The brown-eyed brunette wrapped in a jean skirt was loyal, stylish, unique and could keep a secret. Her creator, Heather Elaine Self, an 11-year-old from McKees Rocks, carefully selected those attributes in the doll she designed at the new Friends 2B Made store in the Mall at Robinson.

	Steve Mellon, Post-Gazette Amanda Drahos, 6, of Wheeling, picks out a doll at Friends 2B Made at the Mall at Robinson on Thursday. She's helped by her mother, Shari, left, and employee Kathy Schwartz. Click photo for larger image.

Self doesn't have a lot of dolls, but she sees something special in the latest, which she named Hillary Ann. "If I'm feeling sad, I have someone to talk to,'' Self said.

It's not child's play finding a niche in the crowded and fickle doll business, yet the lucrative toy industry is full of entrepreneurs with a soft spot for speciality products.

"The dolls were part of my original business plan," said Maxine Clark, founder and chief executive officer of Build-A-Bear Workshop, the popular make-your-own stuffed teddy bear chain that just netted $25.7 million in an initial public offering on the New York Stock Exchange. Clark was in Robinson last week to open the first Friends 2B Made make-your-own doll store. A second opened Friday in Columbus, Ohio.

Dolls have been under a lot of stress in recent years. Some question the body-image messages they send, and some report girls leaving the dollhouse behind at younger ages. In its most recent quarter, toymaker Mattel saw sales of long-time homecoming queen Barbie slip 13 percent.

But those who love to play with dolls still account for a big piece of the toy budget, especially at Christmas. Doll sales added up to $2.8 billion in 2003, according to research firm NPD Group, more than the games segment, more than the outdoor toy segment, and much more than the $1.4 billion plush-toy business.

While mass doll merchants Wal-Mart and Target are roughing up Toys R Us and bankrupt KB Toys, there seems to be space in the speciality doll market.

Online retailer eToys Direct Inc., a Denver business that bought the name from the bankrupt founders and now operates a number of Web toy stores, has been learning to assemble special order dolls in a Virginia warehouse. In September, it relaunched the My Twinn doll line that it bought out of bankruptcy in the spring.

Even Barbie maker Mattel has a specialty line in the American Girl brand it acquired several years ago. The dolls, whose stories are told in a series of books, are welcome guests at special American Girl store/restaurants in New York City and Chicago. In the third quarter, sales associated with the brand rose 9 percent to hit $61.5 million.

At S.W. Randall Toyes & Giftes, the holiday season always means turning over the entire third floor of the main Smithfield Street store to the dolls.

Buyer Linda Cohen estimates the store has 1,500 different dolls, from Madame Alexander to the Groovy Girls, even the more specialized Barbies. "I'm always looking out for independents," said Cohen, who acquires a few special dolls from many suppliers.

From a merchant's perspective, specialty dolls have a lot going for them.

EToys Chief Executive Officer Michael Wagner recently told analysts the My Twinn line is a favorite part of his business. Profit margins tend to be higher than in other eToy businesses, which handle thousands of toys found in numerous stores. Shoppers can compare prices on a singing Elmo, but there's only one source for My Twinn.

My Twinn dolls are made to the buyer specifications, down to the hairstyle and freckles applied by hand, and may take three or four weeks to arrive. The average purchase totals $180, including the dolls that start at $119, plus clothing or other items. Doll sales are also about the accessories.

Since a My Twinn doll is specially made to look like a member of the family, it needs wardrobe updates. When eToys ran My Twinn focus groups this summer, it discovered its fans were passionate. "They think of these dolls as their children," said Gary Lindsey, vice president of marketing.

Emotional connections come up repeatedly in discussions with specialty doll merchants and their customers. "When these people are buying dolls, they're really not looking at prices," said Cohen, at S.W. Randall. "They want a doll they love."

St. Louis-based Build-A-Bear's staff found that out when it began testing dolls in a few bear stores several months ago. In the original plan, customers were to choose one of several cloth bodies to be stuffed, then customized to their taste with sounds, clothes and the perfect shoes.

The 5- to 12-year-old female target customers rejected a personalized magazine accompanying each new stuffed doll in favor of a friendship certificate. The girls also wanted to be able to choose personality traits, like those that made Hillary Ann special for Heather Elaine Self.

"We knew it was about friendship," said Amy LeFebvre, manager of bear and doll brand development. But providing personality traits was "like a big aha!" LeFebvre said.

Instead of sticking with her original idea of naming the store Build-A-Doll, Clark took her young customers' advice in calling it Friends 2B Made.

Dolls start at $12 with pre-assembled outfits ranging between $8 and $12. Store shelves also feature butterfly-adorned journals, miniature stuffed animals, bedding in a bag and make-up kits with artificial lip gloss for the doll and real stuff for the girls.

Alivia, a 3-year-old from Hermitage, went home with a mermaid doll with a shiny blue-green tail. The total cost was $26.35, which seemed like a pretty good value to her mother, Tracey Oppman. The family spent $50 in the past on a Build-A-Bear creation.

The half-craft, half-toy concept could theoretically grow as big as the bear side of the business, but the company is avoiding revenue projections until it sees the results at the test stores.

There are risks selling specialty dolls. My Twinn sales hit $26 million, but the previous owners ran into problems when they shifted some of the complicated assembly work to China. The process didn't go smoothly, and a lot of dolls didn't make it to customers on time, said Lindsey.

Under eToy's strategy for making the business profitable, customers are increasingly being directed to the Web, rather than ordering by phone, so they can see an image of the doll they are designing. That should reduce costly returns.

Even with the popularity of specialty dolls, 45-year-old Barbie still ranks high among the nation's hot holiday toys. Almost 22 percent of consumers surveyed for the National Retail Federation plan to buy Barbie merchandise this season for girls.

Build-A-Bear's 4-foot, 10-inch Clark defends the tall, curvaceous Barbie -- one of her favorite toys as a child -- against critics who say most girls can't meet that ideal. Dolls are about pretend and play, said Clark, arguing that "I grew up to be a decent human being."