American Girl In-Store Discount 30% Off Grace Collection Through Christmas Eve, and Some Extra Thoughts from Us

In an un-surprising turn of events...

Once the 20% off discount of GIFT20 was done, American Girl wasted practically no time in announcing a 30% all Grace collection merchandise deal -- for in-store purchases only, through Christmas Eve, 2015.

Yes.

This is really happening.

We received notice of this yesterday at 2 pm in our email, so we really recommend getting to the store ASAP if you want to take advantage of this deal.

I wouldn't wait until Friday or the weekend, go tomorrow.

I have a feeling stock on all Grace items will now plummet in the stores -- especially because of re-sellers who have the capital to invest in the items quickly.

Not to pat ourselves on the back...

But to pat ourselves on the back...

This 30% discount really drives home the point we made in this previous post:

http://thedollwardrobe.blogspot.com/2015/12/honest-editorial-our-opinions-on-grace.html

We shall quote-eth ourselves:

"But given the amount of flailing American Girl was doing with sales and deals on her collection items, I don't think the rest of her collection has been selling as well as they thought it would."

...

"Our primary opinion on Grace's collection 

is that the items are just way-way too expensive.

And not just expensive -- but over-priced.

Like not worth the cost they are asking us to pay.

So we haven't been paying it - and apparently you haven't been paying it either (???) because they have put up a lot of things on discount.

We've never really seen this many deals before for any GOTY 

merchandise during her year."

And we've certainly never seen a last-ditch Hail Mary move like 30% off her whole collection during the last week before Christmas.

I realize this is for in-store only, but given the amount of stores they've opened and pop-ups they have popped-up in malls all over the place this year -- this is going to result in A LOT of sales.

Like, whoa.

Like, whoa.

Clearly they want to clear out that stock, asap.

And I think that is because Lea needs to take her place, in the stores, on the shelves, in the warehouses.

Lea has some big, big items coming up (Rainforest Tree House anyone?).

So she'll need the space.

And American Girl wants to be ready with that merchandise 

ASAP for January 1st.

That makes complete sense.

But, like, whoa.

I understand Lea is coming, muscling out poor Grace 

like a bully in the line for brownies in the school cafeteria.

But this just makes me feel bad for Grace.

Did they over-order on the doll?

Did they think she was going to be way more popular 

than she ended up being?

Clearly the doll hasn't sold out yet --- which is really surprising.

So I am guessing -- and this is just an educated guess -- that most of us who wanted Grace (as I have said before) already had her by the middle of the year.

And instead of buying the Grace stock in the 2nd half of 2015, a lot, I mean A LOT of people got Maryellen instead.

Which means the Maryellen marketing did well, but maybe she cut into Grace sales a lot more than they thought she would?

This is the problem with releasing both a BeForever and a GOTY -- they will naturally compete with each other. Kinda unavoidable.

From what I've heard on the streets, the next BeForever 

is coming out at the same time as Lea.

(That is a rumor -- but it would mean that American Girl will really, REALLY 

need the store, shelf, and warehouse space this January.)

This may have an impact on the BeForever sales -- 

but at least the GOTY will have a whole year of competing 

against the new BeForever -- 

instead of Maryellen just tapping in 

on the end of year sales like this year.

This should allow American Girl to be more accurate 

as far as how many Lea dolls to order going through 2016.

Maybe.

Maybe?

I just feel bad for any un-sold Grace dolls.

She doesn't really deserve to be at 30% off.

Poor girl. :'-(

Yes, I am happy more people can get her now -- 

but like I said, most of the sales will come from re-sellers 

who can quickly go in and buy, buy, buy -- not people who have to save up dough, 

or wait for paychecks.

Not people with a household budget.

Not people with a holiday shopping budget.

This, in my opinion, is really a discount made for re-sellers.

What I hear American Girl saying is:

"Hey! Hey! Re-sellers!

 

Please buy up all this discounted stock 

and take it off our hands!!!"

