Grace's Slumber Party & Patisserie: Canadian Preview

Thanks to a Canadian friend, stellabella, Poppets & Posies is able to share photos from the Canadian preview of AG's Mega Bloks line. Photos shared with permission!

The event was held at a Toronto Toys R Us store today and featured Grace's Slumber Party & Patisserie.

While the release of the AG-themed Mega Bloks in the United States rumored to be in July, Canadian consumers will have a shorter wait--the Mega Bloks American Girl line will be offered through Canadian Toys R Us stores starting March 18th.

Grace's 2-in-1 building will retail for $109 CAD--approximately $79 US. The package includes the two buildings seen above which can be configured separately or stacked for one giant building/house. (See the final picture for interior and accessories.)

Above and below is the 2-in-1 set configured as one giant house.

The 2-in-1 set comes with Grace, her two friends, her dog BonBon, a patio and table set, floor lamp, plants, and a fully stocked kitchen that comes with both bakery foods and baking equipment: a mixer, rolling pin, blender and more. The kitchen has a sink, counter space, and a refrigerator and oven (doors open on both). Also included are a lounge couch, sales counter, and computer screen. The bedroom area comes with a bunk bed and trundle to sleep three. There is even a bathroom with toilet and sink (lower right).

The Mega Bloks line will include other dolls from the Truly Me line and many specific characters and scenes from previous GOTY dolls. Besides Grace and her bakery, look for Isabelle and her dance and sewing studio, Saige and her artist studio, McKenna and a gymnastics scene, and Nikki with her horse, stable and dog. No word or sight of Kanani yet!

Are you excited?

AGPSF Flash: Taking Stock of Grace Thomas

The rains paused and this sunny Friday afternoon I took a delightful drive up to AGPSF to take a walk-through of Grace Thomas' displays and note her in-store stock.

This is a view into Grace Thomas' main display area at the front of the store. While there is a lot still to see of her collection, there is no grand attempt to fill in the display gaps, most noticeably the huge empty space right in the middle of the floor. There is floor space to do some cartwheels!

Not only is there extra floor space, the display cases themselves are emptying out. The open teal platform long ago held the French Bakery but there was no attempt to make any other display--just a rather well-loved Grace doll with frizzy hair. The pink platform with plexiglass case on the right held the Pastry Cart display just last weekend, but now Grace stands alone in the case.

And the light blue platform case is also emptying out--no more BonBon (he was there just last week!). There are plenty of dolls for sale--but only two of the Travel Set (Luggage) left on the shelves. The Travel Coat is long gone.

Back wall left side--dolls and Welcome Gifts.

Middle back wall--a few Bistro Sets remain.

Back wall right side--Pajamas, Welcome Gifts and City Outfit. Also the Sightseeing Accessories and Sweet Hairstyling Set (left column).

Around the corner and in other display areas are additional outfits and accessories including the Baking Outfit and Opening-Night Outfit. For many Grace Thomas items, going in-store is still viable option at AGPSF.

Available at AGPSF
* indicates sold out online

Baking Outfit*
Baking Set*
Bistro Set*

City Outfit*
Opening-Night Outfit
Pajamas*
Sightseeing Accessories*
Sweet Hairstyling Set*
Travel Set (Luggage)*
Welcome Gifts

Gone Both Online and at AGPSF
French Bulldog
French Bakery
Paris Accessories (Purse)
Pastry Cart
Travel Coat

Only Available Online

Sightseeing Outfit

Goodbye Grace: Update II

With yesterday's surprise Daily Deal for much of Grace Thomas' collection even more of her items have moved to "No Longer Available" status on the website. Just this morning the Bistro Set became NLA.

An updated info graphic as of mid-morning December 7th:

Compare with the December 1st version of the info graphic here.

AGPSF Flash: Hello & Goodbye to Grace's Store Stock

American Girl Place San Francisco had brisk business this Sunday! The store was full with shoppers young and old and many of their red shopping bags were stuffed with AG goodies. My brief visual survey saw that the shopping traffic was very doll-clothing-and-accessories oriented as I saw very few shoppers making 18" doll purchases today.

