Grace's French Bakery SOLD OUT

French Bakery - Gone!

The sell out date for Grace's French Bakery has been on my mind every week now for over a month and I honestly felt a bit sheepish for voicing my doom and gloom predictions, but even I was shocked to see confirmation this morning from American Girl on Facebook that indeed the French Bakery would no longer be available.

Today American Girl confirmed via Facebook that “Grace’s French Bakery has sold out and is no longer available.” They later added that “The popularity exceeded our expectations and sold out more quickly than anticipated.”

While confirmation of the sell out was not until this morning, I am recording the online sell out date as October 3rd as the French Bakery changed from its online backorder status to its final "No longer available" status sometime on Saturday.

Note that as of 12 pm (noon) today a few of the AGP stores have the bakery in stock, but I anticipate these will be gone in a matter of days.

Charlotte – Available
Minneapolis – Limited (Unavailable as of 1:30 pm Monday)
Nashville – Available
Orlando - Available

Call and jump into your cars now, because once these last few French Bakeries are gone from the physical AG stores the only place left to find the bakery will be on the secondary market--but even there the inventory is low and the prices are high.

Since this *morning* alone on Ebay 5 French Bakeries have already been sold (completed auctions) with the selling prices ranging between $750 - $815. Before this morning, only one or two a week or less were being sold on Ebay and generally for $650 or less. I now expect the prices on Ebay for the French Bakery to jump upwards and exceed $1000 from here on until the supply on the secondary market is depleted or the Christmas season passes.

The early sell out certainly is a game changer for GOTY collectors. Last year I waited until the last minute to purchase Isabelle's Studio (I bought it within one or two days of both online and in store sell out dates). Amazingly, a year later one can still purchase Isabelle's Studio on Ebay for approximately original retail price, so one can hope waiting out the secondary market holiday frenzy on Grace's Bakery could yield a better deal.

But my new rule of thumb for GOTY is if I want something from the collection, assuming no budgeting issues, that I better not wait too long--AG is running a much leaner ship in terms of supply chain management and "while supplies last" is not merely advisory, it is simply reality.

I realize many collectors were never considering purchasing the bakery, but if you were thinking about it...Are you relieved to have this item preemptively taken off your list knowing the temptation is gone? Turning to the secondary market? Changing how you collect for GOTY and other limited edition items?

The next big question about Grace's Wonderful World will be how long her doll stays in production--will she survive until mid-December? It seems like in order for Grace's clothing and accessories to sell that AG needs to keep Grace the doll in stock--so I imagine AG will try to keep her available until at least December 20th. But Grace has certainly broke the expected patterns already. Also, William Sonoma has another cross promotion with American Girl Grace Thomas rolling out this week so stay tuned for some talk about that here as well.

Looking forward: It seems time to begin a proper welcome for GOTY 2016 Lea Clark! There have been many leaked pictures of prototypes over the past two months, so we can start filling in the gaps here at Poppets & Posies with our own speculations.

Additionally, while I passed over blogging about the stunning debut of Beforever Maryellen, I am definitely interested in taking a look at what we know so far about Beforever 2016 and to ask the tantalizing question (based on rumors and early cues) if if BF 2016 will debut side-by-side with GOTY 2016 Lea Clark on January 1st, 2016.

WWOG: French Bakery - Part IV (Pastries & More)

So many accessories with the French Bakery! Today we are going to dive into the second and third goodie bags. Our accessory count so far stands at 20...

The second goodie bag is full of primarily baking sheets, pans, and utensils.

A mixing bowl branded with the La Patisserie logo.

Baking sheet. I really like the slight scalloped edges of the pan.

Torte pan.

Cupcakes pan--looks like the real thing, just smaller.

A faux-silver serving stand. This is quite light weight and plastic, but I think it will blend well in a full bakery scene.

The all important whisk and spatula.

Two fancy plates.

Four paper napkins (though I count this as a single accessory). They arrived slightly bent at the upper corner. The material used is similar to paper crepe and replacements could be made rather easily.

A half-dozen eggs. The eggs are not removable.

A single bottle of sparkling water. Really? Couldn't spring for at least a pair? I predict many parched customers for Grace.

One fancy serving tray.

And the final item of the second goodie bag is this super darling rolling pin. The accessory count now is at 34 (20 + 14).

The third goodie bag was filled with all the pastries for the shop. Again, I am unusually tickled by the "DO NOT EAT" stickers.

A slab of dough!

The dough makes a little more sense when paired with the rolling pin.

Raspberry macarons.

Red and silver sprinkles. The caps are glued on, which makes sense as the sprinkles are metallic confetti pieces. (DO NOT EAT! LOL)

Raspberry torte (x2)--this is an identical torte to the single one included in the Pastry Cart.

Chocolate torte (x2), another repeat from the Pastry Cart.

Key lime tart (x2)! Yum. This one does look almost good enough to eat.

Chocolate tart (x2) above and raspberry tart (x2) below are also repeats from the Pastry Cart. And the next few items are also repeats.

Four cupcakes.

More macarons.

Two baguettes.

