Trip to Barbie World

The girls and I took a trip to Barbie Shanghai.  The only Barbie stored owned by Mattel in the world.  The girls were amazed. 

The day we went, the store was just trying out a new concept called Barbie Town.  It was a room with a bunch of brand new barbies and all the stuff to go with it.  It was meant to just play.  In the future, they plan on charging for this "experience", but they got to try it out for as long as they wanted.  I had to tear them away after an hour.  They enjoyed getting to play with so many different new toys. 

We met the general manager and I talked to him for a long time.  He and his family are also new to Shanghai (since April).  He had just come from running the American Girl Store in Chicago!  I did not realize that Matel also owned American Girl.  He was very interesting and I learned a lot.  He also mentioned that they are investigating putting in an American Girl store in Shanghai!!!  

After playtime, we ate up on the 6th floor in the Barbie Cafe.  All of the tables had barbie dolls to play/eat with.  Abigail had a Ken burger and I had a Barbie Malabu (to drink).  It is interesting that the cafe is very hip and trendy.  The GM told me that they market to not only the young girls, but business professionals in Shanghai. 

After lunch, we spent some time picking out the perfect Barbie.  There were SO many to choose from, so it was hard to just pick out one (yes Roger...each girl got only one doll except Lindsay who got a free one as well). 

The girls really want to go back and take Dad next time.  If you come and visit...I am sure they would love to take you as well!!