Wednesday, August 21, 2019

Mattel Toy Store in Middleton

I knew that Mattel had an outlet store of sorts in Middleton, Wisconsin, called the Mattel Toy Store.



I did not bother to go because I was told that it did not carry American Girl brand.

This year, I heard that they did indeed have American Girl brand items. Apparently, this is new.

The store is less than half a mile away from the MCM benefit sale, making it easy to visit both locations.

I went on a rainy day when I needed an adventure. I really wasn't expecting to buy anything.

The store is actually located at the American Girl offices, around the right side and towards the back.

I was truly fangirling as I pulled up and saw the official American Girl company sign.



When I went in the store, there was a display of Truly Me dolls and some outfits, and a smaller display for Wellie Wishers and Bitty Babies.




There were lots of other Mattel brands as well, including of course Barbie, Mega Contstrux, and Enchantimals.





I found that there was a second room to the left that was full of more American Girl brand items, including Truly Me, Beforever, Girl of the Year, Wellie Wishers and Bitty Babies.

I discovered that most of the price tags had prices that were about the retail cost of the items.

American Girl dolls were $115, Wellie Wishers $60, and AG outfits and Barbies were the prices I would normally expect.

THEN I found out that the items that had green price tags were half off.

The actual Truly Me AG dolls were still full price, $115.

But the Wellie Wisher dolls and all the American Girl clothes, accessories and pets were all half off.

The sales ladies chuckled when they told me this, and suggested that I might need a cart.

I was really tempted by a lot of items at half off!

I ended up getting Felicity's accessories, the lasagna set, and the Dino Mite outfit.

I also picked up a few Mix and Match items for a friend.



As to selection: there were not any boy dolls there. There were lots of moddie clothes, and lots of AG dog clothes.

There are lots of AG minis.



They had a few things for the historicals, but it was mostly the pets, and maybe the nightgown or the accessories. There were very few historical outfits.

The Barbie selection looked good to me, but I don't collect for Barbie. Almost all the Barbies were the full price you would pay at any other store.

They only had two Wellie dolls, mostly Ashlyn and a few Emersons.

I don't think I saw any actual Bitty Babies for sale, but they had some accessories and furniture for them.

There was also some AG furniture, like Nanea's and Josefina's beds..

I think some items were probably returns or items that had been damaged in transit. I saw a lot of damaged boxes.

A lot of the Truly Me items were ones that I had seen for sale on the AG website, like last year's holiday outfits.


One item that I thought was interesting was that they were selling lots of Lea's meet outfit, and also her turtle.

This picture also shows you what the green tags that indicate the half off price look like.


The store had a play area for people with kids. It was stocked with toys, both Barbie and AG, as well as a couple of other brands.



It was a fun trip, and I am glad I went.

I would recommend it, but if what you really want is a particular item, especially one for historicals or that is currently on the website, I would say this is probably not the place to go for that.

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