"it is supposed to be a club for girls where we actually created an environment for girls to hang out and have fun and still be a little girl with an attitude," says Drolet.

They began with a focus group of girls, ages 5 through 11. Each girl was given 20 dollars to spend at the mall while designers at Columbus, Ohio-based Chute Gerdeman followed, watching what stores the girls chose to shop in and what merchandise they chose to buy before sitting them down to discuss their opinions. At this time, the girls also chose Club Libby Lu's heart and crown logo from six options, as well as the store's colors. Then the girls were even given some paper and markers to design their ideal store. Drolet and Chute Gerdeman took all the opinions and used it to create a store that every girl would love.

Using the girls' ideas and Drolet's experience-driven concept, the store was created to include four areas for girls to explore. Bath and body items in the Lavatory are located in the front of the store. Here, girls can mix and match the items to create their own bath potions, complete with personalized labels.

"The bath and body area is the most successful," says Brian Shafley, creative director/account executive at Chute Gerdeman. "The girls really get excited about taking an empty bottle and mixing to create layers, like sand art. And the idea is that a girl will want to create her own formula and then put a tag on it and name her formula. It's more customized than a store where you just buy the items off the shelf."

The center of the store is Libby's Room, where bedroom merchandise, completely branded with the Club Libby Lu logo, can be found. It's also where the Princess Pad offers girls a place to lounge in a crown- shaped chair and play with the Magic Eight Ball- styled table (spin it and watch the answer to your question be revealed). In the rear of the store are the Style Studio and Bead Yourself areas. In the former, a chest is filled with costumes and accessories for dress- up. During birthday parties, girls can also get make- overs here. Bead Yourself, a play on "Be Yourself," is an accessory area where girls can bead their own jewelry.

Kiosks in the entry to the store continue the club mentality. Girls join the club and can get special invitations to store events, as well as find pen pals. When girls join the club, they receive a special package that includes a VIP bracelet, a Club Libby Lu picture frame and a monthly newsletter.

At the concept came together and the girls revealed what they wanted in a store, Chute Gerdeman was able to have fun with the design. As the girls requested, there is a lot of use of pinks and purples in the store, but designers wanted to add another color to complement the warm hues. They chose lime green-the color of Drolet's childhood bedroom-most predominantly found on fun, twisted fixtures that seem to be pulled right out of the pages of Alice in Wonderland.

"When we set out, we didn't want to make it a pink store, because that was what everyone would expect it to be," says Shafley. "But when we had the girls in the focus group, almost all of them said pink and purple when asked what their favorite color was-at that age they are sort of programmed to pick pink and purple. So we showed them some other colors and they liked them. There is a lime green because it's such a great complement to those very warm pinks and purples. We wanted this color to come in and be a punch color."

Fixtures used throughout the store were custom designed to be expressive and animated. "But not in a Disney Store kind of way," adds Shafley. Lighting was also meant to be theatrical and fun, but without the colorful gobos seen throughout stores geared to the younger age group.

The biggest challenge for the store was the space. Roughly 1,500 sq. ft., the space is extremely narrow and has many columns incorporated into its lower- level space. "We actually sacrificed space for the location because she wanted to get the name out there and get a buzz going," says Shafley.

A buzz is certainly what Drolet got. With only two stores operating in the Chicago area, membership to Club Libby Lu is over 5,600. Although an immediate success, it is too soon for any rapid expansion plans. Drolet may open another store or two nearby to keep growth controlled.