AG Customers

American Girl customers are interesting but they can be defined into basically two categories: demanding and understanding. Customers can be very demanding. I guess that’s understandable with the price they are paying for some of the doll things, but some people get a little out of hand and managers have to be called in.

One thing AG does not do is sell things directly off the dolls, meaning we cannot take things off of the displays and sell them. It cannot and will not be done, but most customers will not take that as a final answer. I had one man come in around Thanksgiving and he wanted the gymnastics set. We were sold out of it and I explained that to him. This man tried to guilt me into it by saying that he had just gotten back from deployment overseas and this was the one thing his daughter wanted. When I explained again that I couldn't sell it off the display he got quite angry and asked for a manager but left before the manager came out. I had a mom do that too, where she saw this furry shrug and really wanted one but we were sold out of the holiday set (what it came in). She became very angry and pointed out that there were at least three upstairs on display and they weren't actually being "used" and her daughter could physically play with it, unlike the dolls. She demanded to see a manager and argued with them about it too, but we can't sell things from the displays, so she didn't get one.

I understand that people want what they came for but if we don’t have it, we can’t magically sell what we don’t have. I have had people send me back into the stock room multiple times just to check “one more time” for whatever they want. I know it is disappointing to go somewhere and they don't have what you want, but no matter how many times I check, your desired item will not magically show up the fifth time I check. Believe me, I want to give you what you want, but sometimes we just don’t have it. Especially when it’s one of the Truly Me dolls that we don’t have, I know that can be the most disappointing.

At the register, people can get a little ridiculous about their transactions. I had one man who had three girls with him do five transactions for everything. It was so unnecessary because he paid for every transaction (none of the girls used their own money/giftcards) so they didn't even have the excuse that each girl was using their own money for their transactions. Some kids pay for their own stuff which is great but when parents insist on paying for each kid individually, it’s annoying and pointless.

Some customers are actually really nice when you tell them that you don’t have what they want. They usually are the people who have had experience in customer service or some kind of store. I had one woman tell me that she thought everyone should have to work in a store during the holidays to see what it’s like. Sometimes, especially closer to Christmas, people would wish the cashiers “good luck” for the right before Christmas and post-Christmas rush.

AG workers are supposed to ask all the customers if they need help or ask if we can do anything for them. Sometimes I hear people asking someone they came with about AG things and when I ask if they have a question, they say they're fine. That drives me a little crazy because even though I just heard them ask a question, they say that they don't need any help or have a question. I just don't quite understand why they do that; I can help them but they say they don't need help even though I know they need help. 

Many of the customers act very pretentious and assume that the AG workers should do anything and everything they ask/demand. Some customers have the workers follow them around and carry what they want to buy, like the workers are paid to be servants. We have reusable shopping bags for customers to carry unpaid merchandise for a reason. One man got so angry at the store in general that his wife had to take him out of the store after he blew up at me. They didn't come back in until after my shift was over so I'm not sure what exactly happened to that family. 

You never know what kind of customer you will get but you have to be prepared for any type of person. The best thing to do is greet everyone the same with a smile and a happy "Hi!" or "Can I help you find anything?" People can be rude, but you have to remember that they will only be talking to you for about five minutes,at most.  

Retired American Girl Dolls

Before we get into this topic, we would like to point out that while every Girl of the Year is technically "retired", we will not be talking about them because we already have a post dedicated to every GOTY so there is no need for repetition. That post can be found here. This post will be about the Historical American Girl dolls who have been retired, in the chronological order that they were retired in. 

So far four dolls (and their friends) have been retired, making it a total of seven dolls. American Girl has not made it clear whether or not any of the collections will be taken out of retirement. The public gets a warning of the retirement anywhere from two to seven months before the time of removal from stores/online. American Girl's official reason for retiring dolls is:

"Like every company, American Girl is constantly revitalizing our products to best meet the needs of our customers and our business. While some items are discontinued, many other products are added to keep American Girl interesting and engaging, and to celebrate who girls are today."

The first doll that was retired by AG was Samantha and her friend, Nellie. They were from 1904 and began to sell in 1986 as one of the three original AG dolls. Samantha and Nellie were officially archived on May 31, 2009 but the Samantha doll had been sold-out since February 2009. Samantha's books dealt with social classes, women's rights and child labor. Samantha is an only child who gets herself into a lot of trouble with her ideas. Although she was retired, her and Nellie's mini dolls and her books are still available from AG. Samantha had a movie and was the first Historical doll to get one. She is played by AnnaSophia Robb.

