Melissa & Doug Deluxe Grocery Store / Lemonade Stand
Jun.03, 2010 in
Uncategorized
- Wooden play center performs double duty
- Run a store or sell lemonade today
- Portable plastic bins for pretend shopping or storage
- Sturdy wood construction and easy assembly
- Exceptional quality and value
Product Description
Melissa & Doug Grocery Store/Lemonade StandKids can run their own store with this grocery store, then reverse the fabric awning for a lemonade stand. The plastic bins are removable for storage, clean-up or shopping. This wooden play center also features removable chalkboard price signs and a spacious countertop, just like the corner market!… More >> Melissa & Doug Deluxe Grocery Store / Lemonade Stand
June 3rd, 2010 at 12:20 pm
There are two really fantastic things about this market stand: One is the reversible awning! My kids get SOOO excited about entrepreneurial ideas – so they love the Lemonade Stand idea! But they also want to sell some of the produce from the garden as a Farmer’s Market using the other side of the awning. The chalkboards hanging from each bin are the other super fun feature. My kids aren’t doing their math right yet, but they love to write prices and they will tally numbers and then make up a total. They are getting the concept.
As far as quality, there is something to be desired. The paint on the countertop is so thin you can see through it. The bins are also a really thin plastic – They might hold up if kids stood on them, but not if they were jumped on or anything. The pegs on the bins are also thin, and one has already broke off on the 7th day.
The assembly was time- consuming, but not too aggravating. The size seems right for toddler and preschool kids, but when the market stand is on the carpet the pile gets in the way of hanging the blackboard tags. Also note that the blackboard tags aren’t really “chalkboard” -They are surfaced with a black plastic that I didn’t think chalk would even write on, but in fact it has worked just fine for chalk, and cleans well too. Chalk does not come with the toy.
My husband built the most adorable kitchen for our kids, and we talked about using this idea to build a matching marketstand for the kids. After adding up the cost of purchasing bins and wood we realized our materials would cost almost as much as this stand, and we wouldn’t be able to create an awning as nice. So it seemed best to purchase this stand rather than build our own. The blue color on the sides clashed with the colors on our kitchen, but we figured we could always repaint that – or build a new stand, but keep the bins and awning from this one. Overall it looks good, and is very fun. Not super quality, but to do better would cost a lot more. Rating: 4 / 5
June 3rd, 2010 at 2:10 pm
My daughter received this for Christmas but it works more like a storage at this point. She is 3 and a half. However, she really had enjoyed the cash register that she also got for Christmas. I hope she will grow into the store concept in the next year. It is easy to put together and pretty well built for kids toys these days. However, it would be nice if Melissa and Doug would not have their toys made in China….which we continue to find out puts toxins in children’s toys. I would pay more if this toy was made in the USA. Rating: 3 / 5
June 3rd, 2010 at 4:34 pm
My daughter loves this. It is sturdy and well designed. It took me about 2 hours (2 people) to put it together. I would highly recommend it. Rating: 5 / 5
June 3rd, 2010 at 7:12 pm
This is everything you would expect from Melissa & Doug. It’s sturdy, attractive and fun! I bought it for my daughters, ages 1, 4 & 6 for Christmas. They love to pretend to sell lemonade and/or groceries. We’ve even pretended it was an open-air jewelry market. Easy to assemble too. Great choice to stir up their creativity. We plan to actually sell lemonade during the summer. Rating: 5 / 5
June 3rd, 2010 at 9:43 pm
Shipped and arrived promptly. This stand is great fun for my boys and use it all the time. They have plans to actually start selling lemonade in the spring. Rating: 5 / 5