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CHICAGO — American Girl recently announced its 2026 Girl of the Year, Raquel Reyes. For longtime fans of the brand, the reveal of this year’s doll may be of particular importance — because Reyes is the great-great granddaughter of Samantha.
It’s the first time American Girl has created a descendant of another character.
“She is an OG,” Danielle DiMaiolo Rendini, head of retail at American Girl, told an audience at Shoptalk Fall 2025 regarding Samantha Parkington. The doll was one of the first three historical characters introduced in 1986 and quickly became a fan favorite.
The new Raquel doll has light brown eyes, brown hair and a gingham top and skirt as a way to pay tribute to Samantha’s style. The product line includes accessories, heritage-inspired keepsakes (like Samantha’s photographs) and fashion and play sets. All of those items contribute to world-building for the product.
“I use the word character, not doll or toy. We think of them as characters,” DiMaiolo Rendini said. “They have a full world and a story that we build. The doll comes with a book … we then use that storytelling as our starting point for how does this come to life in retail as experiences, as events?”
To celebrate Raquel’s release, for example, the company is celebrating with themed brunches across its stores. “They’ve been sold out for weeks with the guests not even knowing who the character was going to be,” DiMaiolo Rendini said.
American Girl stores are often pointed to as a top example of experiential retail. Stores contain a salon, dining (where seats are offered for guests’ dolls), doll care centers (complete with “doll doctors”) and personalized shopping assistance.
Raquel’s release will translate to other experiences, including themed salon styles, special Girl of the Year events and Raquel-inspired menu items. The company has also created a digital experience with the debut of a music video, dubbed “Family Forever,” on YouTube and the YouTube Kids channel.
“We’re really in an interesting point as a brand with that multigenerational shopper mom,” DiMaiolo Rendini said. “Many of the moms had Samantha. It is the toy you keep. They come in with their Samantha when they’re bringing their daughter. So there is that really emotional connection to these characters, which is very important to the brand.”
A luxury product, a personalized shopping experience
One reason shoppers may hold on to their American Girl dolls is because of the price point. The entry-level product is a doll that costs $135, and accessories are sold separately.
“This is a premium product,” DiMaiolo Rendini said, likening it to a luxury experience. And, similar to luxury companies, American Girl has built out experiences that support the product. That means investing in personal shoppers and a robust loyalty program that includes private shopping events.
The company has also thought through how to personalize shopping journeys for its guests, both online and in stores. American Girl’s “Create Your Own” is an online customized experience that allows shoppers to select a doll’s hair and eye color, skin tone, outfits and accessories. The final product takes about six or eight weeks to get to the shopper, DiMaiolo Rendini said.
In the past some stores had screens where shoppers could go through the same online process. However, the company found that if people made a trip to the store, they wanted to go home with a doll the same day.
“It started out as that idea of, ‘How do we bring a different version of it to our stores?’” DiMaiolo Rendini said. “Then we just really started immediately testing in store, iterating, making some merchandising changes, tweaking, but measuring from day one.”
That resulted in American Girl making a new “Styled by You” experience available at all locations. Shoppers select a Truly Me doll which has a variety of facial features, skin tones, eye colors and hair types. They then select an outfit, two accessories or a pet. At the end of the process, the shopper fills out a certificate about how they designed their doll.
“We saw very quickly that it was over-indexing with new customers,” DiMaiolo Rendini said of the results.
The goal is, DiMaiolo Rendini said, for American Girl to remain true to its brand heritage but continue to make things relevant for today’s customer.
“It’s an incredibly emotional purchase, and it’s an incredibly emotional experience,” DiMaiolo Rendini said.