When owner Judi Henderson started the business she immediately received calls from photographers, jewelry and clothing designers and trade-show exhibitors. But she soon discovered that small retailers who are not in the apparel industry would become her frequent customers. Retailers who don’t have a permanent need for a mannequin find it cost effective to rent a mannequin for their special or seasonal promotions.

The Discovery Channel store in the Sony Metreon entertainment center submerged a rented mannequin in a claw foot bathtub filled with fake suds to highlight their home spa products. The attention-getting sight of a “woman” leisurely lounging in a tub amid aromatherapy products, table fountains, and candles made it easy for passerby to visualize themselves using the merchandise.

H.Julien Designs, a florist in North Berkeley, rented a mannequin for a month to promote his wedding floral designs. Every week he dressed the mannequin in a different wedding gown and with a matching bridal bouquet and surrounded by different floral fashions. This merchandising idea was so successful it exceeded his business expectations.

Judi was working in the internet field and just completed the 14 week business planning course at the SF Entrepreneur Renaissance Center when she started the business. "I had just finished reading the book Rich Dad, Poor Dad and was inspired to start creating multiple revenue streams, especially since I was concerned that my main source of income might vanish at any moment given the instability in the dot-com field. Although I wasn’t sure what type of business venture I would start, the SF Renaissance Center gave me the tools to be able to recognize a good business opportunity when it came up."

While shopping on www.craigslist.com for Tina Turner concert tickets, Judi saw a posting from someone selling mannequins. Years earlier she wanted to buy a mannequin and cover with mosaic tiles to display in her garden, but the price of new mannequins had deterred her. She contacted the seller, expecting to find a few mannequins that might be suitable. Upon visiting the seller at his SOMA warehouse she was overwhelmed with what she saw. "There were mannequins scattered everywhere, some half assembled, in various shapes, sizes, poses, colors, plus an assortment of loose ‘body parts’ strewn about. It was eerie, like being in a morgue."

The seller was a former visual merchandiser and collected mannequins when stores discarded them for newer versions. At first he just collected them for fun but as friends started asking to borrow or rent them he built a business renting them. Now that he was moving out of the state, he was selling his collection. He casually told Judi that once he left town it would be difficult to find a place to rent a mannequin.

Judi started thinking about the empty space in her basement which with a little elbow grease, could be converted into a mannequin showroom. This might be the additional revenue stream she was looking for, and more importantly she could run it from her home. Although Judi knew nothing about mannequins, she knew that if the seller could build a rental business from a yellow page listing, she could apply her internet marketing skills to expand the business.

"I said to myself that this venture was either going to be a unique niche in a crazy business or a niche that was too crazy to be a business - so I named it Mannequin Madness," said Judi. The first month her online yellow page ad went live she received a phone call from a person in Toronto needing four mannequins for a ski trade show in Lake Tahoe. It was then that she realized that Mannequin Madness might not be such a crazy business after all.