Kay Jay’s Doll Shoppe is the kind of store that makes Ocean City special
OCEAN CITY — Family-run businesses such as Kay Jay’s Doll Shoppe help create and maintain the authentic nature of downtown Ocean City, where hundreds of thousands flock every summer in search of the perfect gift.
With very mild apologies to Walmart, there is nothing like purchasing a special item in a memorable place that can be found nowhere else.
“I think it’s really kind of a special, unique store that has kind of an old-time feel,” Lorrie Kiger said recently while visiting from Pittsburgh. “Not the kind of experience you get in a big toy shop like Target or Walmart — it has a personal feel.”
Michele Gillian, executive director of the Ocean City Chamber of Commerce, said having one-of-a-kind shops is what makes the downtown such a thriving business district.
“It really adds to the unique boutiques that we have,” she said. “So many little girls really love going in there. It’s a great location and they have other things such as great gifts and toys.”
Gillian encourages visitors to explore the shopping district, which is centered on Asbury Avenue from Sixth to 14th streets but overflows onto some side streets and West Avenue.
The locally owned businesses include a multitude of items visitors and homeowners need and want, from surfing supplies, home goods and sweet treats to salons, fitness studios and professional services.
Gillian said there are more than 105 stores in the downtown, which is one of the biggest shopping districts per block in the state.
“I encourage people to visit all the different stores,” Gillian said. “They are all unique and have something different to offer.”
She said great shops combined with “great places to stop for breakfast, lunch and dinner really make downtown Ocean City a great place to visit.”
Featuring a whimsical exterior with pink and blue bricks and large display windows, Kay Jay’s, at 737 Asbury Ave., is just as delightful to look at inside — starting with the pink dragon, whose head and tail can be seen bursting through the ceiling.
Row after row of dolls — American Girl, Bitty Baby, Madame Alexander and others — line one wall, while toys, puzzles and games fill the other.
Owner Katy Himes, known as “Momma Bear,” opened the shop with her mother Kay Jay Nichols in 1985. She now runs it with her four daughters — April, the “Master Seamstress,” who grew up working in the store and now makes the doll clothes sold there; Rachael, the “Artist,” who created the magical pink dragon; Jamie, the “Cat Rescuer,” who is second in command and plans to take over one day and own 6 million cats; and Maggie, the “Dancing Queen,” who creates the displays and stylish outfit combos for the dolls.
Himes said she has been selling dolls for nearly 40 years but that her family history with dolls dates back more than a century. She said her grandfather was “born in the family doll hospital” and later was proprietor of Emmert’s Doll Hospital, which served center city Philadelphia for more than 20 years until closing in the early 1960s.
She and her mother first opened as Kay Jay’s Doll Emporium at Eighth Street and Wesley Avenue, selling mostly collector dolls. At the same time, Nichols carried on the tradition of the doll hospital.
They moved to Ninth Street and Wesley Avenue when they expanded their inventory, and by the time they had moved to Ninth Street and Simpson Avenue in 1988 had added vinyl and plush dolls and American Girl clothing.
They finally made the move in 1999 to their current location, where one by one her daughters learned to run the shop.
According to a history on its website, kayjaysdollshoppe.com, the girls “were raised among the dolls and toys, helping customers as soon as we were tall enough to reach the cash register. Over the years, the doll doctor torch has been passed and nowadays, we all take care of the broken dollies in need.”
Himes said the store carries dolls and doll clothes, shoes, socks, accessories, furniture, strollers and even toys for the dolls, but also has toys, puzzles and gifts for boys — if they are not too scared to walk past the pink dragon.
Himes said they take steps to cater to boys, whom she thought may also be afraid of pink. This year they changed the color of the walls and floor to white, just in case.
“I thought about a daughter coming in with a son and we have nothing for him, so he’s whining and wanting to get out,” Himes said. “So we added trains, dinosaurs and evolved into games and toys. We’re trying to cover all the bases.”
Another unique factor about the shop is that they make and sell their own doll clothes. Himes said she sews some of the clothes, her daughter sews some and they have a seamstress who works for them as well. She said their clothing is popular and, even though hand-made, less expensive than the brand-name clothing. They even take special orders such as a school uniform or cheerleading outfit, although she said it’s tough to keep up with that work in the summer, when even the doll hospital is closed.
“We’re just too busy to do repairs,” Himes said, noting they are open 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday to Saturday and 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday. “But we try to never say ‘no.’”
At the doll hospital — first operated by her grandfather in the 1940s, then her mother and now she and her daughters — they restring limbs that have fallen off from age or too much love.
A destination
Himes said it makes her happy to see children’s eyes light up when entering the store.
“We really have become a destination — they want to see what we have,” she said.
Quality is the main factor she considers when selecting items to sell.
“We play every game, do every puzzle to be sure they’re easy to understand, good quality and a good price,” Himes said. “We won’t carry anything mass market or sold at Target. If I find it there, we drop it. We want to be special and different.”
While the shop has been operated by generations of the same family, it also has been patronized by generations of the same family.
Kiger was shopping recently with her mother, Lorraine, and daughters Genevieve, 5, and Adelaide, 3½.
“We have been coming to Kay’s for 30 years,” she said. “My mom used to bring me and my sister and now she and I bring my young daughters.”
Kiger said she is happy to share the experience with her daughters.
“I remember going to the original location on Ninth Street with my mom and sister when little, walking in and it was really … (actually speechless as the decades rolled back in her mind) … it was wall-to-wall dolls and clothes, a lot of old-fashioned porcelain dolls, one-of-a-kind baby dolls — such a really fun experience as a child,” she said. “We would go every summer when we went to Ocean City and she would let us pick out some special items and get more for Christmas or a birthday. When my daughters were born, I took them and mom and I were so excited to see it was still open, still there and I could take my daughters.”
Himes said it makes her feel old when she sees people she knew as children shopping at the store with their own children.
“I was somewhere and the girl found out where I was from and said she had her 6-year-old birthday party at the store — she was almost 30,” Himes said. “It’s been kids, then their kids, then their grandkids. I’m glad we’re still here.”
By CRAIG D. SCHENCK/Sentinel staff