Barbie theme store opens

A half-century after Barbie's first appearance in a demure black-and-white striped swimsuit, a six-story, pink and sparkling Barbie flagship store recently opened in Shanghai.

Mattel Inc., the world's biggest toy maker, is betting that its unabashedly "everything girls" store, complete with spa, cafe, design studio, fashion stage and every Barbie-branded item imaginable, will be a hit in with Shanghai women and girls.

The company, which also makes Hot Wheels toy cars, has sold more than a billion Barbies since the doll's debut at the New York Toy Fair on March 9, 1959.

A typical American girl owns eight of them, according to Mattel. Potential Barbie-buyers in China, many of them in their 20s and 30s, are just getting started.

"My cousin sent me my first Barbie as a gift on my 20th birthday and I immediately fell in love with it. To me, she is irresistibly beautiful," said Wang Yan, a 26-year-old editor at a local fashion magazine, who says she now has six of the dolls.

"Sometimes I confide in her," Wang said. "She's a good listener."

Although the squeeze from the global financial crisis is pinching China, too, Mattel's retail sales in the country have continued to increase. With less than 5 percent of Mattel's more than $3 billion in annual sales coming from China, the company believes there is plenty of room to grow.

"Asia is a region of opportunity for us," said Richard Dickson, general manager of the Barbie brand at the El Segundo, California-based company.

"We have been looking at various cities," he said. "Shanghai showed the most promise for the Barbie brand."

Only in recent years has there been a cultural and economic shift broad enough to allow companies to expand in China, despite its legendary promise as a market of 1.3 billion people, said Needham & Co. toy analyst Sean McGowan.

"A decade ago people could say China is a great opportunity, but that wouldn't have played out," he said. "Now that Chinese people have experienced Western tastes and have the ability to afford it, it adds to up to a pretty good opportunity."

"As they get to know more about America and associate it with certain brands in entertainment and pop culture, Barbie will be right up there with Mickey Mouse, among the great American brands," he said.

Barbie's fresh start in China may help offset the brand's slide in the US.

Once-strong sales have weakened in the US as girls opt for video games and other online entertainment, and the economic slump is cutting even deeper; Mattel reported a 49 percent drop in profit in the fourth quarter of last year from a year earlier, while Barbie sales fell 21 percent.

The store, on Shanghai's Huaihai Road, has touches that take it beyond a normal toyshop.

Visitors can use a computer design program to create their own dolls, for instance, or they can dress up and strut a runway like a model in the fashion studio.

Agencies

(China Daily 04/20/2009 page5)