This Saturday, the museum will sell excess inventory to create storage space and raise money for the volunteer-run museum and nonprofit organization.

Meg Dietrich, chair of the museum’s board, said shoppers will find everything from miniature furniture to seasonal decorations to accessories and tools for miniature making.

The majority of the sales proceeds come from donations to the museum that are not suitable for display or sale in the gift shop, Dietrich said. The two-story museum receives about 2,500 to 3,000 visitors annually.

“I don’t think it’s a huge market, but for those who are passionate about it, it’s an important market,” Dietrich said.

The sale will take place at the museum at 4746 Gravois Avenue, across from the Bevo Mill windmill. The museum opened in 2001 and is filled with miniature dollhouses and dioramas, some modeled after St. Louis-area homes and institutions and many to scale.

Dietrich said that long before the museum opened, they began holding flea markets with miniatures to raise money for the organization and its efforts.

Board members and volunteers gathered earlier this week to set up in the back of the museum. Small fabric-covered couches, Christmas trees, figurines and rugs were lined up on long tables, and bins of materials such as lace, ribbon and electrical cords were being sorted and labeled.

Board member Fay Zerbolio said she has been in love with miniatures since she was 7 and played with her dollhouse. Later in life, she discovered miniature exhibits and eventually helped found the nonprofit Miniature Museum in 1989. The group worked for more than a decade to secure funding and space for their shared vision of a museum that would house and display miniature works and collections.

“It just makes me happy,” Zerbolio said of the hobby.

She and her husband, Joe, donated pieces from their own collection to the museum and worked for years to make the space what it is today through renovations and improvements, such as modern lighting and new interior design.

“We are doing things here, and as far as I know, there is no one in the entire country that can compete with this group,” Joe Zerbolio said of the museum and its members.

Today, the museum offers workshops for hobbyists and those interested in learning. In one of the next workshops, scheduled for September 14, participants will learn how to create a 1/4-inch scene in a teacup.

The museum also sponsors a small flea market in April. For more information, visit the museum’s Facebook page.

The sale runs from 9 a.m. to noon on Saturday. Dietrich said there are often 50 people lined up at the side door waiting for the door to open.

Some items are available for as little as 25 cents, while the two large dollhouses for sale cost about $50.

“We set the price so that they can move out, but we also set it so that we have to continue to finance the operation,” Dietrich said. “It’s a very versatile thing. If someone is interested in starting on a very small scale, we have something for that.”