The Official Doll Store of the Stupid Rich. Or in my case, the plain stupid.
Written: Mar 15 '05 (Updated Mar 15 '05)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Fun
Cons: Weirdly excessive. Little Stepford girls dressed like their dolls.
The Bottom Line: If little Kaya needs a new outfit or a new head, take her to American Girl Place
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| prfstars's Full Review: American Girl Place |
The stupid rich. That's what a wise friend calls anyone who shops from catalogs like Hammacher Schlemmer and Frontgate. Poor folks can't afford the stuff, and smart folks know it's overpriced junk. When my daughter and I left American Girl Place with four giant shopping bags, a thought occurred to me. I may not be rich, but I'm officially and indisputably stupid.
I didn't enter the American Girl universe without a fight.
My daughter has a shelf full of lovely French Corolle dolls that she never touches; why spend $84 on 18 more inches of polyvinyl chloride-- even if it is packaged with a book and historically accurate costume? On Christmas Day, 2003, despite my pleas to the contrary, a well-meaning relative opened up a Pandora's box, and my daughter opened up Samantha. Samantha's party dress followed a few minutes later, and before the end of the day, she opened a boxed set of books about Samantha, and another dress. I wasn't worried, though: I knew that within a week, Samantha would be up on the shelf with the other dolls, and we'd close the chapter on overpriced American Girl stuff forever.
Then a catalog arrived.
Within a couple of months, one grandma gave Samantha a $65 brass bed, and another gave her a $40 commode. When my daughter's birthday rolled around in September, her aunt sent Nellie to keep Samantha company. By the first frost, Nellie and Samantha had luxurious winter coats and a $150 sleigh to ride around Central Park. Christmas 2004 brought Kit. Every purchase offended my sensibilities a bit more.
The Pleasant Company, which maufactures American Girl stuff, has a hideous name and a brilliant marketing strategy: they're not selling PVC. They're selling an experience. Grandma could make a dress for Samantha, but it wouldn't be the same one Samantha wore in the catalog. Mom could buy a doll desk at Target, but it wouldn't be the desk Samantha uses at school in her full-length movie. Girls want the authentic American Girl experience, and they can only get that from Pleasant Co.
Entering American Girl Place
There are two American Girl Place locations-- one in Chicago, and one in New York. I've been to the one in New York about four times now.
The New York Store is located at the corner of Fifth Avenue and 49th Street, just a stone's throw from Saks Fifth Avenue. The main entrance is on 49th Street; beside the doors, windows display fashionably dressed American Girl dolls that are posed a lot like the mannequins across the street at Saks.
The First Floor has four main departments:
• The Bookstore features all of the American Girl historical books, as well as contemporary fiction and non-fiction. We picked up a copy of The Care and Keeping of You: The Body Book for Girls so that my daughter and her dolls could learn about the joys of pubic hair and menstruation.
• American Girl Today dolls come in 21 combinations of hair color/texture and eye color so that there's a doll that looks like every girl who steps into the store. These dolls don't have historical outfits or stories; they are modern dolls in modern clothing. In addition to regular outfits, there are all sorts of sports uniforms: soccer, gymnastics, and dance, for example.
• Dress Like Your Doll is the creepiest part of the American Girl experience-- and one of the most expensive. Most girls who visit the store show up with their dolls, and many of them wear matching outfits. The dolls' outfits range from $20-$40 or so, but the girls' version can be well over $100 once you put together all the pieces. My daughter didn't take Kit, Samantha, or Nellie with her to New York, so I assumed (incorrectly) that she wouldn't end up Dressed Like Her Doll.
The Hair Salon is surreal. Several attractive young women stand behind a counter, and each has a hair stylist's staion in front of her-- complete with a miniature salon chair for your doll. There are special metal brushes that don't tear or fray the dolls' hair, and every hair accoutrement your daughter might want for her doll. Once again, since Kit, Samantha, and Nellie were safely back home in Portland, I didn't think much about the hair salon and its fee schedule. More on that later.
The Second Floor houses the coat check area and the American Girl Hospital. I'm not kidding. You can check your doll in to the hospital for repairs-- everything from cleaning to head replacement-- and the store will mail her back to you within a couple of weeks. The same service is available through the catalog.
The Third Floor is where you'll find the best action-- the American Girl Dolls, their clothing, furniture, and the historical Dress Like Your Doll clothing. Each doll has her own area, and most dolls have elaborate displays behind plexiglass. It was in this area that my trouble began.
My daughter fell in love with Felicity. She's a beauty, that Felicity. She has thick, auburn hair with little ringlets around her face that accentuate her bright green eyes. We picked up a Felicity doll on the spot. As we wandered around, we realized that Felicity needed some extra clothes-- a spring dress, a formal cloak. We picked up the Felicity boxed set so we could learn more about her. My daughter didn't like Felicity's old-fashioned pajamas, so we bought her a pair of Kit's. The lilac satin was so pretty that we picked up a matching pair for my daughter.
As we walked around the store with our stash, my daughter made a good observation: Felicity may be from 1774, but it's 2005 and nobody wears a blue taffeta gown with a dainty pinner cap in midtown Manhattan. We went back downstairs, and bought Felicity silk cargo capris and a funky layered top-- and a set for my daughter, too.
On the fourth floor, we checked out the Bitty Baby collection of baby dolls and clothes. Fortunately, we went back downstairs empty-handed.
When the shopping is over at American Girl Place, the spending continues. At the American Girl Cafe, the prix fixe weekend brunch is $18 per person, afternoon tea is $19 per person, lunch is $22, and dinner is $24. The American Girl Revue, a musical theater production, is $32 per person. If you're even stupider than I am, you can take over the store after hours. For $250 per child, you can have two hours in the store after it's closed.
As my daughter and I left the store, I realized that her doll's wardrobe cost more than a night at the Times Square Hilton and dinner at Mesa Grill.
Back to the Store
24 hours after we left, we returned to American Girl Place. My daughter, a child who can't find her own sock drawer on two consecutive days, navigated from our hotel back to Fifth and 49th with no guidance from me.
Felicity needed a new 'do.
We made our way to the salon, and reviewed our options. Would Felicity look nicer in a single braid? Two? Maybe a half-pony? After serious consideration and fifteen minutes of pacing around the "Look Like Your Doll" department, my daughter decided: the pony flip. I paid $15, and Felicity took a seat in the stylist's chair. The stylist gave my daughter several tips to maintain Felicity's raven locks:
• Never use a regular brush. Use one with stiff metal bristles, such as they ones they sell at American Girl Place.
• To avoid fraying the doll's hair, mist it with water before you brush.
• Cover the dolls eyes when you wet its hair, or the eyes could rust. Rusty eyes. Ew.
• For light touch-ups, keep a clean toothbrush around. They're great at smoothing the dolls' hair.
$15 is more than I paid for my daughter's last haircut. It's ludicrous. It was also a lot of fun. As we left the stylist's station, my daughter announced that she's going to work at the American Girl Doll Hair Salon when she grows up. I may join her.
Every employee at American Girl Place seems to understand that it's not just a store; for most of the girls who pass through the doors, it's Disneyland-- without the heat, lines, or boys.
Recommended:
Yes
Best Suited For: Families
Best Time to Travel Here: Mar - May
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Epinions.com ID:
prfstars
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Location: The Burbs
Reviews written: 302
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