes said.
With Christmas coming up, Kay Jay’s is in the middle of the holiday shopping rush. Even during economic downturns, the doll business does well, Himes said. She believes that little girls innately want dolls, and their parents are happy to oblige them.
“A child will come in, still in a stroller or in their parents’ arms, and they will reach out to hold a doll or hug it. I don’t know how that happens,” Himes said.
