American Girl Place in New York City. Paradise for a Young Girl.
Written: Mar 26 '08 (Updated Mar 26 '08)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Excellent service staff, clean, FUN!
Cons: Costly.
The Bottom Line: A dream day for a child but a large dent in your pocketbook. Worth it if you are into conspicuous consumption.
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| deenaf's Full Review: American Girl Place |
Luckily, my daughter has my mom… she loves spending money on her granddaughter. And I mean ridiculous money. But in the case of American Girl Place, it was money well spent.
It begins harmlessly enough… by around my daughter’s 5th birthday, a catalog mysteriously came in the mail. I didn’t sign up for it… they probably have an in with hospitals and enter little girls’ names into their databases at birth. Then, five years later the marketing begins. I hid the catalogs at first but by the time she was 6, her friends had the dolls and I couldn’t deny her catalog any longer!
LOCATION
There are currently three American Girl Place locations in the US. They are in the major cities, New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles. There are also mini-versions (Boutique and Bistro only) in Atlanta and Dallas.
The American Girl Place we visited was in New York City, right in the heart of Rockefeller Center. This is a four level extravaganza filled with wall-to-wall American Girl Dolls and accessories. It is located on the corner of 5th Avenue and 49th Street. You can’t miss the red awnings above the window denoting the store’s name.
This location is in a very touristy area of NYC. And that is the market that American Girl Place wants to reach. But they also reach those of us who aren’t tourists. And they did!
AMERICAN GIRL PLACE
The store itself is a gigantic doll store selling only one brand, American Girl. In this store, you will find all their trademarked dolls, the accessories, the furniture, books, and games.
The American Girl Place in New York City also has a Cafe, a theater, a hospital, and a hair salon. I kid you not.
The first floor of the American Girl Place has a bookstore with dolls and clothing amongst the displays. You could, in essence, simply shop the bookstore and get quite a few AG items without setting foot into the behemoth attached. Good luck with that!
Behind the bookstore, with its entrance on 49th Street, is the beginning of the American Girl Place experience. Here you will find the large display of Just Like You dolls, which is the basic doll in iterations of color, hair, and eyes to match your own daughter. Surrounding this large display are tons of outfits and furniture, all which fit all dolls. Most of these clothes are lifestyle related, like tennis, soccer, party dresses, workout clothes, and beachwear, to name a few.
Next, you walk through the Coconut and Licorice section. They are American Girl Doll’s pets. Yes, they are their pets. And they have clothes and accessories too.
Amongst all these dolls lie racks of matching clothing for your daughter so she and the doll can dress alike. I think this is adorable but some people don’t like it. My daughter didn’t care for this so I got off lucky there!
Towards the rear of the first floor are more accessories and mix and match clothing. Here is where the Doll Salon is located. You drop your doll off, pick a hairstyle for her (there is a hairstyle of the month as well) and pay $10. Your doll then gets put in a hairstylist’s chair and is primped. If you are there when it is your dolls turn, it is fun to watch but be forewarned, our doll had a 3 hour wait (we waited… more on this later).
Also on the first floor is a little known secret. A LOUNGE where you can sit and take a load off. It is their PERSONAL SHOPPER LOUNGE and when you are in there, salesgirls will do your personal shopping! This is a FREE service and we used it. We had been shopping about 1 hour and still couldn’t find white patent leather party shoes so we sat and sent her out to find them. She did!
Take the escalators up and you will exit them on the middle level, not quite the second floor. Here you will find the VERY clean bathrooms, the coat and package check (they are NOT allowed to take tips) and the Hospital Check-In. This is where you drop your doll off if she needs fixing. They send her out to the manufacturer for repair. It’s cute, but you pay for this.
Take the escalators up again and you are on the official 2nd floor. This is the entire Historical Dolls floor. Here you will find any current historical doll not yet retired. Some examples (and very popular) are Molly & Emily, Samantha & Nellie, and Kit. There are more, and there will be more in years to come. All these dolls are displayed with their complete ensembles. Furniture, period clothing, and accessories. The furniture is expensive so you will probably not be able to re-create the scene in which the doll is displayed. Explain this to your child before you even get up there.
Lest we forget, the Girl of the Year. Each year, AG announced and markets a new Girl of the Year. This year, it’s Mia. And each year, they retire the last girl. Marketing genius. Really.
Now let’s go up to the 3rd floor. Here is the café, the photo studio and the Bitty Baby Shop.
There was one place we did not visit on this trip to American Girl Placeand that was the theater. On site, American Girl Placehas a private theater showing live shows relating to the current doll theme. This changes continually and there is ample information about the show and prices on the AGP website. Currently, the show is $34 per person and you have to buy your tickets way in advance.
THE CAFE
We did, however, dine at the Cafe and it was an experience in itself. It was unforgettable. You absolutely MUST make your reservations in advance. The seatings fill up fast and months in advance during vacation weeks.
The Cafe offers brunch, two lunch seatings, an afternoon tea, and two dinner seatings. We had the afternoon tea. It was very costly and only worth the experience of it. We paid $20 per person (price varies in Chicago and LA).
When you are seated, you are asked how many American Girl dolls are joining you. And then they give you SASSY SEATS for the dolls!! Our Just Like Me doll was at the salon but my daughter had her brand now Emily doll with us for tea. She was seated in her seat and had her own place setting with a tea cup and plate.
The decor in the cafe is outrageous! It is black and white striped with pink accents all over. And in the center of the room is a harpist. A live harpist. You read that correctly. Very classy.
The afternoon tea is not a menu driven meal. It is a three -iered tower of treats brought to your table to be shared. On it are an assortment of both treats and sandwiches including scones, cucumber sandwiches, chicken and egg salad sandwiches, and lots of cookies.
You get little souvenirs too. Each napkin ring is a hair accessory that the waiters tell you to take as a gift. There were three of us so we had 3 hair bands.
Drinks had unlimited refills. We each had tea of some sort, mine was iced tea and my mom had hot tea. I believe my daughter had a lemonade type tea.
While the cafe was fun and delightful, it is not something we would do again. We would probably do the show next time.
MY THOUGHTS
While definitely an indulgence, it is a fun tourist spot to stop at, especially since there are so few American Girl Place locations. We got out spending about $300, half of which was mine and half was my mom’s expense. The real problem was carrying all the stuff we bought home on the train! No easy feat. We purchased a trundle bed, many outfits, and an additional doll. OY!
My daughter was instructed to pick anything that interested her but that we would figure out which she wanted most. That worked well. This is definitely a Kid in a Candy Store experience…. With the candy being in the hundred dollar range.
The staff is EXEMPLARY!!!!!! I cannot say enough about how sweet and helpful they all are. They know this is an experience and treat everyone as such. They were always smiling and always there to lend a hand.
We went during a vacation week and it was quite crowded…. If you can get yourself into the Personal Shopper Lounge when you are done, they will ring you up in there while you sit. There is no line! Shhhh, that’s my secret!!!
This is a one time deal. The rest of the clothes for our AG dolls will be bought as fakes. But all in all, American Girl Place was worth the trip!
Recommended:
Yes
Best Suited For: Families
Best Time to Travel Here: Sep - Nov
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Epinions.com ID:
deenaf
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 in Books |
 - Top 200 |
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Member: Deena
Location: Merrick, NY USA
Reviews written: 279
Trusted by: 73 members
About Me:
Mother, wife, teacher..... aren't they all the same?
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