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Fifty Ain’t Nifty for Barbie at The Bay

By Brenda Petroff

Fifty years after making her debut, Barbie celebrated her semicentennial birthday with a worldwide array of products, fashion shows, and parties. In Toronto, the brand partnered with The Bay to create one of two Barbie Signature Shops in North America. Large, pink billboards near The Bay added hype to the March 16 unveiling of the “traffic-stopping” store windows and retail destination, but the resulting display leaves much to be desired. Perhaps the stylists were confusing a minimalist intent with its barren outcome, or maybe Toronto Barbie is the newest victim of the economic crisis. Either way, the low-budget effort is evident and consistent with a brand that has seen its global sales drop 21% in the last quarter. Comparing this to Shanghai’s six-storey, pink and fuchsia flagship wonderland, you start questioning how all of the girly imagination and fantasy evaporated from this city.
The Signature Shop is tucked into a corner of The Bay and mostly sells merchandise with the Barbie logo. While the pink topiary trees and pink life-size plastic poodles are adorable, and some of the designer dolls—including Barbie designed by Diane Von Furstenberg, Burberry, and Armani—are innovative, none are for sale. Instead, the featured clothing designs are conservative and the furniture has been done elsewhere, in better versions. The pink, PVC-upholstered chair in Betsey Johnson’s Yorkville vitrine, for example, screams “Barbie Dream House” much louder than Glenn Dixon’s Barbie furniture line at The Bay. The store is open until mid-May, but it’s worth a visit only from those Barbie fans already in the area.
All photos by Brenda Petroff/Torontoist.

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  • http://null bigdaddyhame

    there used to be a Barbie boutique in the same location a few years ago.. Don’t ask me why I know this.

  • http://www.blog.canoe.ca/canoedossier David Newland

    This is an interesting take for Torontoist – if I parse the tone correctly, you’re being critical of the fact that Toronto’s Barbie store isn’t as good as the one in Shanghai?
    It’s a remarkably snark-free critique and I have to support that, but I’ve to to say I find it hard to be upset that we don’t have a better Barbie store.

  • http://undefined Gauldar

    I wonder if they are comming out with a Toronto Recession Barbie doll sporting jeans from Value Village and a t-shirt from Winners.

  • http://undefined David Toronto

    It’s a real comedown from the days of the Dunnhill Humidor at the south-west corner of Simpson’s.
    I used to get cigars there and there was a real humidor for the Bay Street crowd. This was back in the ’70s when the real cigars [Davidoff etc.] sold at Julius Vesz
    at York and Front Sts.
    Nonetheless, the Dunnhill Humidor served those who like them very well. The north half of the Bay St. frontage had the West End Shoppe. Perhaps someone can fill in details on that.

  • http://null Eric26

    The problem is that the Bay on Queen looks like it should be a leader in Canadian retail due to its architecture and central location but anyone under the age of 80 obviously knows that it’s not. Barbie, and any innocent passing tourists, never got the memo. No one, anywhere, has any reason to go inside this store and the year round dismal window displays (Christmas is sometimes an exception) are a dead giveaway.

  • http://null LMT

    It’s like going to the Barbie souvenir shop instead of Barbie Disneyland. :(

  • http://null cgerald

    Isn’t that Bay store poised to become a Lord and Taylor anyway? Torontonians never took well to the Bay as it is and resented it in place of Simpson’s, so it and its private label crap will hardly be missed.

  • http://null jen_in_toronto

    I’m under 80 and I shop at the Bay all the time…they have good deals on socks, stockings, underwear and accessories, and I actually buy a fair amount of clothing there too. They carry the wholesale lines for Esprit and Mexx, which are different from other stores…as well as other lines I like such as Planet, Lori M, Nygard, 9 West etc. When I get compliments on my clothes, people are shocked when I say they’re from the Bay. They also have a great selection of bathing suits in the spring/summer.

  • http://null jen_in_toronto

    I’m under 80 and I shop at the Bay all the time…they have good deals on socks, stockings, underwear and accessories, and I actually buy a fair amount of clothing there too. They carry the wholesale lines for Esprit and Mexx, which are different from other stores…as well as other lines I like such as Planet, Lori M, Nygard, 9 West etc. When I get compliments on my clothes, people are shocked when I say they’re from the Bay. They also have a great selection of bathing suits in the spring/summer.
    A friend of mine and a cousin are both registered at the Bay for their weddings, and I’ve bought several bedding sets, towels and small kitchen appliance from there too.

  • http://null jen_in_toronto

    Sorry for the double post, guess I can’t delete.

  • http://undefined torontothegreat

    I’m with you on that. I shop at the bay quite often for clothes, household stuff etc. Great quality stuff, good customer service (great return policies), professional, knowledgeable staff and even better prices when you hit the sales racks.