The next doll that AG decided to retire was Kirsten. Like Samantha, Kirsten was one of the three original dolls released in 1986. She was a Swedish immigrant who moves from Sweden to Minnesota in 1854. Kirsten's books depict her as a shy, gentle girl who is good with children and animals. She looks up to her mother and wants to be like her mother when she is older. Kirsten's books are still available through AG but she was officially retired on New Year's day 2010.

Third to go was colonial Felicity and Elizabeth from 1774. Felicity was the first AG doll to be released  after the original three and was also the first to not have bangs. Felicity lives in colonial Williamsburg, VA and hears a lot of talk between the Loyalists and the Patriots. She is very strong-willed and stubborn which often gets into trouble. She was sold from 1991 until her retirement on March 28, 2011. Both Felicity and Elizabeth's mini dolls can still be bought along with Felicity's book series. Felicity also had a movie and was portrayed by Shailene Woodley 

Most recently, Molly and her friend Emily were retired on January 1, 2014. Molly was one of the three original dolls, making her the last one of the three to be retired. She is from 1944 and is the daughter of a doctor who is overseas in World War II. Emily is a British girl whose parents send her to live in the US to protect her from the war. Molly can be very stubborn but she wants to help with the war effort as much as possible to "do her part". Molly was the only historical AG doll to have glasses. She also received a movie with Maya Ritter playing the lead of Molly.

All of the three movies mentioned above were released in November, one year after each other, starting with Samantha's in 2004. Kitt is the only other Historical AG doll to have a movie but Addy has a play that began in 2007 and then got a traveling tour. 

So who will be the next historical doll to be retired?
The next dolls to go will likely be Addy or Josefina as they are not very good sellers and they are now the oldest dolls (released in 1993 and 1997, respectively). Kit and Kaya are the next oldest but Kit probably won't be retired because she is a pretty good seller and Kaya sells fairly well but has only been sold for 12 years (so she's pretty "young"). Julie, Rebecca and Caroline have all been released within the last decade so they definitely aren't going anywhere anytime soon. [This is just personal opinion]

Every Girl of the Year

Quick history:
American Girl began creating Girl of the Year (GOTY) in 2001. The first GOTY was Lindsey Bergman. She began selling in mid-2001 and was retired in mid-2002. Unfortunately, there was a lack of sales for Lindsey and there was not a new GOTY for 2002. American Girl tried reintroducing GOTY again in 2003 with Kailey Hopkins. She was sold from 2003 to mid-2004, with no replacement GOTY in 2004. After Kailey, all GOTYs sell for their one year, beginning on New Year's day and going until supplies run out or New Year's Eve (whichever comes first).

2001 - Lindsey Bergman
Lindsey is a Jewish girl who loves to help but sometimes helping others can get her into trouble. Her book includes her brother's Bar Mitzvah and her attempts to help others. Lindsey didn't have much of a collection, mainly just a laptop and scooter. Lindsey was the only Jewish American Girl until Rebecca Rubin in 2009. Due to Lindsey's lack of sales, it is difficult to find her for sale.

2003 - Kailey Hopkins
Kailey lives in California and loves to swim and surf. Kailey and her friends fight to save the tide-pools near her house from developers. Kailey had a little more of a collection than Lindsey. Kailey had a wet suit and bikini set, dog (named Sandy), boogie board, and a snorkel set.

2005 - Marisol Luna
Marisol is an avid dancer who moves to a suburb without a dance studio. Her book caused a little controversy when a passage from her book painted a real town as an "unsafe" place and upset the residents. Marisol was the first GOTY to have a starter collection. She had four dance outfits: tap, ballet, spotlight, and jazz. Her accessories are a stage and tiara, her dance duffel bag including her cat, and her silver trunk.

2006 -  Jess McConnell
Jess goes to Belize with her parents who are archaeologists. She is home schooled and is in 4th grade. Jess goes on adventures with her new friend from Belize and they foster a parrot. Together the girls find historical treasure. Jess is the first multiracial doll (Scottish-Irish and Japanese-American parents). She is also the first doll whose story takes place outside of the US. Jess is also the first GOTY doll to have an official middle name (Akiko). Jess' collection includes a 2-in-1 kayak outfit, pajamas, travel accessories, kayak, motor scooter, and a tree swing.

