sometimes the mini dolls pop up at book stores. i know the borders that i used to work at still has some there. i think it's just mini molly dolls at this point. they seem to restock around the holidays.
meg
If AG ever starts selling dolls in stores other than their own...I will be done collecting.
And I agree with Melissa...Pleasant Company was such a magical place. Things have certainly changed over the years. I do like the fact that they now have retail stores, though. I haven't been to one yet, but hope to some day. I'm about 4.5-hours from the one in Chicago.
sometimes the mini dolls pop up at book stores. i know the borders that i used to work at still has some there. i think it's just mini molly dolls at this point. they seem to restock around the holidays.
meg
<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">The stores have not diminished the magical storybook quality, IMO. (If anything has diminished it, it's the fact that most of the catalogs don't contain all the items, esp. historical items & Felicity.) Also, having been to AGP, I can say that it's REALLY nice to be able to see these things in person. Some stuff looks much nicer in person, and it's nice to be able to touch and look closely at the items you want, in order to pick out just what you want. Since the stores are AG-only, I think the magic is only enhanced, not ruined, by the stores. It is like the catalog come to life! [img]biggrin.gif[/img]Originally posted by Melissa:
I'm remembering back to when they were available through the catalog exclusively, and how magical that was to little girls! It's almost like looking in a story book and realizing you can have any item that appears in that story book, but that you can't get it or see it anywhere before you finally buy it.
<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Maybe, but I'm not so sure about that. Wanting to touch and see products in person is not necessarily about instant gratification. Sure, it's nice to take the items home with you immediately, but that's not the only reason I like the stores.Originally posted by Melissa:
It seems to me a lot of these decisions are tied in with instant gratification. We live in an instant gratification society where people want things right away and buy things on impulse. I think American Girl has changed with the times in order to allow people the instant gratification that they want.
<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Oh me too, Ann! I don't know of any other store in the U.S. that is so sparkly and full of good things from when you first step over the threshhold. AG Place has in their heart not just to provide a PRODUCT but to provide AN EXPERIENCE that will always be remembered. That's why they work so hard to put together such a fabulous place, with a restaurant and a musical production and museum displays.Originally posted by Ann, Samantha fan:
...I think the magic is only enhanced, not ruined, by the stores. It is like the catalog come to life! [img]biggrin.gif[/img]
<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">I would love to go to AG Place, just to see the artwork and historical displays from the books. That alone would be worth the visit, even if I didn't buy anything.Originally posted by Melissa:
It seems to me a lot of these decisions are tied in with instant gratification. We live in an instant gratification society where people want things right away and buy things on impulse. I think American Girl has changed with the times in order to allow people the instant gratification that they want.
Speaking of instant gratification, my daugther and I went to Borders yesterday for some fun time together. We always go straight to the kids department to see if any AG Minis are there. They sell fast when they do come in. My daughter and I enjoyed looking through the AG Mini Samanthas and Nellies and picking out two we liked best. My daughter picked out a Nellie that had curlier hair and thicker eyelashes. The other Nellie had skimpy eyelashes and super poofy bangs that weren't as attractive.
There wasn't a lot of difference between the dolls but it was REALLY nice to be able to pick the dolls we liked best. If you do mail order only, you don't have that opportunity. We've been waiting over a year to get mini Samantha, always watching for the dolls at Borders so we could pick out the one we liked. It sure wasn't instant gratification, having to wait a whole year! [img]wink.gif[/img] But the dolls are WONDERFUL! And we're going to keep checking Borders so we can both pick out a mini Kaya and a mini Kit.
If any of you are considering getting mini Nellie, she is adorable!!!! I can't wait to sew for her.
Julia
I just wanted to clarify that in my post I did not mean the stores are not magical or not nice or anything like that...I wasn't commenting on the stores themselves. I've never been to American Girl Place in either city and therefore I was not referring to the actual stores. I'm sure they're very nice! [img]biggrin.gif[/img] My post was actually mostly referring to AG items showing up in normal stores and on television in general.
To that end, I did not mean that American Girl Places are for "instant gratification." I meant the products that appear in non-AG stores.
What I was referring to was the fact that, since the products *are* in stores, they are a little less "exclusive." A little easier to get and see, so-to-speak. American Girl can no longer say (as they used to say in a proud way) that their exclusive products except the books are only available through mail order catalog. This used to be something they regularly wrote in their catalog, as if it were some sort of unique selling point.
Since items appear in stores now--not just American Girl Places--the items are no longer an exclusive catalog line.
I know it doesn't make a difference to most, but I really liked it when the items only appeared in the catalog. I know for convenience and fun it is a welcome change to have the items more readily available. But it has been a shock to me to see Coconut, Angelina, and the mini dolls in stores. I know I will get used to it after a while, but it's mass commercialization and I never thought I'd see it with AG. I was really shocked when they changed some of their boxes to be see-through to better facilitate retail selling! [img]wink.gif[/img]
I guess I'm just old-school and I know some will find my opinions silly...that's okay! [img]biggrin.gif[/img] The last time I ordered from them it was over the Internet, and that was new for me (with them), too...ha ha!
One thing I do feel bad about, though, is that getting away from the catalog *has* cost us a good catalog. Many companies now rely on the 'net to handle their catalog overflow. If few people had the Internet, we'd still have indepth catalogs.
It's a changing world and I guess we just gotta keep rollin' with the punches!
I'll try to explain better next time...I probably went off on too many tangents all at once in my previous post.
<font color="#051E50" size="1">[ August 29, 2004 06:00 PM: Message edited by: Melissa ]</font>
Melissa--I agree with you about American Girl's expanding seeming more commericialized than Pleasant Rowland may have originally intended. While I do love AG Place (and it makes it easy to get AG items since I'm close to NY), ever since they retired Felicity from the catalogs, the catalogs have lost their magic for me. I used to wait anxiously when I was little for the catalogs to pick out everything I liked, and clicking around on the internet just isn't the same. And while the Samantha movie will probably be very interesting--I'll definitely watch it--it seems more for money-making purposes than anything else. I hope I'm not offending anyone! But I do agree with Melissa in that American Girl seems to go more for the money now than ever before.
Posting Permissions
Bookmarks