My Scene Skechers store for Barbie

Art Design: The My Scene Mall Maniac sets are wrapped in an acrylic plastic clam shell. You cut a couple of plastic ties and pop-open the clam shell and there in living color is this beautiful Skechers Shoe store! These sets are a great marketing tie-in for the 12" Barbie dolls.

Display Stands: The Skechers Store includes five display stands. The short wide blue one where the Barbie is sitting seems to be for customers to try on the merchandise. The tall, large display stand has three clear plastic shelves. The bottom doors do not open. The display counter where the cash register fits has two small clear plastic shelves and also two small display areas. There are two more small display stands that have little shelves that display one shoe on each of its two little stands. One of the small display stands has a Skechers shoe ad, and the other one has an additional small blue display area. The display stands have enough room for an enterprising Barbie to add more stock than what is provided. This set also should have included a chair or bench, a Brannock device, and some typical shoe care accessories would have been nice.

The Gear: This Skechers set includes six sets of shoes. Included are a really nice pair of purple and white sneakers, beige clogs, black Mary Jane pumps, black and silver Bettina boots, and two pairs of Jamba-style athletic shoes. One is red with white rubber soles and the other is green and white. The weird thing about these shoes is that they have the foot already in the clogs, the jambas, and the pumps. It looks strange, but it helps Barbie stay on her feet because the shoes go past the ankles once Barbie puts her feet into these shoes. The flesh-tone rubber is part of the shoes, and provides extra support for the tiny Barbie feet. The shoes look great, as they are a lot nice looking than the standard Barbie shoes. It is an interesting innovation which makes it a lot easier to pose Barbies in a standing position.

Market: These sets retail for $14.99-$19.99 and are available at most retail stores like Toys R Us, Wal-Mart, K-Mart, KB Toys, etc.

Overall: It is a very pretty set, but my little girl put the Skechers store into her Barbie storage bin after a couple of weeks. I guess the Mall Maniacs concept does not top the Barbie Dreamhouse? At least the beautiful Skechers shoe styles look great on the Barbies.

Grade: B+