2007 - Nicki Fleming
Nicki lives with her parents and brother but her mom is pregnant with twins so Nicki has to help out a lot more around the house and ranch where they raise pigs. Nicki has to train a service dog that her mother was supposed to train before becoming pregnant. Nicki must learn to balance school, family, chores, planning a gala, and training a dog. She also enjoys art and skiing. When Nicki's mom finally has the twins, Nicki gets to name them and she chooses Rebecca and Kristine (after her two best friends). Nicki is the first GOTY to have more than one book. She also had a lot of items in her collection: ski outift, ranch outfit, tie top and shorts, gala outfit, ski gear, straw hat, horse tack box, Jackson the horse, and a dog-in-training.

2008 - Mia St. Clair
Mia is the youngest in her family of four kids and has three older brothers who all play hockey. Mia used to play hockey but really wants to be a figure skater even though her brothers tease her endlessly about it. She must learn to be herself and get along with her "enemy" Vanessa who is also a figure skater. Most of Mia's collection is skating related. She has a silver skate dress, practice outifit (comes with skates), performance outfit, 2-in-1 skate outfit, pajamas, accessories, hair clips and case, purple skates, bedroom accessories, bedroom furniture, and an ice rink. Mia was the only doll to get her own PC game. Like Nicki, Mia has two books. Almost all of Mia's collection had sold out by mid-December of 2008.

2009 - Chrissa Maxwell
Chrissa deals with bullying. She moves to be closer to her grandmother who raises mini-llamas and spins their hair into yarn. Chrissa has two "companion dolls" and is the only GOTY to have companion dolls. They are her two friends, Gwen (a homeless classmate) and Sonali (a former class bully). One of Chrissa's gtandmother's llamas give birth and Chrissa names the new baby llama "Starburst". Chrissa was the first GOTY to get a movie (direct to DVD). She has a large collection consisting of a warm-up set, swim team gear, sundress, pajamas, snow outfit, pet llama, party treats, party table, craft studio, and snow gear. Chrissa had a device called the "Chrissa's IM-Me for Girls" which was a keyboard and base that allowed instant messaging. The device was owned by Mattel (parent company of American Girl).

2010 - Lanie Holland
Lanie loves nature and self-proclaimed scientist, keeping a notebook full of facts and notes. She likes to incorporate scientific words into her everyday vocabulary. When she grows up, Lanie would like to research deep in jungles and being an expert scientist. Lanie's collection had a lot of outfits; she had a butterfly outfit, garden outfit, nightgown and stuffed orangutan, red tee, blue tee, green tee. white tee, and nature outfit. She also had accessories, a camper and gear, hammock, raccoon and can, wildlife set, and a nature set.

2011 - Kanani Akina
Kanani is a native of Hawaii who loves to share the aloha spirit. She is an animal lover and has several pets. Her parents own a shaved ice shop which Kanani helps out at. Kanani is the second GOTY to be multiracial (her parents are Japanese-Hawaiian and French-German). Unlike previous American Girl books, Kanani's books are written in third person. She has the longest hair of any American Girl doll (it goes down to her to her mid-thigh but has some curls and waves so it's actually longer than it looks!). Like Kailey who lived near the ocean too, most of Kanani's clothes and accessories are beach/island-related. She has a beach outfit, aloha outfit, a luau set, pajamas, party outfit, accessories which includes her pet dog, paddleboard, monk seal, shaved ice stand, lounge chair, and ukulele.

2012 - McKenna Brooks
McKenna is a gymnast in Seattle, WA who really wants to become an Olympic gymnast. She struggles in school and has two younger twin sisters (Mara and Maisey). McKenna had a movie called "McKenna Shoots for the Stars" which was released July 3, 2012. McKenna is the only doll to have something that was not generally available; her warm-up outfit was only available with purchase of her starter collection. Understandably, a lot of McKenna's items were related to gymnastics. She had a practice wardrobe, pajamas, school outfit, fancy outfit, performance outfit, accessories, her dog Cooper, rain gear, cast and crutches, gymnastics beam and bar, bed, and team gear.

