This is part 2 of a three part history of Buttercup Miniatures
Buttercup Miniatures is born!
Having made some items Frances was in discussion with a local dolls house shop owner who expressed an interest in some of the clothes she had made and the possibility of a design service for 1930’s and 1940’s clothes too. Buttercup Miniatures was born! At the time Frances’ car was a Mini that was bright yellow, Buttercup yellow in fact and the name seemed just right for the new venture. Supplying ready-made items to shops soon gave way to supplying patterns. The time taken to produce a single garment was too long and Frances felt it was unrealistic to try to supply ready-made items in the quantities that could be required. Around this time Buttercup Miniatures went ‘on the road’ attending dolls house fairs in England and Wales. This became something of a family affair with daughter Kirsten and husband Gary joining in. It soon became apparent that the specialist nature of the items appealed to a core of collectors and that the dolls house fair was not the best way to reach the correct people. Again by chance, at one of the fairs, Frances got into conversation with a web designer. It was agreed that a small web site would be launched and Buttercup Miniatures went live on the ‘net in 2002. As Buttercup Miniatures grew it became evident that Internet trading was a realistic possibility and the first web shop followed in 2004.
The move from fairs to the Internet also meant a change in how we get our products to our customers. From personal experience we knew people expect to have their goods quickly after ordering. So it became a strict rule that we don’t show products in stock on the web shop if we do not physically have them to send out right away. From the positive response we get it seems you agree.