I wanted to check out Grace Thomas' in-store stock in light of the surprise AG Daily Deal spotlighting her collection--nine items up to 30% off, including the Grace Thomas doll offered at $84! As items become "No Longer Available" (NLA) on AG's website, how would stock at the local store compare?

Plenty of Grace dolls on the floor!

However, both on the website and at AGPSF, Grace's powder blue Travel Coat is NLA. The Travel Set (Luggage) is gone from the website now, but there are still plenty of her luggage sets at the store.

Missed out on the Sweet Hairstyling Set online? AGPSF has plenty in stock.

Grace's Charm Bracelet for Girls disappeared off of the website several days ago, but AGPSF has quite a few left for now.

Also, the Baking Outfit which has been bouncing off and on backorder status online has healthy stock at the store. Other items gone online but that can be still found at the store include the Baking Set (Mixer) and the Polka Dot Apron for Girls.

The only big observation to make on Grace's stock seems to be the obvious one--get what you absolutely want now before it is gone. With the 20% off all regularly priced items through December 12th plus the one day 30% off Daily Deal for Grace Thomas and a huge portion of her collection, the rush is on! 

A quick summary of the highlights:

Baking Outfit 

AGPSF: In Stock
Website: Back Ordered

Baking Set (Mixer)
AGPSF: In Stock
Website: NLA

Sightseeing Outfit
AGPSF: Out of Stock
Website: Back Ordered

Sweet Hairstyles
AGPSF: In Stock
Website: NLA

Travel Coat
AGPSF: Out of Stock
Website: NLA

Travel Set (Luggage)
AGPSF: In Stock
Website: NLA

Bracelet for Girls
AGPSF: In Stock
Website: NLA

Polka-Dot Apron for Girls
AGPSF: In Stock
Website: NLA

Good-bye Grace & Countdown to Lea Clark!

It is December which means we get to say good-bye to GOTY 2015 Grace Thomas while looking forward to the arrival of GOTY 2016 Lea Clark!

But first a quick report on the availability of Grace's Whole World--the doll, her clothes and accessories. For those of you who like a visual view, the below shows the online status of her items as of December 1st.

I am surprised by how many items, especially big ticket items, are already gone!

As of December 1 (online/website only)

Grace Thomas' Whole World - Sold Out
French Bakery (October 5)
Paris Accessories (November 10)
Pastry Cart (November 30)
Sweet Hairstyles Set (December 1)

Grace Thomas' Whole World - On Backorder
Baking Outfit (backordered until December 11)
Sightseeing Outfit (backordered until December 15)

Grace Thomas' Merchandise for Girls - Sold Out
Bracelet for Girls (November 21)
Travel Case for Girls (November 24)
Bon Voyage Stationery Set for Girls (November 27)
Dots & Bows Wristlet for Girls (on or before December 1)
Purse for Girls (on or before December 1)
Polka-Dot Apron for Girls (on or before December 1)

*Note: Not listed: William-Sonoma/AG items

I will periodically post an updated detailed list with dates as a way to archive GOTY 2015 Grace Thomas' sell out dates.

For those who may be new to the whole GOTY sell-out phenomenon, collectors and fans do their best to guess base on prior years, but Grace has broke the mold in several ways already. The first being the sell-out of her wildly expensive but much coveted French Bakery on October 5th! This was easily a month or more before many people suspected.

Also, a surprising number of Grace's items are sold out already by December 1st. In brief, if you want something from her collection, assume it will sell out without further notice. Past years I was often able to use a backorder status as an early warning sign for eminent sell-out, but some of Grace's items have moved straight from available to "no longer available."

So what is the next surprise sell-out for Grace's Whole World? Will the doll itself sell out before mid-month?

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: Early Retirement or Late Restocking?

MONDAY UPDATE:  AG website was updated this morning and so far all the items seem to be available again! The rumors still persist, including the French Bakery going into backorder status soon but for now all is well in Graceland!

Hang onto your Christmas stocking those of you who have made plans to pick up some of Grace's items closer to the end of the year because Grace's Welcome Gifts, her pink Opening Night Outfit, the classic Baking Outfit, and even her new Sightseeing Outfit are all listed as "no longer available" on AG's website!

