Life after Beanie Babies: A plush toy titan’s second act
(Credit: Tyler Gillespie)
In the late ’90s, Mickey Krause found her Beanie Baby business starting to crumble. Krause had begun as a St. Louis-based collector, but then, as she says, she ���got caught up in the craze��� and ordered shipments of the plush toys to sell through her registered domain beaniebaby.com. After a lung disease diagnosis, she put the business�������storefront and all�������up for sale at nearly��$1 million.
The timing was unfortunate. The Beanie fad had already faded, and Krause also faced a lawsuit. Ty Inc. had sued her for trademark infringement and unlawful sales.
���I had��fifteen minutes of fame in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch,�����recalled Krause. ���There was a picture of me and a whole article about it.���
On the advice of a bankruptcy lawyer, Krause, then nearing age 50, fled St. Louis. The lawyer recommended she liquidate her assets, then move to either Texas or Florida, she said, because of those states��� homestead laws.
Krause, like many others who need a second chance, chose Florida.
���I sold everything, ended that business, and moved down here,��� she said. ���It was wild.���
Krause technically won the lawsuit. Ty Inc. eventually paid her $3,000 for the domain. But she���d spent so much in legal fees that she couldn���t afford the life Beanie had helped build.
���I was��50 years old and went through the process of figuring out what I want to do when I grow up,��� she said. ���I decided to be an artist.���
Krause took some local art classes and in 2007 pursued a BFA at Sarasota���s Ringling College of Art and Design. The formal school setting ultimately didn���t work for her as she’d hoped, so she withdrew and moved back to Pinellas County, where she��decided to open an art house specifically for disabled, elderly or veteran artists.
���Everyone has a lot on their plates�������disease or broken marriage�������and people are hurting,��� said Rand Marsters, 81, president of the Largo Art Association,��where he met Krause years ago. ���You can encourage people to participate in art where a life could be saved or regenerated.���
In 2014, Krause found a rundown building in Largo, the third largest city in Pinellas behind St. Petersburg and Clearwater. The building featured a painting of Betty Boop on the outside, and Krause mused it may have once operated as a bar. She took out a reverse mortgage on her house, then painted the building her favorite color: pink.
On a December afternoon, two contractors laid tile in a handicap accessible bathroom with a shower for future residents. Near them stood a functional area with a washer and dryer, a table for framing and places for supplies.
A backdoor led to a double lot, which, Krause said, may one day be turned into added storage and a room for a gallery and classes.
���Mickey is certainly someone who takes the ball and runs with it,��� said Marsters.��In 2016, on the advice of a mentor, Krause established the house as the nonprofit Art Lovers Place, Inc. She has since set up crowdfunding sites and partnered with Network for Good.
Interested artists will submit a portfolio. A board will choose the residents who will, Krause said, pay around $150 a month for a key to the house. Krause hasn���t yet put out an official call to other artists because she first wants everything ���to be done,��� which, she said, it almost is.
The process to open Largo Lovers Art House has proven slow ��� there���s currently a glitch with the city on handicap parking�������but it���s one through which Krause has learned much.
���I���m already into phase 2, even though I���m not even out of phase 1,��� she said. ���But that���s the vision I have.���
