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In case anyone missed the news, it seems that Indigo is going to be opening 2 American Girl stores inside existing bookstores to boost revenue.
Initial stores will be in Vancouver and Toronto this spring.
http://www.nationalpost.com/markets/...255/story.html
Thankfully DD1 has no interest in them and my twins are still too little to know what they are.
Kind of funny given the name is American Girl!? I wonder how the prices will compare.
I have mixed feelings about this. My kids have an AG doll and a Bitty Twin - gifts from the Christmas that we spent in the US. It will be nice to if I can order a doll outfit for their birthdays w/o paying duty and such. My nine year-old adores the chapter books (they are wonderfully age-appropriate). But I also wonder if Indigo had ever approached AG's Canadian counterpart - Maplelea - for a similar in-store boutique?
I also have very mixed feelings aboutl Indigo promoting American Girl rather than Maplelea dolls. i wish they could help increase their popularity and help them publish more Cdn themed books for kids. Although that also goes beyond AG and more into why a bookstore is really no longer a bookstore. I know it's all about the revenue and increasing profits but I wish they could find a way to do that by promoting reading and books rather than toys and other items.
DD1 saw the picture in the national post of the AG girl dolls against a background of the Cdn flag and thought that was very funny. She kept asking if they were going to be called Cdn dolls if they are sold here.
Interesting! DD is very happy with her Journey Girl dolls which cost about 1/3 what the AG dolls cost, so I think we'll leave it at that. ;)
Yeah, I am glad that we live nowhere near either of the Indigo/Chapters locations that have the boutiques - I imagine that tables of fancy dolls and accessories will be quite distracting when our mission is to find a book to read ...
I couldn't believe that a Canadian business (is it really Canadian?) would choose the American Girl doll as a marketing strategy. There is absolutely nothing Canadian about this product line and fosters little but acquisitiveness in their target consumers. Even the Maple Lea line is out of the question for most children whose families are on a limited budget. The whole campaign needs a re-think.
Just saw on FB from a former BBB that they went to the new store...they DO NOT carry the historical dolls, just the Just Like Me dolls, and not Bitty twins...she didn't mention pricing. I don't know much about the Maplelea dolls. I looked at their website, do they not have stores is is it just online. How do the dolls look in real life? I think the appeal of American Girl is the store, they are pretty amazing, and they have you captive and the wallets just seem to open up! My DD has 7 dolls, mostly historical ones, we love the books and the movies for Felicity, Molly, and Samantha are very well done. It does seem strange that a Canadian company wouldn't pair with Maplelea...I can see maybe a US based retailer doing this.
It's disappointing on many levels. Since AG started putting together it's Canadian business, vast amounts of merchandise on their website is now marked that it can't be shipped to Canada, and this was never a problem before. Can't order a single Bitty Twin item for my kiddo ...
But from what I understand they aren't selling the bitty twins in the Canadian stores, so that makes no sense.Quote:
Originally Posted by Neatfreak
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DD1 got a Maplelea doll for her birthday this past January. They seem very similarly made to the AG dolls. They are for sure similar quality. The hair brushes out very easily even after getting messed up. Each doll comes with a journal detailing her life. DD1 has Jenna from Lunenburg, Nova Scotia. It would be great if they could add books about the dolls. DD1 had the choice of Maplelea or AG and chose this one because she wanted something specifically Canadian. AG isn't super popular in her school so there wasn't a ton of peer pressure to get the AG although a few of her friends do have them and I think she's the only one with the Maplelea but she doesn't seem to care. They all play with them together.Quote:
Originally Posted by mom2binsd
I didn't realize AG is open here already. It's not that far from me but not in a mall I typically go to so haven't been there yet.