Little Girls' Dream Store

So just who are these glamorous girls?  You'd be forgiven for thinking it was a line up for some supermodel shoot, but these girls are Barbies showing off the LBD, or little black dress line!

Only in Shanghai, is there a Barbie store.  Five glorious levels of Barbie - you wouldn't think it was possible, but hey.  Top floor starts with the Barbie Cafe, a retro 50s style diner, with exquisite chocolates as well, and reasonable milkshakes.  As you work your way down, there is the spa (yes for you and your Barbie), adult sized Barbie style clothes, then down a spiral staircase lined with showcases each housing one Barbie, all dressed in pink - just like this one, and you can see how many others there are surrounding her:

Then there is the toy store, where little girls (and big girls) can ooh and aah over all the Barbies they could possibly desire - Dr Barbie, Hairdresser Barbie, Dolphin Trainer Barbie and the list goes on and on and on.  

Why were we there?  Well, remember the recent Daddy Daughter Dance, well the Shanghai Barbie Flagship Store gave all the daughters a voucher to pick up one of the Shanghai Flagship Barbies each, valued at 249RMB - pretty generous really.  So we were there to cash in!  And we were in the area to visit the French Concession with my aunt (Mum's little sister) who is visiting this week.

It really is overwhelming how many Barbies there were, and how much accessorisation is possible, both for your doll and yourself, adult or child.  I wondered whether for the next Daddy Daughter Dance we should splash out and buy Jie Jie an evening dress with a sash from the Barbie range.

Jie Jie was pretty excited by her new Shanghai Barbie - who does look a bit Chinese, with long black hair, dark eyes and carries a chihuahua in a patent silver bag, and came with a change of clothes with an I Heart Shanghai shirt!

She carried her proudly the full length of Huaihai Zhong Lu, all the way to lunch at Di Shui Dong - hot and spicy Hunan cuisine, and here is showing her off at the table!

Just to confirm that Shanghai isn't only over the top for children, the following picture is a building sized Louis Vuitton suitcase housing, you guessed it, the Louis Vuitton (originals) store!!