Overland Park mall’s iconic doll store — one of only a few in country — will not reopen

A decade ago, Oak Park Mall landed the coveted American Girl store over rival the Country Club Plaza.

At the time it was one of only a handful of the shops in top markets across the country.

But on Wednesday, the Mattel-owned company said the store has closed permanently, as well as two stores in the Atlanta and Denver areas, leaving it with 14 locations and one outlet store. The leases of the three stores were set to expire in early 2021.

In a statement, American Girl general manager Jamie Cygielman, said: “It has been our privilege to serve these communities for a decade or more, and we thank our customers for their loyalty and look forward to continuing our valued relationship with them. While decisions that impact our associates, our customers, and the community are always difficult, the closures are a necessary step to optimize our store portfolio and accelerate our expanding e-commerce business.”

In 2010, the Wisconsin-based American Girl took a 9,500-square-foot space on the lower level of the mall at 95th Street and Quivira Road in Overland Park.

The shops was among the first of the so-called “experiential” stores — selling dolls but also letting girls bring them back for new hairstyles, ear piercings or even a custom T-shirt.

It temporarily closed in mid-March with the COVID-19 shelter-in-place orders but never reopened.

The Overland Park store had 23 full and part-time employees.

This story was originally published July 15, 2020 at 6:20 PM.