News, reviews and photographs of Modern Fashion Dolls including Kingdom Doll, Fashion Royalty, Sybarite, Tonner Doll, Gene Marshall, Barbie and my own experiences as a doll collector.
I personally do not know Kazue nor her husband and have never bought from either of their stores, but...it does seem strange to me that now Tom's store has closed so suddenly as well. Did he even put up a notice on his website before he closed up shop? Why has it closed? What is going to happen to those people who have pre-orders with him?
I've been following the various threads on this whole thing and there seems to be so many unanswered questions and I suspect that ultimately, no-one is ever really going to find out what really happened.
I do not know this Denise Travers either but it also seems odd to me, that if she is so close to Kazue AND her family...why are they not giving her any information? Even if it is to say we don't know where Kazue is and fear for her safety - so that she can pass it on to the doll collecting world. It is all this silence that is causing some people to start to feel suspicious about the whole thing.
Desperate times can make people do desperate things - even things they themselves thought they'd never do. At the end of it all I do hope that Kazue is alive and safe and those affected financially will be able to recoup if not all, then most of their lost $$.
This just shows why it isn't so great, having to pre-order everything. Pre-ordering didn't used to be the main way to purchase collectible dolls. But, now it is. I don't like it, never did, and don't think I will continue to pre-order. Sorry, but if the companies cannot afford to make it, before getting paid for it, well, you are in the wrong business.
Very interesting.. and I'm not surprised. It seems to me (and it's only my impression, and my opinion, based on very limited knowledge) that it just seemed a little weird that Kazue went missing, and Tom was continuing on with his life, like nothing had happened.
I get the feeling that life had become too hard, and let's face it.. the doll biz certainly isn't what it used to be in the mid-90's during Barbie's "gotta-have-it Christmas-Holiday Dolls-hey-day". Bills need to be paid, and sometimes the turn around doesn't happen. We see this on doll company & seller sites. Life can be sometimes be overwhelming.
I have seen many episodes of "Dateline" & "48 Hours - Investigates", where people allegedly go missing only to turn up, at another time. Life had become too hard for them. Disappearing seemed to be the only way out of a tough time.
I sense there is some of this truth buried in there somewhere, and have felt this way since the first announcement about Kazue. We will never know for sure. I sincerely hope they are both well.
If my comments are not okay, or are offensive, to someone, Terri, you can delete them. I will understand and won't be offended. Truly.
I love your Blog. It's always informative and thought provoking. J.
in the w club it said it temporally close but they sent out an email to some people with preorders. BIC has the same temporary banner up on their site.
I was waiting for the other shoe to drop, i.e., Tom closing his store. I know there are several Momoko that he had listed as sold out on pre-order that have not yet shipped from Petworks, so there's more money that people have paid and dolls will never be shipped. And Petworks has decided to give people a 20% discount for orders paid 100% through BIC, though they will pay the shipping costs (but the buyer still has to pay Petworks' PayPal fee). So essentially a collector has to pay 180% of a doll's cost. This mess is getting worse by the day. Eric
What I'm thinking is that BIC's creditors decided to go after Tom and began to make his life miserable. In the US, when a husband or wife has creditors in most cases the other spouse can be responsible for these debts. I don't know how it works in Japan. If the businesses were separated and incorporated (US) then the family assets are protected. Perhaps Tom will reopen under another business name. He was always a pleasure to deal with.
I am still scratching my head that no one seemed to know Tom was Kazue's husband. Did anyone know that? Did I miss something? I hope that Kazue is okay. I hope that Tom will be okay and I hope that people get the dolls they paid for. Such a sad story:(
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I personally do not know Kazue nor her husband and have never bought from either of their stores, but...it does seem strange to me that now Tom's store has closed so suddenly as well. Did he even put up a notice on his website before he closed up shop? Why has it closed? What is going to happen to those people who have pre-orders with him?
ReplyDeleteI've been following the various threads on this whole thing and there seems to be so many unanswered questions and I suspect that ultimately, no-one is ever really going to find out what really happened.
I do not know this Denise Travers either but it also seems odd to me, that if she is so close to Kazue AND her family...why are they not giving her any information? Even if it is to say we don't know where Kazue is and fear for her safety - so that she can pass it on to the doll collecting world. It is all this silence that is causing some people to start to feel suspicious about the whole thing.
Desperate times can make people do desperate things - even things they themselves thought they'd never do. At the end of it all I do hope that Kazue is alive and safe and those affected financially will be able to recoup if not all, then most of their lost $$.
oh boy.... here we go again... This could have been probably been read in "between the lines".
ReplyDeleteI think this will affect enormously the doll world. People will take a long time to trust again.
I suspect that even Doll Collectible and other Japanese dealers will be affected by this, by association.
This just shows why it isn't so great, having to pre-order everything. Pre-ordering didn't used to be the main way to purchase collectible dolls. But, now it is. I don't like it, never did, and don't think I will continue to pre-order. Sorry, but if the companies cannot afford to make it, before getting paid for it, well, you are in the wrong business.
ReplyDeleteVery interesting.. and I'm not surprised. It seems to me (and it's only my impression, and my opinion, based on very limited knowledge) that it just seemed a little weird that Kazue went missing, and Tom was continuing on with his life, like nothing had happened.
ReplyDeleteI get the feeling that life had become too hard, and let's face it.. the doll biz certainly isn't what it used to be in the mid-90's during Barbie's "gotta-have-it Christmas-Holiday Dolls-hey-day". Bills need to be paid, and sometimes the turn around doesn't happen. We see this on doll company & seller sites. Life can be sometimes be overwhelming.
I have seen many episodes of "Dateline" & "48 Hours - Investigates", where people allegedly go missing only to turn up, at another time. Life had become too hard for them. Disappearing seemed to be the only way out of a tough time.
I sense there is some of this truth buried in there somewhere, and have felt this way since the first announcement about Kazue. We will never know for sure. I sincerely hope they are both well.
If my comments are not okay, or are offensive, to someone, Terri, you can delete them. I will understand and won't be offended. Truly.
I love your Blog. It's always informative and thought provoking.
J.
in the w club it said it temporally close but they
ReplyDeletesent out an email to some people with preorders. BIC has the same temporary banner up on their site.
I was waiting for the other shoe to drop, i.e., Tom closing his store. I know there are several Momoko that he had listed as sold out on pre-order that have not yet shipped from Petworks, so there's more money that people have paid and dolls will never be shipped. And Petworks has decided to give people a 20% discount for orders paid 100% through BIC, though they will pay the shipping costs (but the buyer still has to pay Petworks' PayPal fee). So essentially a collector has to pay 180% of a doll's cost. This mess is getting worse by the day. Eric
ReplyDeleteWhat I'm thinking is that BIC's creditors decided to go after Tom and began to make his life miserable. In the US, when a husband or wife has creditors in most cases the other spouse can be responsible for these debts. I don't know how it works in Japan. If the businesses were separated and incorporated (US) then the family assets are protected. Perhaps Tom will reopen under another business name. He was always a pleasure to deal with.
ReplyDeleteI am still scratching my head that no one seemed to know Tom was Kazue's husband. Did anyone know that? Did I miss something? I hope that Kazue is okay. I hope that Tom will be okay and I hope that people get the dolls they paid for. Such a sad story:(
ReplyDeleteTeri