Every time I head to my Pilates classes in NYC, I pass a shop on 78th Street where the palm-sized furniture costs more than some people's full-sized stuff, the paintings are smaller than a postage stamp, and everything — every teacup, every velvet settee, every tiny loaf of bread in the bakery display — is built to teeny-tiny scale. (Don’t worry, if you don’t want to pay gigantic prices for tiny things, there’s a much more affordable section in the shop as well.) For 36 years, Leslie Edelman has run Tiny Doll Shop, a wonderland of dollhouses and miniatures, turning it into a destination for serious collectors, set designers, and a delightfully unexpected wave of younger fans who found the store via TikTok. (And incidentally, it's the only dedicated miniatures/dollhouse shop in NYC!)
I finally stopped for a proper visit and an interview with Leslie, who gave me a tour that included tiny oil paintings, a $2,300 hand-inlaid secretary, and a window display devoted to summer in the Hamptons and Tuscany. He also told me how he fell down the miniatures rabbit hole, why a broken dollhouse chair is sometimes a good sign, and what it's like to suddenly go viral.
I love your store. I pass it all the time, and I was wondering: How does somebody get into this line of work?
So for me, it was kind of a whim that then became a hobby, and then the hobby became the shop. Many years ago, I decided one day to build a dollhouse for a niece of mine. In those days, we had the Yellow Pages, so I looked up a dollhouse shop that was downtown. I went in and discovered this world, and the next thing I knew, I was building a dollhouse and totally obsessed.
What was it about it that captivated you so?
I think just the fact that you could create this little world, and be able to move things around and not strain your back.
The pieces you sell are so beautiful and so detailed. Tell me about where you source them.
We travel literally all over the world to find artists and artisans who make all these things. I am amazed by the fact that someone can create something so tiny and so perfect — I have a love for everything that's here. When I first started buying things for the shop, I said, "Well, if I don't sell it, I basically end up owning it by default." So I have to love whatever I sell.
Is there a country or an area that specializes in creating these miniatures?
We find most of the artisans in the UK, in Spain, France, Germany, and then as far-off as Thailand and Vietnam and other Japan. There's a fair amount being made in the United States as well.
Tell me a little bit about your customers.
Whenever I'm asked that question, I always say our customers range from 2 to 92 because you name it, we've got it. So it can be young children coming in and furnishing a first dollhouse. It's adults who are collectors and furnishing either a dollhouse, or what we call a room box — like a diorama. And then we've got everything in between: set designers, movie people, jewelry people that make jewelry out of these things. It's everybody.
Have dollhouses become more or less popular in recent years? I've wondered as I've passed your shop — with the advent of technology and smartphones and video games, how the market for this kind of thing has changed.
Well, thankfully there is a market for them, because otherwise I wouldn't be here. But it ebbs and flows: We have busy times around Christmas or Hanukkah or other big holidays. And thankfully, there are always birthdays and various special occasions. But we have found a particular resurgence in the past couple of years, a lot of which is due to social media.
For example, about two and a half years ago, a young woman came into the shop and asked if she could take a couple of pictures and I said, "Sure." And the next thing I know, she's holding her phone and talking into the camera, and I'm saying to myself, What the heck is she doing? I eventually found out that she posted this video to TikTok, and it went viral. And since then, there's a whole new clientele in their late 20s or early 30s. They don't necessarily have a dollhouse, but they're giggling and laughing and looking. Maybe they end up buying something, and the next thing you know, you've got a nice-sized sale — and they come back and bring friends. As someone of my generation, I don't even know how you get onto TikTok, but I guess it works.
Also, in this crazy world, it's nice to be able to make a little environment that you can control and make it exactly how you want it to be.
Some of the pieces are pretty pricey, aren't they? So I guess people, unless they're fabulously wealthy, buy one piece at a time — or furnish one room at a time?
Yeah, it really depends. Our price ranges go from $2.50 to $2,300 for a piece.
$2300! Which piece of furniture is that?
It's a handmade secretary — all the inlay is done by hand in England.
I bought a dollhouse from you for my daughter for Christmas, maybe 30 years ago. I've often thought of trying to electrify it. Is that hard to do?
It's not the easiest thing to hard-wire, but thankfully someone came up with the brilliant idea of doing miniature LED battery lamps and ceiling fixtures, which is much better.
How long has the store been here?
I've owned it for 36 years.
And you get a lot of foot traffic here too, right?
We do. When we first moved here, I was saying, "Oh my God, what if nobody comes?" But we're a destination, so people come.
This store is really a not-so-hidden treasure, full of other tiny treasures. Tell me about your display windows, Leslie. For me, part of the joy of going to my Pilates classes is seeing how your windows change with the seasons.
Our windows are done by my partner, Tim Potter, and we try to change them almost every other month or so, and of course also seasonally. So we have right now a summer-in-the Hamptons type scene. And then we've got summer in Tuscany in another window.
It can be a little tough when it comes to giving a dollhouse to kids, because these objects are so delicate.
First of all, I always steer parents to the non- or less-breakable items. But then I always tell parents, "If things don't get broken, it means nobody's playing with it."
