For children, stuffed toys are an indispensable part of growing up.
In fact, some can’t sleep without clutching their favourite ‘chou chou’ — that unique scent cultivated over years of cuddles can, in many cases, never be replicated.
Jane Cher is no exception, of course.
The 25-year-old has fond memories of her mum fixing up her favourite stuffed toy when she was younger and thought she could bring others that same happiness of getting a rejuvenated chou chou.
So she started Stuffed Toys Hospital when she was in her first year of university, initially handling backend duties while her mum did the actual repairs.
But thanks to word-of-mouth, they started getting overwhelming orders and Jane herself had to step up to do repairs as well — while working at her full-time job in a start-up.
Today, she runs Stuffed Toys Hospital full-time as the lone ‘surgeon’ and has reached a point where the business is sustainable.
Though the gig isn’t without its challenges, what keeps Jane going are the smiles she receives when she returns repaired chou chous to her customers.
Stuffed Toys Hospital is a home-based business inspired by how Jane’s mum would help fix up her old Winnie the Pooh toy by changing its stuffing to make it as fluffy as new.
“After that, I saw that Pooh was yellow and fluffy again, and I felt happy at my childhood toy looking brand-new,” she told MS News.
To help her then-housewife mum earn some side income, Jane pitched to her the idea of opening a ‘hospital’ for stuffed toys, and her mum could do the repairing.
“She was quite thrilled and asked me to bring her customers,” Jane recalled.
The service is based on meetups at Aljunied MRT Station. Jane arranges for customers to drop off their stuffed toys with her mum, and after the plushies have been repaired at her home, they can collect them at the train station.
Things were actually rather slow in the beginning – Jane had simply started a Facebook page with zero marketing or posts.
Eight months passed before that changed. Despite the lack of advertising, someone managed to find the page and sent it a message — Stuffed Toys Hospital had its first customer.
This customer sent in a grey Eeyore doll and requested to add stuffing to it, which Jane’s mum handled.
Happy with the work, the customer left a positive review, and news of the hospital started to spread.
As the name suggests, Stuffed Toys Hospital provides medical services for your plushies, including cleaning, stuffing, and replacement of body parts.
Because every plushie is different in size and colour, each requires a tailored solution.
A customer’s stuffed toy before and after its ‘spa treatment’ and stuffing replacement.
Naturally, it also involves a lot of work since every toy has to be repaired by hand.
As such, each ‘treatment’ has a turnaround time of between two to three weeks.
This explains the prices, which range from S$40 for the addition of stuffing to a small plushie to over S$200 for fixing up a much larger toy.
A sample of some of the services on offer. Source: Stuffed Toys Hospital
More intense ‘surgeries’ can take up to four weeks and cost over S$400 for a large toy.
To educate curious customers, Jane posts many videos on social media detailing the intricate process of cleaning up and repairing stuffed toys.
This also helps people to understand why they charge the amount they do, she explained.
For years, Jane’s mum would tell her that she needed to charge the customers more, but due to concerns over setting prices above their expectations, she refused.
Jane then realised after handling the repairs herself that her mum was right.
Besides the work itself, which already takes up plenty of time and energy, she also has to source the materials from local shops.
In fact, she might have been undercharging for years.
About three years after they launched, the orders started getting overwhelming. That was when Jane asked if her mum required help.
Then, while Jane worked at her first job after graduating, she also learned how to do repairs at the same time.
It was a gruelling schedule – she’d return from work in the evening, meet customers, and then work on the repairs while learning the ropes from her mum until around 2am before finally going to bed.
“It came to a point where I had to decide between [a full-time job] and Stuffed Toys Hospital,” she said.
The primary concern was whether the business would be sustainable as Jane’s parents preferred her to have a stable income.
“There was a lot of doubt in my mind as to whether it would sustain me,” she admitted.
But a gut feeling told Jane to pursue Stuffed Toys Hospital full-time and see where it takes her.
“In the end, I felt I had to live for myself and not just follow whatever my family told me.”
“I thought this could work, and even if it doesn’t, I can jump to another job as I’m still young,” she added.
Thankfully, her decision paid off. With between 50 to 60 orders a month, Jane is able to earn a decent living.
These days, Stuffed Toys Hospital is pretty much a one-woman show.
Jane handles all of the work by herself, from content creation to answering queries as well as doing the actual repairs, six days a week.
Even taking a break proved “difficult” – not handling repairs for merely a week, such as when she caught Covid-19 this month, meant facing a huge backlog.
It doesn’t help that the stuffed toys are just sitting there as daily reminders that she needs to finish repairing them.
Jane’s first real break came earlier this year when she left for Japan for three weeks.
Even then, she had deliberated for over half a year before she finally listened to her sister and friends, who were nagging at her to get some rest.
So she temporarily stopped taking new orders and finished her pending ones, completing her final repair a mere two days before flying overseas for her long-awaited holiday.
Because of how tough the job can be — to the point that even taking ‘leave’ is hard — Jane sometimes jokes to her friends that a desk job would be better since at least she wouldn’t have to OT as much.
That said, she happily reported that the break rejuvenated her and she’s now hard at work again to bring smiles to her customers.
Besides her near-daily repairs, Jane also conducts workshops, including basic classes on how to better take care of your precious chou chou.
Her number one tip? Never use a washing machine to clean your stuffed toy. The plushie might not dry internally, which can cause mould to grow.
Furthermore, the rough tumbling might cause seams to break and plastic bits to fall out.
Instead, Jane recommends hand-wiping, especially if the toy is still relatively new.
She also teaches people how to make their own stuffed toys.
Jane handmade these bunnies, which one can outfit with handmade clothes too.
The toughest part of the job, however, might be managing customers’ expectations.
After a repair, a toy can feel a little different from what they’re used to. More complex repairs can also alter the toy’s image.
So Jane has to caution customers that the toy might feel or look different — this applies to both simple and complex repairs.
“The truth is, we don’t know how the toy will look until the repairs have been completed,” she said.
“It’s always difficult to align customer expectations.”
But what keeps Jane going are the happy faces of her customers when their stuffed toys look as good as new again.
For instance, she once had someone send her an old Snoopy plushie for repair.
Jane expertly cleaned it and replaced its stuffing to make it nice and cuddly again — a process that she documented on Instagram — before returning it to yet another satisfied customer.
“She had this big smile on her face — I can’t forget it,” Jane beamed.
Indeed, getting to see firsthand the impact you can make on another person’s life, even if it’s through something as seemingly small as fixing up their beloved soft toy, can be a very special thing.
If you’ve got a childhood chou chou you wish to give a new lease of life, check out the Stuffed Toys Hospital website here.
Know an inspirational figure you’d like us to feature? Get in touch with us via email at news@mustsharenews.com.
Featured image by MS News. Photography by Ian Sim.
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