Barbie’s new dream house is in a familiar place -- Malibu
After a summer spent looking for a new place to hang her very tiny hat, Barbie has decided not to bolt the ‘bu after all.
Earlier this year, a Mattel marketing campaign sent the diminutive diva on a road trip to 13 cities across North America ostensibly in search of a new place to put down roots. To date, the Barbie is Moving tour has taken the pint-sized California girl to possible future hometowns including Boston, Minneapolis, Philadelphia -- and even ventured north of the border to check out Toronto and Vancouver.
PHOTOS: Barbie’s Dream House over the years
Ms. Roberts was apparently so serious about finding new digs that her beloved Malibu Dream House was put on the market -- and listed for a cool $25 million.
But while you can take the flaxen-haired doll out of Malibu, you apparently can’t completely take Malibu out of the flaxen-haired doll, and Monday comes official word that Team Barbie has decided to stay within reach of the beach (and Ken) and return to Malibu.
“Barbie feels incredibly connected to the beach and decided to renovate her dream house instead of move,” said Lori Pantel, vice president of global marketing for Mattel’s Barbie. “After much thought and consideration, Barbie has made her decision to stay in Malibu.”
Of course that means an even dreamier dream house, and her new 3 1/2-foot tall, three-story, six-room pied-a-terre includes the following amenities: two (count ‘em, two!) elevators, pink appliances with a stainless steel-like finish, a canopy bed with a pull-out trundle bed -- for the occasional Skipper sleepover, we’re guessing -- and a working doorbell. (Local real estate prices being what they are, the price tag is a bargain-basement $184.99.)
The peripatetic princess in pink has yet to return to her new/old neighborhood we’re told, and she’s currently in the process of making her way back to Malibu.
Her tour is scheduled to make a three-pack of stops over the upcoming Labor Day weekend -- presumably in case there are some last-minute listings to check out -- before ending her coast-to-coast romp back to her new/old neighborhood.
The last stops on the home-bound leg of the tour include the Toys R Us at 25362 El Paseo Road in Mission Viejo (1 to 5 p.m. Friday), the Kmart at 500 Carson Town Center in Carson (11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday) and a fashionable last stop at Fashion Island, 401 Newport Center Drive in Newport Beach (11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday).
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