American Girl, you should have just made 

her and her collection more affordable from the start.

AG Store Columbus Holiday Displays Continued

So we posted some pics of the Brocade Holiday Dress
on display at the AG Store in Columbus.

Maple said the dress made her comatose, or something along those lines.

Maple: "Zzzzzz."

But many people said that they really liked the dress in the comments.

We would have liked this dress more if it were in a trendy skater style.

So then we realized that we don't really like many of the MyAG modern AG dresses.

We have not bought any of these:

To us, the design of these dresses is marketed to a younger style/generation 

than what our dolls wear.

This is the only currently-available MyAG dress that we own:

Ironically, it has pink in it. But we love the dark color, the smocked bodice, 

and the simple sundress style.

You could wear it as a tunic over leggings or jeggings 

and it wouldn't be too busy.

This is Maple's Valentine's Day Goth Girl ensemble.

Anyway, the red holiday dress, the Sparkle Party Dress, is okay.

Maple says she might wear it.

But she isn't interested in it enough to buy it.

Again, to us it says "young girl" and we would really prefer a tween/teen look.

AG does a red dress every year for the holidays.

Which is all fine and good until you own a whole bunch of red dresses.

So we'd rather look on Etsy for holiday-worthy attire than buy yet another red AG holiday dress.

So here are the AG Store's displays with the Sparkle Party and Brocade Holiday Dress.

Who thought lime green would look good behind this???

Columbia hanging out with her peeps.

Are they stealing cookies???

Shoulda made your room backgrounds the same size as your store shelves AG...

Brocade dress washes out blonde dolls in our opinion....

Nothing like looking really uncomfortable on that piano bench....

Musical instruments on display.

Brocade dress without the shrug.

Red dress flower.

Click on any of these pics to see a larger version.

Stay tuned for more pics from the 
AG Store Columbus here at The DW!

AG Store Columbus Holiday Displays

Sup peoples!

We have a bunch of shots from the AG Store in Columbus for you, taken on Nov. 10th. So that was before the Merry and Bright store exclusive gown and cape set showed up (which retails for $72 plus tax, and you can order it from Personal Shoppers or in person at da stores). Hence we don't have any pics of that. But we do have some pics of the other holiday sets for 2013, etc.

Cinderella anyone?

Today's pics are of the front circular table that is set up right when you walk into the front doors. On Nov. 10th it was a display of the white, cream, and silver brocade holiday dress and accessories.

Click on any pic in the post to see a larger version of it. :-)

Maple's AG Cafe Observations:

You can see the cafe off to the left in the above pic, with the little check-in station for reservations (which you need to get in here, especially on weekends -- it is a super-small cafe and there is high-demand). The dine-with dolls are hanging out on the side of the station. You can dine with one of these borrowed dolls if you wish.

We've never eaten at an AG cafe, so we can't really say if the food is good or not -- but the Easton Town Center has a lot of dining options -- so we would honestly recommend eating at a different restaurant at Easton, rather than the AG Cafe. At other Easton eating locations you won't have to wait for your table like you do at the AG Cafe, and most of the places at Easton you do not need reservations for. 

We have noticed that many people show up for their reservation time at the AG Cafe and still have to wait long past their time because there is no room for them in the Cafe. And often people have to forfeit their reservations and eat elsewhere because they are hungry, or they have to drive home, or they have somewhere else to be and can't be waiting for 3 hours to get into the Cafe.

Every time we have been to this AG Store there is at least one to two families arguing with the check-in station girl about their reservations --- how they have not been seated at their reservation time, how they have been waiting forever, how this is ruining their little girl's birthday, how they have to be somewhere else, etc. etc.

So people -- the AG Staff is there to get butts in cafe seats, 

but they are not solely there to service all of your family's needs asap.

