If your child is a fan of the American Girl dolls, books, movies and toys, there’s only one place to take her (or him) if you visit Chicago: American Girl Place, the flagship store for the American Girl brand.
The company was founded in 1986 by Pleasant Rowland, and the original dolls were fictional historic characters: pioneer girl Kirsten, Victorian girl Samantha, World War II-era girl Molly, colonial girl Felicity, slavery escapee and Civil War-era girl Addy, etc.
Even though I’m not a big doll person and neither was my now-teen daughter (she blew my money and her time on Japanese manga books) I talked about the ins and outs of the store with Char Polanosky, who blogs at Doll Diaries.
Look, call me a curmudgeon, but I wince when I read a store brochure that says, “Shop. Dine. Party, too! Come celebrate all the things girls love to do.” To me, girls need to back away a little from this “we’re all about princesses and shopping” racket, but Char convinced me to consider it from a history and education angle.
That appealed to me, so I decided to visit the Michigan Avenue shop myself while in Chicago for a blogging conference.
American Girl Place is part of the Water Tower Place shopping complex on the famous Miracle Mile.
Talk about an empire….whip out those wallets, Moms and Dads. The dolls are certainly wholesome entertainment (I heard that over and over from parents, and the semi-slutty Bratz dolls suffered a lot of slings and arrows) but keeping them outfitted will cost you.
I overheard one customer tell another that at least one family “….flies from New York to Los Angeles regularly, and they arrange a Chicago stopover to come to the store - with an empty suitcase, of course.”
Er, all to support the economy, I guess.
The first floor is a display area for the historic dolls - there are artifacts from each era and the dolls are arranged with their era-specific clothing, toys and household items.
The ones for World War II Molly were particularly appealing for me, perhaps because she wears glasses like I did as a child; the Depression-era Kit dolls were, um, unfortunately quite timely in their descriptions of Kit’s family economic crisis.
All the dolls are plucky. I support plucky! I like Nancy Drew!
Then I rounded a corner and was somewhat appalled to find Julie, an American Girl coming to grips with change in the 1970s. She wears a mood ring and peasant blouse. Her bedroom is pink and orange with a beanbag chair and hanging beads around her bed.
Hey, wait a minute - I went to high school in the ’70s, and now I’m a historic doll?! I had pink and orange sheets, too. I slunk off in old-lady shame to look at the rest of the store.
It was pretty amazing.
There’s a doll hair salon, where friendly staffer Veronica was tending to a perpetually-smiling, unblinking plastic head with shiny hair that apparently needed styling (pigtail braids, $20.)
Hairdressers spend a lot of time untangling hairy doll head messes, too, before they can style. Veronica says they will “swap heads, but only for the same head.” No sticking Molly’s head on Kit, apparently.
Doll ear-piercing is available (18″ dolls only, for $14 - results in those rubbery ears are obviously irreversible.) There is a photo studio where kids can take a formal portrait with their doll (cheapest package; $22.95.)
You can get a custom T-shirt for your doll or check her into the Doll Hospital for required repairs. There is a nice café where patrons can dine with their dolls; there are cute little doll chairs that attach to the tables, and loaners if your child arrives doll-less.
There are tons of in-store special events with hands-on activities for kids, including grandparent days, cooking classes, character birthday celebrations, meeting the book authors, dates with Dad and one called “A Smart Girl’s Guide to Money.”
If you visit the Chicago flagship store, take a look at the Web site ahead of time and set a budget for doll fun activities. It’s hard to maintain equilibrium when everywhere you look are cute doll-sized things to buy and do.
Consider tradeoffs - new hairstyle, maybe a new doll dress but no doll furniture. Or, repair the mangled arm at Doll Hospital, get a new set of household items and a pair of shoes, but no hair styling or photo sessions. Or, one hair session, a kid’s Molly-style set of pajamas and a branded beach towel, but no doll clothes.
The café requires set seating times and the special events are usually by reservation, so call ahead to arrange. I was impressed by the cheery professionalism of the staff; they seem to really enjoy working there.
Any other suggestions for enjoying the positive aspects of an American Girl experience (but avoiding wallet meltdown or girly overload?) Comments below are welcomed….
{ 5 comments… read them below or add one }
I think if you focus on the historical fiction, educational benefits, along with that “pluckiness” of the girls, then American Girls can be a wonderful benefit for girls.
My child was a very early reader & read the first Harry Potter book at 4, but finding appropriate books for her was/is always a challenge.
She got addicted to the books, long before she met the dolls. They are filled with historical information & have companion pieces that are very educational ( in a fun way).
We bought a bunch of the books on ebay & even have them with us on our open ended trip around the world since they are educational and fun. They are a great jumping off point for history & homeschool lessons.
She was never a doll person either, but the collection aspect with these appeals to her because of the books. She loves the DVD’s too which are really high quality, educational & wholesome.
The big dolls are expensive, so she just got one at 4 and she just says hello to it on webcam calls to Grandma. But, we did bring a set of the mini-dolls with us on our trip around the world! European kids are fascinated by them & it helps her stay connected to her home culture as she immerses in another. She doesn’t really play with them, but they are a nice addition to the books & she loves to display them in her room in Spain.
We went to the American Girl store when we were in NYC & she loved it. We travel light so she knew that we would only be buying one small thing, but still had a blast. We actually gave into 3 things ( a book, a period night gown for her like Samantha’s & an American Girl jacket- she will be able to use ALL for years.) Not cheap, but frugal because of the use we have gotten & will get out of them.
We’re frugal types, so find that one can enjoy American Girl without going broke. It has been an excellent investment for our child and given her a real love of history, historical fiction & a great homeschool supplement.
It has even been handy as a source for our travels ( like when she re-read some Kirsten books when we were in Sweden which was that American girl’s country of origin as well as the country of some of my daughter’s ancestors).
Yes, one can definitely enjoy the benefits of AG on a tight budget!
Hi Soultravelers3 - Well, we’ve known each other for awhile, so a positive endorsement from you carries a lot of weight with me. Sounds like your approach (starting with the books and movies where possible, and then moving into doll territory) is a good plan.
Thanks very much for your detailed response and confirmation that a budget and an American Girl store visit can go hand-in-hand!
The only American Girl store I’ve been to is the one at Mall of America, and we didn’t buy anything, so I can’t comment on that.
I wanted to mention, though, that the appeal of the American Girls books reaches to boys as well as girls. My son has read most of the original books and especially likes the newer American Girl mysteries. All of my kids (2 boys, 2 girls) like the American Girl movies.
Last weekend, we attended a program at Minnesota’s Historic Fort Snelling that combined an American Girl doll drawing with an educational program detailing the life of Kirsten in the 1860’s, when the fort was active. They’ll have similar programs with different dolls during their World War II and Civil War Days. Although billed for girls, my boys participated in the program as well.
The history in the American Girls series is interesting for children; I wish there would be some American Boys as well so they wouldn’t seem to be for girls only.
I like american doll, your blog is real good.
What we do is set a buget- for example not over 100 bucks. THat way you ddont go overboard spending. Also, encouraging the kids to spend their own money means less of it out of our wallets.