Judging from our near-first fight with a gaggle of Scandinavian tourists at the American Girl Store while shopping for our nieces last Christmas, the new, 2,100-square-foot Eloise store cannot be as sweet as it looks.
The Plaza's innocently impish forever-girlchild resident of yesteryear has been givien her own dedicated retail center, so that consumers can get a chunk of the Eloise lifestyle in the form of her books, dolls and t-shirts.
According to various stories and rumors, author Kay Thompson was inspired to immortalize the troublemaker tween by a young Liza Minelli, who shacked up at the Plaza with mum Judy Garland, but over the years many middle-aged former hotel residents have claimed the honor. If based solely on annoying behavior and charming little potbelly, and not on whether she lived at the Plaza, it could even be us.
Regardless, the prospect of an Eloise store has us sighing a little sadly - we'd prefer she just stay alive in the memory of the storybook, instead of a wildly potent moneymaking venture.
