In The Hartland: Saying a Sad Farewell

It is no secret that I have loved American Girl Dolls as much as my girls over the years. When we were first introduced to this doll and toy brand back in 2012 when Lia got her first doll as a Christmas gift from her Aunt Austin and Uncle Robbie, I just thought that it was an overpriced, doll line that was made for wealthy grandmothers to spoil their granddaughters. Within a year or two, I learned to love and appreciate this company due to its high quality dolls and toys, incredible attention to detail, and fabulous customer service. I also learned how to never pay full price for a single item and also how to make money off of used and new items. Before I knew it, I was into these dolls as much as my girls and making regular trips to our local AGD store less than an hour away became a part of of our lives. For seven years, we visited this store several times a year. We normally would combine it with a trip to my parents or Lake Sammamish, but it always was a fun outing and experience with my kids as this store is so interactive and fun for children. I truly grew to love this store and its employees and was always so grateful that we had one in our state as there was only 18 stores in the country. Much to my shock in 2018, the first AGD store closed in St. Louis. I remember being so relieved that this wasn't our store. After the St. Louis store closed, three more followed prior to the pandemic. After the rest of the AGD stores were temporarily closed down due to the pandemic during the spring of last year, I was even more relieved to see our store open back up again after the ones in Atlanta, Denver, and Scottsdale did not. I honestly thought that we had made the cut and it never occurred to me that AGD was not done making more cuts.

As a result, it came to a total surprise to me on the morning of January 25th when I found an email in my inbox announcing that AGD was closing down their Seattle store on February 17th. I just gasped in total shock. It was such horrible and depressing news! I immediately picked up my phone and called AGD customer service in Wisconsin to find out any further information. The customer service rep told me that online sales had just exploded since the pandemic started and, as a result, cooperate decided to close another store to save on all of the expenses that come with paying rent and employees. And, the Seattle store happened to be next on the chopping block. I know it sounds so ridiculous, but I was so upset and sad about this. I seriously had a pit in my stomach for days. We have loved going to this store for so many years now that it is just a part of our lives. Plus, we have loved seeing all of the brand new dolls in person and have enjoyed getting all of the free gifts that are always given out at the release parties of these dolls. In addition, I have loved returning items from online purchases for free and getting our dolls ears pierced at the salon without having to pay for shipping. The list can go on and on. Needless to say, it was time to go to this store for one last visit to say goodbye.

Since I had already planned to take my children to spend the day at my parent's house on Saturday, January 30th, it just made sense to make the detour to the store on our way there. It didn't dawn on me that the rest of the AGD fan club had decided to do the same thing. Since all retail stores are required to keep their stores at only 25% capacity right now due to our governor's orders, we were greeted by a very long line as we approached the entrance to the store. This was a major bummer since I was trying to get done with the store and back to my parent's house in time for lunch before Emmett's nap. The 40 minute wait that we were required to stand in line for seriously messed up this plan and created a very cranky toddler by the time we were let into the store at almost 12 o'clock. As a result, he refused to stay in his stroller like he normally would have done had we just been allowed to walk into the store upon our arrival. So, we then spent the next 45 minutes trying to walk around the store, get Ella's doll's ears pierced, check out all of the sales, and wait in a long, check-out line all while trying to juggle a very busy and active Emmett. It turned out to be a very stressful and chaotic 45 minutes in the store that was not pleasurable for anyone and definitely did not provide the "closure" that I needed. While in the store, I decided to make one more trip up to the store to spend my AGD reward money that wasn't arriving until February 5th with just Emmett in tow. So, instead of waiting in another line to submit two dolls to be shipped to the doll hospital in Wisconsin for new heads, I just kept them in my stroller and headed out the door with four very cranky and hungry children at 12:45 promising myself that I would return one more time.

And that is just what I did today. Since Fridays are one of only two days of the week that both Logan and Ella are allowed to go to in-person school, I decided that today was the day to go back since my reward money had just arrived the night before. After dropping my two middle children off at school, Emmett and I left Lia at home for her online school and made the trek back up north to the store. We arrived there a few minutes before it opened at 11 a.m. and spent a peaceful and wonderful hour inside. I made a return, bought an item with my reward money, got three dolls' ears pierced (that are future gifts for Ella), and sent two dolls off to the hospital. Although about 1/3 of the store had already been sold out, I still was able to walk around my favorite, historical section and quietly say 'goodbye' to my favorite line of dolls. I know that this is so silly, but saying goodbye to these dolls and seeing this store so empty really brought closure to my heart. It helped me to accept the fact that this wonderful chapter of our lives is closing several years before I was prepared for it to happen since I really wanted Ella to grow up visiting this store until she had outgrown dolls like Lia. Sadly, this wish was not meant to be and so I must just be grateful for the fact that we had so many wonderful years visiting this store. Thanks to the pandemic, this chapter is now closed.