American Girl stores at Mall of America, Natick Mall closing

[retailisking]

The high-end doll division of Mattel continues to shrink
http://www.startribune.com/american-girl-store-at-mall-of-america-closing-by-march-20/505154152/
https://framinghamsource.com/index.php/2019/01/31/american-girl-store-in-natick-to-close/

[TheFugitive]

The drip-drip-drip of store closings at Mall of America continues.
Could this place become like Century III on steroids?

[Retail Fan+ (Justin Hill)]

The drip-drip-drip of store closings at Mall of America continues.
Could this place become like Century III on steroids?

I don't know. That place is a popular tourist attraction visited by people from various parts of the world. The mall has its own theme park and aquarium. If anything, the Mall of America will keep reinventing itself.

[danfifepsu]

The drip-drip-drip of store closings at Mall of America continues.
Could this place become like Century III on steroids?

I don't know. That place is a popular tourist attraction visited by people from various parts of the world. The mall has its own theme park and aquarium. If anything, the Mall of America will keep reinventing itself.

I went to that mall on a Wesnsday evening in the Summer and it was hard to find parking why are they closing American Doll?

[giantsfan2016]

The drip-drip-drip of store closings at Mall of America continues.
Could this place become like Century III on steroids?

I don't know. That place is a popular tourist attraction visited by people from various parts of the world. The mall has its own theme park and aquarium. If anything, the Mall of America will keep reinventing itself.

I went to that mall on a Wesnsday evening in the Summer and it was hard to find parking why are they closing American Doll?

The doll is made by Mattel and Mattel is bankrupt.

[Retail Fan+ (Justin Hill)]

The drip-drip-drip of store closings at Mall of America continues.
Could this place become like Century III on steroids?

I don't know. That place is a popular tourist attraction visited by people from various parts of the world. The mall has its own theme park and aquarium. If anything, the Mall of America will keep reinventing itself.

I went to that mall on a Wesnsday evening in the Summer and it was hard to find parking why are they closing American Doll?

The doll is made by Mattel and Mattel is bankrupt.

It's not really as much of a bankruptcy as it is corporate downsizing due to what happened with Toys "R" Us last summer. Mattel has made serious cutbacks on the number of employees at at their corporate HQ in El Segundo, California. They own all kinds of branded toys including such household names as Hot Wheels, Matchbox, Barbie, Fisher-Price, Mega Bloks, Tyco RC and a few others you may or may not have heard of...

Nearly every toy manufacturer is feeling the effects of what I call a "toy blackhole," which was created by the absence of major toy retailers (such as Toys "R" Us), and as a result, overstock items, factory seconds and the like are being sold through Ollie's and Big Lots.

I hope it gets fixed soon when Mr. Kassoff revives KB Toys in the second quarter of 2019 once he secures all the funding.

Toys "R" Us Canada and Mastermind Toys are two toy retailers that are doing well in Canada.

[retailisking]

There are a couple of things I think are playing a role here. The obvious one is that the DTC (direct-to-consumer) model of American Girl is incompatible with Mattel's core business of manufacturing dolls and other toys for sale at traditional retailers. Another one is that perhaps there is a fundamental market shift away from these pricey high-end dolls.