Skullduggery Inc. digs its new site.
The maker of fossil replicas and educational toy kits moved into a 10,000-square-foot building in Anaheim Hills earlier this month.
The headquarters is at 5433 E. La Palma Ave., behind the Land Rover and Jaguar car dealerships.
The company generates about $2 million in yearly sales. It counts eight workers and 40 independent salespeople. It had been in a 4,400-square-foot headquarters in Tustin since the late 1980s.
Skullduggery moved to Anaheim because space there was more affordable than in areas such as Tustin, Irvine and Costa Mesa.
“We were at our Tustin headquarters for a long time so we’re still adjusting to the move,” said President Stephen Koehl.
Since joining Skullduggery full time in 1996, Koehl’s made efforts to expand the company’s product line and grow its customer base.
His father, Pete Koehl, bought Skullduggery in 1987 from previous owner Steve Gagnon. The company first started out making fossil replicas such as dinosaur parts, human skulls, saber-toothed tiger skulls and animal teeth, and selling them to museums and schools.
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Skullduggery in Anaheim Hills: toy maker moved from Tustin |
A good chunk of Skullduggery’s business still is dedicated to making fossil replicas, but its educational model toy kits are putting the company on the map.
The toy kits are sold on Target.com and in major stores such as Wal-Mart, Sears and Toys R Us.
Skullduggery’s “cast & paint,” “eyewitness toy kits” and “krazy kars” are fueling its growth because there’s a demand for hands-on, educational entertainment, Koehl said.
Kids can make, assemble and paint their own toys including cars, fossils, animals, trains, spacecrafts, army men, firefighters, monsters and princesses.
The kits include non-toxic casting plaster and paint, molds and parts. Almost all of Skullduggery’s materials are made domestically and are bought from local vendors, Koehl said.
The company makes its fossil replicas and assembles and packages its products in Orange County. It uses outside companies to ship its products although a good chunk of customers come to Skullduggery’s headquarters to pick up orders.
Skullduggery’s one of the few toy makers to make and assemble its products domestically.
The Toy Industry Association estimates that about 70% to 80% of the toys sold in America are made in China. With toy recalls from competitors such as El Segundo-based Mattel Inc., which recalled several million toys made in China, Koehl said Skullduggery has an edge in the business because it makes the toys in the U.S.
“That’s something we’re really proud of,” he said.
The company taps distributors to sell its products overseas in Europe and Asia. Skullduggery sells directly to its U.S. customers.
Getting into Wal-Mart and other stores wasn’t easy, Koehl admits. It took the business nearly five years to get some of its big clients to buy from them, he said.
Skullduggery also makes products for other companies. That’s something that Koehl would like to expand in the next few years. He said he’s also looking to sell them in Target stores.
Spooky Art
As a kid growing up in Orange, Tim Turner loved watching old horror movies and hanging out at the local Halloween costume shop. Lucky for Turner, who owns Ghoulish Gallery in Rancho Santa Margarita, he still gets to do the spooky stuff.
The company makes antique, Victorian-style portraits that change into creepy images before your eyes.
Portraits of men, women and children turn into decomposing bodies or eerie creatures. Some even look like they’re haunted with ghosts.
Turner declined to disclose sales for Ghoulish Gallery. He’s the only full-time worker. Sometimes his wife, April Turner, and friend Brandon Champlin help him out, he said.
Turner started the Ghoulish Gallery in 1995 after toying with the idea in the early 1990s while working as a special effects, makeup and wardrobe specialist for movies, including “The Addams Family.”
His Hollywood credentials give him an edge in the business. Working on movie sets taught him about bone structure and facial expressions, which helps him create the horror movie-style images seen in his portraits, he said.
The Ghoulish Gallery makes its portraits with a special technique that changes its image without the use of batteries or electricity. Turner’s mum about how he does it but said his technique looks similar to holograms on post cards, but more advanced.
An 11-inch by 14-inch portrait sells for about $50 and a 16-inch by 20-inch portrait sells for $75. Portraits vary in size and price. Some are as big as 8 feet by 6 feet, he said.
“There’s definitely a market for this type of art and they can get pretty elaborate,” he said.
Most of Ghoulish Gallery’s portraits are made with real antique pictures that Turner buys from secondhand stores, flea markets and trade shows.
Custom made portraits, such as the ones he’s made for the “Tonight Show with Jay Leno” and “CSI: Crime Scene Investigation” use new pictures.
Using real antique photos from the past adds extra mystery, Turner said.
“They add a spooky vibe to the product,” he said. “Knowing that the person is legitimately dead adds so much more mystery to the whole enterprise. I’m sure they never thought their photo would end up in a secondhand store but each character has their own story.”
The company makes all of the portraits at its 1,500-square-foot headquarters. Ghoulish Gallery sells portraits directly to amusement parks such as Knott’s Berry Farm in Buena Park, professional haunted house operators, television and film studios, antique shops and novelty gift stores.
A handful of companies make scary, haunted mansion-style art including Haunted Memories in Seal Beach and Texas-based Haunted Portraits.
Turner’s Hollywood connections have helped him get the word out, he said.
Past customers include Ray Bradbury, Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston, Jay Leno, Cassandra Peterson,also known as Elvira Mistress of the Dark,and Butch Patrick.
Turner’s future plans: expand the business by working closely with more amusement parks and studios.
Restaurant Expanding
Le Diplomat Caf & #233; in Brea generates $1.7 million a year cooking up French, Italian, Mediterranean and Mexican cuisine.
Owner Andre Khouri said he’s planning to open a second restaurant next year.
“We have a good menu and concept at Le Diplomat,” he said. “I think it could do well in other areas.”
Khouri’s 3,000-square-foot restaurant is near Nordstrom on the second floor of the Brea Mall, which is owned by Indianapolis-based Simon Property Group Inc.
It employs 40 full-time and part-time workers.
Le Diplomat serves about 300 people daily. It buys ingredients from local vendors, he said.
The former engineer from Lebanon said he wants to open a second restaurant in a mall or outdoor shopping center.
He’s eyeing Los Angeles and Orange counties as well as the Inland Empire. It just can’t be too far away from his Brea location because he needs to be able to run both restaurants easily, he said.
So far he’s looked at opening a restaurant at the Buena Park Downtown Mall, owned by Ohio’s Diversified Developers Realty. He’s also looked at MainPlace Mall in Santa Ana, which is owned by Australia’s Westfield Group.
Khouri’s going after smaller malls and shopping centers because he thinks it will be easier and less expensive to open a restaurant at these locations, he said.
South Coast Plaza in Costa Mesa is too big and expensive for him right now, Khouri said. He wants to build up the restaurant as a chain before trying to get into bigger centers such as South Coast Plaza, he said.
“It’s just a matter of finding the right space right now,” Khouri said.
Khouri’s dream is to have about four to five Le Diplomat Caf & #233; locations.