We've seen website glitches and misleading stock information on AG's website before, so perhaps Monday morning the site will update and we will see these items back in stock or at least with a backorder date. However, a few small rumors have begun to surface about Grace's collection, such as AG stores not planning to restock certain Grace items once they run out and a rumor that Grace's French Bakery may go on backorder status soon.

With BF Maryellen debuting next week and a GOTY 2016 around the corner, will AG let the stock of Grace's quite large and expanded collection slowly move into sell out status? At this point AG is probably heavily invested in making sure Maryellen does well and is merely riding out the last quarter of Grace's reign. I can imagine the Grace doll and a core of her items being deliberately made available until mid-December, but if it is the case that the four items above do not return, it will be anyone's guess what will still be available to buy late in the holiday season.

Thoughts? I will keep an eye on AG's website--will need to add a retraction come Monday morning?

WWOG: Midsummer Report

So much to note about GOTY Grace this summer: her third book, her movie, rumored new clothing and accessories, and more!

On May 21, her third book Grace Makes it Great was released. 

Will the above outfit be part of an upcoming midsummer outfit for Grace? The striped top and white skirt has been seen on the grey market (Taobao.com), which makes this outfit a likely candidate. Also spotted was black boots with Grace's swooped heart design embroidered on them. Perhaps a boot-and-umbrella combo to coordinate with her Travel Coat? But when will these speculated items arrive?

How about on June 23, when her movie Grace Stirs Up Success launches?

And now the newly announced partnership with Williams-Sonoma also features Grace:  

Join Williams-Sonoma and American Girl® for a hands-on baking class inspired by Grace™—the 2015 Girl of the Year™! Each student will learn Grace’s favorite French Madeleine recipe, then finish the pastries with dark chocolate, white chocolate, and a few other toppings. We’ll also make and decorate sugar cookies from scratch. Each child will take home a special American Girl® goodie bag! $30 per child.

As for Grace's current offerings, GOTY Grace still has us waiting…as her items continue to be placed on backorder online and the in-store availability of her items also continues to fluctuate.

Since the early weeks of her release in January, we have seen many of her items bounce in and out of backorder status. As of today, four of her items once again show up on the website as temporarily out of stock:

Grace’s Travel Set – backordered until June 19

Grace’s Pajamas – backordered until June 26

Grace’s City Outfit – backordered until July 2

Grace’s French Bakery – backordered until July 10

On my last visit to AGPSF on May 23, Grace's Travel Set was out of stock and its mini display left empty. And I can't remember the last time I've seen the French Bakery displayed or available in store.

Since her debut month, almost every outfit and accessory for Grace has shown up at least once as backordered. This began in January when her big ticket item, the French Bakery was temporarily out of stock in stores and online and her Pastry Cart soon followed.

Some fans have met this ongoing backordered status of Grace's collection with skepticism—could AG be manipulating buyer purchasing behaviors by making the items seem in high demand? Or perhaps it is a matter of AG being more conservative on how much stock they manufacture, store and stock—after all, on December 31st of this year Grace officially retires and any leftover stock becomes a financial liability.

(Above: Travel Coat but no luggage!)

For myself, the constant changing status of item availability of Grace’s items has affected my purchasing timeline. With GOTY Isabelle, I did not worry about completing my collection until early December of her year. With GOTY Grace, while logically I am confident that her wardrobe and smaller accessories will remain available into the first weeks of December, I have made the majority of my purchases much earlier in the year and I may complete them when her next release of items arrive this summer (not confirmed, but highly anticipated).

Interestingly, the box Grace now comes in has a small design change. Like the new Truly Me doll boxes, her box now features a picture label on the lower right hand corner.

For fans of Grace and/or her collection, when do you plan to complete your list of GOTY 2015 related purchases this year? Are you excited about the possible new summer release items for Grace, or are you already"burnt" out on Grace's World?

And finally a question I barely dare to ask...when will we discover the first hints of GOTY 2016? Are we ready for and enthused about another round to begin sometime in the coming months?