2013 - Saige Copeland
Saige loves art and horseback riding and is very upset when her school decides to cut the art program due to lack of funding. She is creative and full of ideas but hates public speaking which is what she needs to do to find funds for the art program. Saige must also learn how to deal with her friend's new friends who she doesn't really get along with. She is the first GOTY to get a mini doll (like the Historical American Girls). Saige also had a movie called "Saige Paints the Sky" which is also the name of her second book. Saige had a sparkly dress, parade outfit, pajamas, sweater outfit, tunic outfit, accessories, dog, hot air balloon, horse, parade saddle, parade hat and helmet, painting set, and a picnic set.

2014 - Isabelle Palmer
Isabelle is a ballerina who lives in Washington DC and goes to Anna Hart School of the Arts with her older sister. Isabelle likes to make dance costumes and has a lot of anxiety during her first year at her new dance school. She is the first GOTY to have three books and is also the first to have an app. She also has a movie although is hasn't been released yet or been given a release date. Its title is "Isabelle Dances into the Spotlight" and is supposed to be based on her three books. Isabelle's collection is extremely different from an American Girl doll, GOTY or Historical or My AG, in the fact most of her clothes are sold in single pieces to mix and match. She has pajamas, a performance set, coral sweater, rosette leotard, wrap sweater, purple leotard, practice top, dance skirt, funky leggings, sparkly skort, scrunch pants, tutu, legwarmers, accessories, kitten, dance case, studio (when it's open, it's where she makes her clothes and when you close it, it looks like a dance studio wall with mirrors and barre), and a dance barre.

Girl of the Year 2014 movie

The new Girl of the Year (GOTY) Isabelle will have a movie that is set to be released sometime in Summer 2014. It is directed by Vince Marcello (2012's GOTY movie "McKenna Shoots for the Stars" and Disney Channel's original movie "Teen Beach Movie"). It was written by Jessica O'Toole and Amy Rardin. The movie was filmed from May - June 2013 and the girl playing Isabelle is 14 year old Erin Pitt. 

Pitt was considered for the role of Renesmee from the final Twilight franchise movie. She is one of six children and is from Ontario. She played on of the little campers (Junior Rocker "Audrey") in the Disney Channel original movie "Camp Rock 2: The Final Jam" that was released in 2010. Pitt had three roles in a 2012 horror film "Silent Hill: Revelation 3D" as Dark Alessa, Alessa Gillespie and the younger version of Sharon DaSilva. She dances and plays violin. Most recently, Pitt was in the movie "Against the Wild" where she and her brother must survive after a plane crash in the wild. She looks a lot like a young Hayden Panettiere in "Against the Wild". 

More of the released cast:

• Jade (Isabelle's sister) - Grace Davidson
• Chloe - Saara Chaudry
• Luisa (one of Isabelle's best friends) - Devyn Nekoda
• Gabriel (listed on IMDb as "tap dancer") - Matthew Edmondson

I'm not sure why the movie isn't being released with the doll (I was asked by many costumers if we had them), but my guess is that it is a marketing strategy to bring people back to the stores in the summer/fall to get them to buy more. 

The plot of the movie is not known but will be related to the three books Isabelle has. The first book, titled simply Isabelle, is about Isabelle being excited to start her first year at her new dance school (Anna Hart School of the Arts) and how she begins to doubt her talent when she meets the other students. The second book, Designs by Isabelle, Isabelle again struggles with how she compares to other students but begins to focus on the costumes of the plays and helps her sister. The third and final book, To the Stars, Isabelle, Isabelle is invited by her dance idol (Jackie Sanchez) to go on tour which Isabelle eagerly agrees to but learns that her classmates, Reneta, who isn't very nice, was also invited. The show begins to fall apart so Isabelle tries to her Jackie and ends up learning a lot about her dance idol and learns how she, herself, can inspire others around her. All of Isabelle's books are by Laurence Yep, who wrote 2008's GOTY Mia St. Clair's books. 

One of the articles about the casting search read:

"Universal Studios Home Entertainment and Martin Chase Productions are currently in pre-production on the seventh film in the American Girl series, “American Girl 2014″. This is the current working title of the film. The award winning casting director, who was formerly the executive vice president of feature castings at Walt Disney Studios, is auditioning actors to fill the lead roles. Additional casting for supporting and day player roles will take place as soon as the main roles are cast. A few of the roles being cast are a 10 year old girl with exceptional ballet skills for the lead role, a 12-15 year old ballet dancer to play the second lead role, and another 10 year old girl. Also up for grabs is the role of an ethnically diverse adult actress between the ages of 24-40, who also has expert level ballet skills. Shooting will take place in May throughout June, 2013.

