This time, I visited the "new" Target near the Cheltenham and Ogontz Avenues intersection. (Note: it's located behind the Shop Rite Supermarket, if you face the market and then walk or drive to the left. It's almost hidden away.)
Target had LOTS of the BFC Ink. Calista's and those cute Moxie Girls. Nice selection of Barbies, too. The H2O dolls with their molded on bras. Some Hannah Montana, High School Musical, Wizards of Waverly Place dolls. A few Only Hearts Club dolls but no Kayla Rae doll.
I would almost not mention this, but I noticed there were a LOT of Black dolls available. I thought: well, I guess I can figure out who this Target expects to visit. Interesting, how stores select merchandise to fit their expected clients. Good, I am NOT complaining, but it made me think, you *get* who the target (ouch, bad pun intended) is for this store.
The official address for this new Target is
2450 Shoppers Lane
Philadelphia, PA 19150
(267) 628-3280
As for the black dolls in CH Target, stores do not get to pick what they get. Most of the toys come from the manufacturer to the store. Mattel normally put 2-3 ethnic dolls per box unless there is only a black and a white doll in the line—Holiday dolls—or if the line is a black doll—Julia-. The majority of the dolls that are made and distributed are blonde! There aren’t as many brunette made! As we get closer to Xmas, because of this ratio, the number of black dolls in neighborhoods with a large black population- CH Target, Toys R US and Wal-Mart will disappear! African Americans will have to go white neighborhoods to find black doll. Black doll don’t sell as well there and black male dolls even less! I’ve been in far too many toy stores and heard black parents try to convince black children to get a doll that looks like them. When the parent buys-- the child get one thing. When the child is choosing-- they want something else. Mattel has recently come out with a line of black dolls with little sister, so that may make it look like more black dolls. Many companies other than Barbie have tried to come out with a line of mixed race/multi cultural dolls as friends but these lines only last 2-3 years tops!
ReplyDeleteAs a person who collects black dolls and action figures, the lack of black action figures and 12 inch action figures is shocking.
Submitting this comment again with corrections.
ReplyDeleteHi! Yes, I have located Black dolls in White neighborhoods. I found Fashion Fever Desiree in a Port Richmond Rite Aid. She was the hardest AA doll for me to find in recent years. I'll shop the city and the closest suburbs to find the dolls I want.
Thanks for the information about the limited number of ethnic dolls shipped. That explains why/how there can be one or two AA dolls in a given store at any time. I used to think, my luck (good if I get the doll; bad if I didn't) was the problem.
I also appreciate the reminder that ethnic dolls disappear off shelves the closer we get to Christmas. I better get MGA Entertainment BFC Ink Calista and Sasha Moxie Girl and Mattel So in Style Barbies - the last mentioned are the ones with the little sister dolls - BEFORE holiday shopping starts. Sigh.
I need to track when I cannot get a given doll at a particular store and then write the manufacturer that I could NOT get that doll at the store. Perhaps if they - and Mattel, Hasbro, and MGA Entertainment tend to sell the MOST ethnic dolls – hear from enough people, they will increase the amount of ethnic dolls they distribute.
Have you noticed that neither the Hannah Montana line nor the H2O Just Add Water line have NO ethnic dolls? The world becomes noticeably more varied but fewer ethnic dolls are being created outside the three companies I just mentioned.
FYI
ReplyDeleteMattel has this thing where only certain dolls are sent to stores. A doll may be sold in Wal-Mart but not Toys R Us or Target. Julia is one example. She is in Wal-Mart but no where else. You will have to purchase her online if you can’t get if from Wal-Mart. Most dolls are cheaper in Wal-Mart but they don’t have the selection or Toys R US. I do think that Mattel should let you know if the doll’s feet are too big for most Barbie shoes. I find that they hide the feet when they are oversized so that you can’t tell. I think the big feet- big head thing was a misstep for Mattel! As they say in sports, you can’t play someone else’s game. You have to play your own!
LC
I hate the big-headed dolls. I have to find them new bodies, if I like the faces enough to accept the big-headedness.
ReplyDeleteThe big feet Barbies are just in the Cali Girl/swimsuit line. I don't mind the big feet. Barbie's regular feet are too tiny. Sure, most shoes/boots, etc. fit the smaller feet, but the larger ones look better to me. If only she could stand on them ... argh.
The Beach Party Barbie line out now have the bigger feet and when the shorter torso barbies that are on the market now first came out they had the large feet too! It took them a while to do the smaller feet. I would say about half to the larger head Nikki done with the short torso (not the Asha head mold)have the larger feet.
ReplyDeleteLC
Argh! That Hobbit body. I might have five dolls like with it. I got the Beach Party Nikki this January: she has the Hobbit body AND the big feet. One in this line is sufficient. The big footed Cali Girls, I could take because they had the full body.
ReplyDeleteOh and I have Beach Party Steven and his knees don't really bend. They have the feel of the bend legs, but they don't bend. Grrr ...