When Googling " dollhouse furniture " or even just " dollhouses ", I can't deny the presence of this toys- and a dollhouse-selling company called Melissa and Doug, so I got curious.
At first, I was doubting to write about this on my website, but then I thought: as this brand is so popular, I needed to research this couple's story and the reasons why they are so popular, no?
And I must say: there was more to it than I thought beforehand, so let's share!
Update on 08/12/23 and our latest information: Melissa & Doug's net income has decreased from $88.1 million to $28 million!
Who owns Melissa and Doug? A little history.
Melissa & Doug Bernstein started off in a basement in America in 1988, where they invented all kinds of wooden children's toys.
The brand "Melissa and Doug" is nowadays mainly known for its wooden puzzles, wooden doll houses, and lots of other wooden toys.
While this amazing couple started out as a humble company, nowadays it is a thriving and billion-dollar cooperation.
The company and brand clearly have made the couple quite rich beyond their wildest dreams, by owning a lot of homes and other material stuff that makes this world go round;-)
It looks like the company has been having steady growth for over 33 years now!
While being financially successful, Melissa has always struggled with mental health and she even wrote a book on it.
Surprisingly maybe, her success story comes with a little hidden secret which you can read about some more here.
What kind of products are made by Melissa and Doug?
Melissa has designed all 5,000 of its products, all of them low-tech.
The Melissa & Doug company's philosophy is striving for all screen-free toys, to try and limit screen time for young children, which is a terrific idea, in my opinion.
One of the first products was the Fuzzy Farm Puzzle, which was a wooden puzzle that had texture. Later, lots of wooden puzzles were added.
It wasn't until the 1990s, that the company expanded its choice in wooden toys, plush toys, dollhouses, etc.
Let's dive a little further into all the lists of products that I have seen on Amazon.
But as this is really quite an expanded list, I will more likely go into more detail on the dollhouses than on the rest of the toys, obviously 😉
Building toys, collectible toys, and educational toys.
Melissa and Doug have a big collection of wooden building toys and collectibles.
I have even seen huge building blocks made from extra thick cardboard and I haven't seen these elsewhere. Aren't these amazing, talk about eco-friendly!
Baby's and Toddler toys
The baby and toddler toys from Melissa and Doug consist of stack-and-sort boards/little houses, children's books, stacking trains, and more.
Check out this adorable little barn, for example, where your toddler can stack all kinds of animals.
(I think that the love for small things can start early with this one haha)
Arts and crafts supplies
The art and craft supplies from Melissa and Doug contain things like reusable sticker pads, wooden handle stamps, primary lacing beads, DIY jewelry designs, and so much more.
Kids' dress-up and pretend play.
While dressing up as a firefighter, nurse, etc, kids can learn about all the different professions in the world while pretending to be someone else.
Melissa and Doug have all kinds of uniforms, play kitchens, 'food' sets, etc..
How about this cute little bake wooden pizza counter play set, for example?
Puppets and puppet theaters.
These puppets from Melissa and Doug are cute! Look at these animal puppets for example 😉