For items that would be retiring, Mattel added a Last Chance Corner to the website where shoppers could get these items at a discounted price. Here’s what this portion of the website looked like around 2001-2002:
Items were separated by product line: The American Girls Collection, American Girl Today, and American Girl Gear. Scroll through this gallery for an overview of items available at a discount before their retirement (unfortunately, not all of the pictures would load):
Many of these items were advertised at discounted prices in the catalogues as well. Here’s an example of an insert that was in the Summer 2002 catalogue.
Revised Sets
Some sets were even revised, noted by the “R” at the end of a product code. Here are a few examples:
Josefina’s Christmas Eve Set was sold without the lantern since that piece was added to the Chicken and Chiles set in 2001.
Molly’s Tennis Outfit was sold without the tennis racket and ball.
The Chinese New Year Outfit was sold without the barrette and ribbons.
Historical Sale
Here’s a closer look at all the historical sets that were on sale:
Some of these items are now hard to find and very expensive to buy secondhand. If only we had a time machine to buy these items just before they retired…
American Girl Today Sale
Here’s a look at some of the sale items and prices:
It’s interesting to note that the mini Miss AG Bear was also sold with the Fleece Robe and Slippers as well as sold separately. I had heard of someone buying this bear separately direct from AG, and this confirms the story.
Gear for Girls Sale
Here are some of the items for girls that were on sale:
I’m hoping to put together a comprehensive list of all the Gear for Girls items that were available to purchase from the 90s to early 2000s since no list with pictures can be found anywhere online. It will likely be a mix of catalog pictures and screenshots from the website like these.
*All website screenshots were taken using the Wayback Machine.
Were you able to get any of these amazing deals in the early 2000s? Let me know in the comments!
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