My conclusions are...

a) If you still want to eat at the AG Cafe in Columbus, don't expect 

to sit down for your meal at the time of your reservation -- it ain't happening.

b) Don't make the AG Cafe at Columbus part of your child's b-day extravaganza and build it up to be the be all and end of all of the day. That plan won't go well and everyone will be disappointed. Make the visit to the store the big event and any meal at the Cafe will just be a nice bonus.

c) Don't bring a large group to the Cafe. Like nothing more than 4 people. That will increase your wait time, because then you have to wait for several families to finish eating, 

instead of just four people. 

This place is tiny. It is like the size of our doll room. Large groups just don't work here. There are noodle shops in Japan that only sit 6 people at a time. People wait in line outside. When people leave, only then can anyone get in -- so usually only one or two people are let in at any given time. The AG Cafe in Columbus feels like those noodle shops.

d) Smart shoppers will simply come to the store early in the day, get your AG fix, 

and then eat elsewhere.

http://www.eastontowncenter.com/portals/0/pdf/etc_dg2013_v01_singlepages.pdf

We have eaten at Bon Vie Bistro, Smith and Wollensky, 

Panera, P.F. Chang's, and Jeni's Ice Creams here. All perfectly fine places.

And they have other sit-down places like Brio, The Melting Pot, Bar Louie, The Cheesecake Factory, California Pizza Kitchen, McCormick and Schmick's, and a bunch of counter-service places like Piada, Five Guys, and Panda Express.

Make one of the dozens of non-AG eateries your place to nosh, and then visit Jeni's for some awesome dessert. Trust me, you will leave Easton TC a lot happier and less stressed.

Back to the regularly scheduled pics...

The AG stores offer pre-decorated holiday boxes for some items in the stores, 

including the holiday dresses and the accessories set.

They are pretty and also perfect for those of us who are super-lazy gift-givers, haha.

Who has time to wrap up stuff?

Not us. We usually just hand people their gifts in the 

cardboard boxes they were shipped in.

Brocade dress in foreground.

Tiny cafe in background.

Blonde check-in station girl, probably ready to cry.

Close-ups of the brocade dress set.

Maple's Thoughts: 

"I don't think this dress set could possibly bore me more.

Zzzzzzzz."

The holiday accessories set.

The snowflake bracelet comes in the blue box in the accessories set.

Maple's Thoughts: 

"There is nothing in this accessories set that we could not make ourselves, 

and we are not crafty people."

Columbia hanging out on the table.

Stay tuned for more AG Store 

Columbus pics here at The DW!

AG Store Columbus Christmas Tree

Hi again-- Thanks for all of your condolences 

on our lost family member.

Today we wanted to show you the Christmas tree that is set up in the AG store in Columbus. We brought Columbia with us on Nov. 10th to the store, so she posed with the tree for us.

Columbia's shirt is from Etsy's A Lady's Heart and her leggings 

are from Etsy's Sylvie and Bruno.

We honestly can't remember where we bought her white skirt from 

-- but we think it was Etsy's Sew Urban Designs. Her purple shoes are from AG.

Columbia is a Saige doll that we took the wig off of and now 

she wears whatever wig she wants to.

Stay tuned for more 

AG Store Columbus pics here at The DW!

AG Store Columbus Exterior

Sorry for the lack of posts. 

We lost a Badger's Wood family member last week from a sudden terminal illness, 

so we are a bit off our game.

For now, we have organized one set of pics from the 

American Girl Columbus store trip we took on Nov. 10th.

We had a request for the exterior of the store, 

and we took several shots of the side with the cool frog fountain.

There is another entrance on the other side of the store, but it is less exciting. 

Mostly just has cars parked in front of it. ;-)

When you touch the little pearl behind the frog's butt, 

water shoots out of the frog's mouth.

So it is an interactive fountain. ;-)

We once picked up a frog in our yard and 'water' shot out of its butt.

So this is a more pleasant frog experience for us.

More AG Store Columbus pics coming soon. :-)

We will try to get the blog back on track as the days go on this week.

Hope everyone is doing well 

and getting ready for the holidays!