Two croissants--finally something new again. These look amazing. The croissants complete the third goodie bag. The count for accessories is now at 60 (20 + 14 + 26). All we need is one additional accessory to meet American Girl's claim of "More than 60 Accessories!"

Look at what was hiding in the stove unit behind the bottom doors! A pink domed stand. It is quite alarmingly bright and plastic, but it gets the job done. 61! Ding! Ding! Ding!

The hard work is finally done. Next we get to set up and play with La Patisserie.

WWOG: French Bakery - Part III (Major Appliances)

On today's WWOG Blog (The Wonderful! World of Grace) we continue to unpack and examine all the pieces of the French Bakery. We have reached the second inner box which contains the major appliances.

The long white box slides out easily once the double french doors are completely opened.

Inside the white box is the mini refrigerator, the bakery counter, and the stove and sink combined unit.

I love the mini refrigerator. I can't believe it took AG nearly thirty years to give us a modern stand alone fridge. I am even willing to overlook that it is a mini fridge because it is so cute.

Terrific attention to detail even on the back side of the fridge.

I do wish for the extreme price tag for the French Bakery that AG would have included working lights in the fridge as well in the large shop. I am not sure how that would  have effected the final price, but I would have been willing to shell out an extra $10 - $20 for some working lights! I do have experience electrifying dollhouses, but I like to shop AG because their outfits and accessories are generally "ready to play!" and not "fix me up!"

The stove and sink unit is really fun, with lots of moveable parts. Doors open and knobs turn. The sprayer unit can be removed from its cradle and be aimed like a real faucet sprayer.

Even the oven rack is moveable. The doors below the oven also open to reveal storage space.

Top of sink unit before installing the faucet.

I turned the stove and sink unit around and discovered two surprises. First, the back of the unit is finished and includes a La Patisserie sign. This is fantastic because it really makes this unit able to be placed anywhere in the bakery or even in another scene and it will look great from any angle. 

But the other surprise was that the upper portion of the unit had four visible indentations. It also appears like an extra coat of paint was applied to the top inch of the unit to better camouflage the indentations. I puzzled over whether this was normal or not for these units to no avail, but then I was able to stop at AGPSF to inspect their own floor model.

Above is the floor model of the back of the stove and sink unit at AGPSF. There are almost imperceptible indentations but one really needs to squint to find them. But even more to the point, there is just one smooth and even coating of silver paint. So now my dilemma is whether or not the flaws on my own unit is worth calling AG customer service for a replacement.

The serving counter comes stuffed with two bags of goodies (to be unpacked in an upcoming WWOG Blog).

The counter is entirely plastic and features a faux marble counter top.

The back side of the counter is gently curved and features a working drawer. This stand alone counter could be used for scenes selling anything from pastries to candies to flowers to balloons or plants--it is wonderfully generic and yet lovely.

With the exception of the questionable indentations (and bad paint over job) on the stove and sink unit, I really like the major appliances and serving counter. 

Next for the French Bakery will be the two bags of goodies--and then it will be time to inspect the building itself and move in!

WWOG: French Bakery - Part II

If AG's website is any indication, the French Bakery is probably meeting sales expectations as it is on backorder until February 13th. The bakery will be interesting to keep an eye on because its success or failure could give indications for big ticket items (BTIs) in the future. Also note the Pastry Cart, which went onto backorder almost immediately upon its release, has since returned.

There is so much to unpack and look at in Grace's French Bakery! Today we are going to start by looking closely at the first goodie bag (there are three total). This goodie bag was pulled out of the first interior box.

I am curious about AG's claims of the bakery having over 60 accessories. In this first goodie bag alone we have 20 items, though I am counting the small pile of Euros as a single item.

First out of the bag is a sadly crushed two-sided poster. The poster fits in a frame on the wall inside of the French Bakery, though I have not tried it yet. I am hoping the poster will straighten over time inside the frame, but either way, this poster needed to be packed better for transport to our homes.

The second side of the poster.

Many of the paper products, such as the torte boxes above and the cupcake holder below, are almost identical to the paper products found in the Pastry Cart, just with slight variation in color or the addition/subtraction of the store name.

Above: a macarons box. Below: baguette paper wrappers.

The flour and sugar boxes are empty (not weighted).

A cute milk carton--count the hearts!

The hot pad is cute and features a stylized bow pattern.

This pastry bag is pretty much identical one offered in an earlier AG baking set.

If the menus look familiar, it is because they are almost identical to the single menu offered inside of the Apron Giveaway in the first days of Grace Thomas' launch. The cover above features a new image, but the actual menu on the flip side below is identical.

The recipe cards are a mini stroke of genius. Perhaps the Grace Thomas midsummer release will feature a doll sized and girl sized recipe box?

Well, at least now we have 25 euros for doing business, but no ability to give change. More paper money, please! The euros, like the dollars with the Pastry Cart set, are printed on one side only.

Love the shopping bags, but the same complaint and request: more, please! At least 4 - 6 for a set of this size.

Finally, the closed sign. Very cute, made of firm cardboard. I do wish this, like the store hanging sign, would have been made of painted metal. A few extra touches would have taken this French Bakery from a fantastical children's toy and elevated it into near heirloom quality.

Next up: the "large" appliances and serving counter!