Dollsville Dolls & Bearsville Bears

The bf and I was vacationing at Palm Springs and we were walking by this store. At first, we walked past it, but the name made my kid soul leap. It was around 10:30am, and it didn’t look like it was open because the lights looked turned off. However, all of the signs said that it was «open», so I pointed out the store and the bf nodded and we went in.
When you first walk in, it sort of feels like a museum of dolls. Everything you initially see are in glass cases. I originally didn’t think that anything was for sale until the nice English lady said that they were, and that we could open up the cases if we saw anything that we liked.
We passed by old, collectible Barbie’s, Steiff bears, Disney collectible dolls, Gund bears, collectible dolls, porcelain dolls, dolls that rolled around, puppets. Basically, this place had an awesome lot of dolls, stuffed animals, plushies, and teddy bears that any kid would have wanted. I would like to think that I’m not that old, but a lot of the stuff reminded me of my childhood and there was definitely a nostalgia feeling between the bf and I when we were browsing this fairly good-​sized store. There are a few small children’s books on sale, too.
The areas that I spent the most time in was in the far back, where there were teddy bears of different brands. These were quality stuff. Not your Toys R Us or Target stuff, these were the quality bears that were around for ages, and that your grandma would probably remember and maybe luckily had one as a kid. These are the bears that were meant to be loved forever and ever, and dragged everywhere with you as a kid. Because of their quality, though, they are higher in price because you get what you paid for. I was very tempted to buy one for myself, but I’m not that much of a teddy bear person. Regardless, I may not be able to prevent myself the next time we come in…
The English lady was busy with a customer when we walked in, but while eavesdropping on their conversation, you can tell that she knew what she was talking about. Eventually, the other customer left, and she told us to let her know if we needed anything. Definitely a sweet lady, and she would excitedly show us anything new that she had that seemed similar to what we were looking at. She didn’t push anything onto us. But, for example, when she noticed that I was looking at the Gund polar bears, she kindly and excitedly told me that she had other colored polar bears, such as a baby blue and pale pink polar bear rattlers (which we thought would be the perfect gift for one of our friend’s expecting baby). When we started browsing at the puppet section, she encouraged us to play with them and try to play with the squirrel puppet and put the plush acorn in its mouth. Now, something to know about my bf: he is a kid at heart and will always be a kid at heart. And when he is fully encouraged to be a child, he will be. So, when he was told to play with the puppets, he more or less started created his own kiddy show with puppets, such as squirrel versus hedgehog pokemon style, or squirrel interacting with the tree puppet, or playing with the llama. He fully went all out when playing with the puppets. Needless to say, we bought a hedgehog puppet in the end. And the awesome thing about the hedgehog puppet is that you can turn it inside out to sort of mimic whenever a hedgehog rolls up to protect itself.
In the end, we bought more than a few things because we liked the owner and really enjoyed being in the shop. There was no pressure to buy anything, but everything had a great history behind each doll that the English lady would tell us. She was passionate with her work, she knew her stuff, and she was so excited and happy to tell us about the background of the dolls/​plush we were interested in.
The prices aren’t too bad. Service is great. Parking is easily accessible (either park on the street or at a parking lot… it’s Palm Springs and there’s basically free parking everywhere).
I was surprised at the previous reviews after I checked in to Unilocal,but don’t listen to them! We absolutely had a great time here, and will definitely visit the next time we come back to Palm Springs.