Hold on to your tweens: American Girl opening its first Houston store (see where it's going)

The doll craze that's bigger than Barbie is heading to Houston. American Girl is opening its first store in South Texas inside Memorial City Mall.

Reps for Memorial City Mall declined to comment, but CultureMap has learned that the 16,000-square-foot space will include both retail and a restaurant and is scheduled to open this summer.

American Girl has created an empire of doll characters based in historical eras, as well as accompanying clothes, accessories, books, totes, magazines and movies.

Dolls start at $100 and parents can easily spend several hundred more on clothing, accessories and the full in-store experience, which can include lunch and a photo shoot with the doll. No wonder celebrity kids like Zahara Jolie-Pitt, Violet and Seraphina Affleck and Suri Cruise are big fans.

The Memorial City store will be the second American Girl store in Texas — there's a location at the Galleria in Dallas — and is only the 13th store in the country.

Are you excited about American Girl coming to Houston?