Barbie Store
On Barbie’s fiftieth birthday, Mattel - the world’s largest toymaker, opened the first store dedicated to the iconic doll in the world, in Shanghai, China. 3,300 m2 mega-Barbie store holds the world’s largest and most comprehensive collection of Barbie dolls and licensed Barbie products. Standing six stories tall, it glows neon pink and cost around 20 million pounds to build. Slade Architecture led the design including the exterior, interior, fixtures, and furnishings.
The staircase and the dolls are the core of the store. This is a three-story spiral staircase that encloses more than eight hundred Barbie dolls. It links the three retail floors: the women’s floor, the doll floor and the Barbie Design Center, where girls design their own Barbie is on this floor. Opened in 2009, this flagship contains a day spa, cafe, hair salon, design studio, a $15,000 Vera Wang wedding dress sale, fashion stage and thousands and thousands of new and vintage Barbies. Barbie Shanghai was the first Mattel Barbie flagship store in the world. It ceased activities in March 2011. After two years and untold millions lost, Mattel gives up the keys to the Dream House and calls it quits in Shanghai, but not in China. For more photos click here.
