A couple with no direct retail experience are opening the UK’s first doll boutique in London’s Westfield shopping centre.
My London Girl, which will be targeted at three-12 year old girls, will sell a large range of dolls that vary by skin tone, eye colour, hair colour and even hair type. Once a young girl has chosen her doll, she can pick from 25 outfits and select a matching design for herself. A line of hair accessories will also be available, in addition to hair styling demonstrations on site.
The 900 square feet retail space will sell both baby dolls and 42 cm dolls. The larger dolls will cost £79, while outfits for the dolls start from £20 and the girl’s matching outfits start at £35.
The owners of the store, Paul Neagle and Kathryn Fleetwood-Neagle, are optimistic about the store’s prospects. While British consumers are spending less, Paul noted that “People [...] still like to look after their children and treat them on birthdays and Christmas.” According to research by the British Toy and Hobby Association, the UK’s toy market rose six percent to £2.83 billion in 2010. In addition, market research group NPD found that doll sales rose by 11 percent.
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Paul and Kathryn intend to get major British designers on board for My London Girl clothing line. The current collection is by David Charles, who has sold his designer childrenswear to high end department stores Harrods and Selfridges. The clothing lines will rotate àla the adult fashion world, with autumn/winter and spring/summer collections.
In an interview with the Evening Standard, Paul assured that My London Girl will not encourage young girls to grow up too fast. “It will be nice, fun, child fashion,” he said. “We will not be selling make-up or anything like that. We are not trying to turn little girls into adults.”
Conversely, Paul hopes the designer aspect of My London Girl products will extend the length of time children play with dolls.
“They're the sort of fun clothes that a child could wear to a party, a restaurant or a wedding. We think this will extend the period of childhood, because dolls are for very young children.
"Often, once they get to about eight or nine years old they lose interest in dolls. We're hoping that by making the dolls fashionable, it will extend the life of doll play among young girls.
The couple came up with the idea four years ago while on holiday in America, after visiting the similar American Girl store in New York. They hope to put a London twist on an already very profitable concept.
“We wanted our store to be more fashionable and more of a boutique than American Girls, but fundamentally it is the same concept of matching girls’ clothes with dolls’ clothes, but we’re trying to make it a London thing.”
Paul and Kathryn are being advised by Twenty Retail.
Visit the My London Girl website here to register for news on the store openeing
