Deanna and Larry Docktor
Broadway Costumes & Theatrical Supply in Sacramento, California has been serving theaters, schools and the public with costume rentals since 1965. We asked Larry Docktor, who owns the store together with his wife Deanna, some questions about the business of costume rental.
Who do you rent costumes to?
Back in the day, we used to rent to all the theater companies. But then over time, as they either had more clothing piled up or hired seamstresses who said, “I could make that,” it kind of got less and less. And they started sharing amongst each other. Sacramento at one time had 16 costume rental houses, and now we're the last one.
We do rent to a couple of small theaters, and it really then depends on what show they're doing. If they do something set in a past time period, they need more costumes. We really rent more now to the general population as well as schools -- grammar schools, middle junior highs, high schools. They don't have collections of clothing.
When a theater or a school comes to you, do they typically know what they need?
It really depends. The theater groups, they just kind wander around our floor and start to look for things. If they don't bring the actors in, then we kind of get a little leery about just sending it out because then they bring it back and say, well, I don't want to pay for these 20 costumes because not one of 'em fit any of my actors. So we try to encourage 'em to bring the actors in.
How do you set your prices for rentals?
If we can launder it ourselves, like a shirt and a pair of pants, it might be $20 for a rental. But if it's something fancier and needs to be dry cleaned, a pair of pants, and that fancy shirt with ruffles might be $35. We're also basing it off of what my aunt used to rent -- if she used to rent a Santa suit for $35 15 years ago, we're now renting it for $65 to $75. So prices have kind of doubled from 10 or 15 years ago. If it’s for kids, we usually knock off $5, $10, $15 depending on the costume. We want to make it affordable for the schools.
Some of our customers are just flabbergasted when I give them the rental rate and they say “you need to charge more.” I agree, but then the next customer is doing something for a charity or a non-profit, and they all ask for a discount, then I have to tell them that if I gave a discount, then we’d be a non-profit!
It's more if they keep it longer?
We're closed Sunday, Monday. So you rent something, you pick it up on Friday, you use it Saturday, you're going to return it on Tuesday. So a three to five-day rental is the normal. And then if they want to keep it for an extended period, for a play, it'd be 20 percent extra for each additional weekend. Fifty percent extra if it's the public.
When the costumes are returned, are they generally in OK condition?
It depends. We had one or two new groups this year who rented some stuff, and we found all kinds of little pins all through the costumes because they just didn't hear us when we said no alterations. So sometimes it caused rips in the lining, sometimes it didn't, but we just having to look things over when they bring it back and go, okay, there's a $20 charge here and a $15 charge there.
And then sometimes they don't understand how to properly apply makeup. So we get a lot of shirt collars and jacket collars or whatever that just has caked on makeup.
How often do you launder the costumes yourselves versus dry cleaning?
If it can be laundered, then we launder it. If it absolutely has to be dry cleaned, then we'll take it over to a dry cleaners that we use. But most of the time we can just Martinize it ourselves -- spray it with some stuff, put it in the heat in the dryer, let the heat kind of burn it out, or hang it up outside and let the fresh air get to it.
Any idea how many costumes you have for a rental?
I'd have to say, 20,000 minimum. I'm looking up above my desk and I've got probably 30 to 40 Santa suits hanging up above me. And over there are seven Grinches. And up there is a whole bunch of stuff that looks like Wizard of Oz. And then I've got a whole 25 foot long full of furs, white rabbit furs and black monkeys and gorillas and deers and all kinds of stuff.
Do you have multiple sizes of every costume?
No, not really. For any one costume, we're probably no deeper than one or two. But for an era, say like Victorian, I got 50, 60, 70 dresses. And there probably are different sizes among them.
Do people donate costumes?
Yes, donations occur maybe once a month, once every two months. A lady walked in today, she got into her husband's closet after he had passed, and he had a pop-up top hat, and it was old and it still worked. It had been sealed up in a box, and it was nice.
Other people call and say, Hey, I've got a bunch of stuff. Are you buying? No, we don't buy because I've got a full floor and I just don't have room. But other people will walk in with six boxes of stuff and we'll say, well, we'll go through it and pull out what we can use. I'm thrilled when somebody walks in with an extra large.
If someone came to you and said, wow, I want to be a theater rental store, what tips would you offer?
You got to know your eras. Edwardian versus Victorian, French colonial versus colonial. Also understand what current plays are going on in your area. We have the Sacramento Area Regional Theater Alliance, and they have a calendar of who's doing what and when. So I'll look through that every once in a while. But over time, most things fit within most categories. It's Western, it's ‘20s, it's ‘70s, that kind of stuff. So just have an idea of what plays going on, what movies are coming out, so you can have that kind of stuff up on your sales floor.