“American Girl 2014″ centers on Blanche Palmer, a lively and energized 10 year-old girl who is very happy and full of life. Blanche has a dream of being a professional ballet dancer, but she has a bit of stage fright when dancing. This performance anxiety prevents her from exhibiting her true amazing talent. Blanche has an older sister Jade who is considered the very best ballet dancer in her school. The two enjoy a close relationship with each other, however Blanche always feels like she is living and performing in the shadow of her sister’s talent. To complicate her life even more, Blanche has a competitor named Renata who is the same age and dances with perfection since her parents hired a private coach. Renata is very pretty and very testy, and she criticizes Blanche for small mistakes in her performances. Jackie Sanchez, a recently retired world class ballerina, then becomes a role model for Blanche and her sister."

On IMDb the movie is listed as "American Girl Blanche." This is not the real title of the movie and obviously is not the real name of the GOTY 2014. American Girl puts out fake names, especially when looking for actors so that the real name is not released. 

UPDATE: the American Girl website states that the movie will be released on DVD/Blu-Ray in July of 2014. 

New Girl of the Year!!

Today (January 1, 2014) was the first day people could purchase the 2014 Girl of the Year (GOTY) doll!!

Her name is Isabelle Palmer and she's a ten year old ballerina who has a hobby of making clothes. She has blonde hair with pink highlights and green eyes (they're really beautiful). She lives in Washington, D.C. and goes to a dance school (Anna Hart School of the Arts) with her older sister. She makes ballet costumes but struggles with adjusting to her new dance school. Isabelle also struggles with her self esteem as she compares herself to the other dance students. Her best friends are Luisa (a modern dancer) and Gabriel (a magician).

She has pink hair extensions which cause her to be more expensive doll at $120 (normally dolls are $110). The general hair extensions cost $14 so even though you're paying more, you're saving $4. Some people said that they had issues putting the hair extension in. I haven't tried to do it myself but there are directions that come with her hair extensions. 

The lines at the store (the Washington, D.C. one) were wrapping around the store, both upstairs and downstairs. Ironically, many people didn't even know that the new GOTY was being released today (they had just come on their day off). People waited in line for as long as an hour to buy Isabelle and her clothing and accessories. People who had lined up before the store opening all went directly to the Isabelle displays and started grabbing stuff.

Isabelle has a lot of clothing. Quite a bit of it is just single pieces of clothing like "sparkly scrunchy pants" or "practice top". I suppose it's like that because you can mix and match almost all of it. Unlike Saige (2013 GOTY), whose clothing cost $24+, a lot of Isabelle's clothes are $12 or $14 for one piece. On the website, there are about 14 single pieces of clothing or specific outfits that come together. There are 20 mix and match outfits in total for girls to create. Girls can match three of their dolls outfits with human sized clothes. The outfits are very interesting and many are asymmetrical and very different than past GOTY dolls. 

Isabelle has a cat and a dance case which comes with ballet slippers, hair accessories and stickers to decorate the case with. She also has a little studio where she makes her dance clothes. It consists of 24 pieces, some of which are a body (mannequin) display, sewing machine (needs 2 AAA batteries), a closet, stool, a table... It's a lot of stuff and is $275. She also has a barre which comes with several things as well (a water bottle, rubber/plastic mat, and a few other little things). She has some pretty cool things that girls will love.

Nearly everyone who came into American Girl today bought an Isabelle doll. I went into the stock room to check for something and overheard someone say that we had sold 275+ Isabelle's within the first two hours of the store opening [I can neither confirm or deny that this is true]!!

We did not anticipate the amount of sales and people for today but we still were well-stocked and didn't run out of anything. 

The store had some fun things as a celebration for the new GOTY. From 12-4pm we had crafts outside of the top level of the store and from 1-2pm we had a dance performance outside of the Macy's down the hall from the American Girl store. I wasn't able to go to the crafts but I did walk by the dance thing on my break and saw a lot of spectators. We also were giving out giftcards and free Isabelle tshirts for the American Girl dolls. We ran out of those pretty quickly, probably due to us not realizing how many people would come today. 

The store was unbelievably busy but the girls had a lot of fun and were always very excited for Isabelle. Many people asked us to open Isabelle for them at the register so that they could carry her home or around the rest of the mall.