How an UWS dry cleaner brings joy to the community through elaborate Barbie window displays

There’s a splash of hot pink on Amsterdam Avenue — well, Barbie pink. Since the “Barbie” movie came out in the summer of 2023, a dream house scene with doll versions of characters from the movie, including Margot Robbie’s Barbie and Ryan Gosling’s Ken, has been on display (and still growing) in the window of Apthorp Cleaners. But Barbie has a much longer history with this Upper West Side dry cleaner. Since owner Debra Kravet and her husband Joel moved into the space at 383 Amsterdam Avenue in 2009, Debra has been creating elaborate Barbie window displays in keeping with pop culture, the seasons, and timely events. Right now, a “Wicked” display with doll versions of Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo as Glinda and Elphaba complement the “Barbie” movie window.

Debra’s dioramas have become an attraction for the neighborhood, especially the local kids who she can hear through the window admiring the displays or sometimes criticizing them for not changing fast enough. “‘They used that one before,'” she said she’ll overhear.

It all started as a simple marketing tactic.

Apthorp Cleaners was around long before the Barbie displays came to be. The Kravets opened the business in 1982 inside the historic Apthorp apartment building on the Upper West Side (hence the name).

In 2008 they had to move out of the building and began renovating their new space on Amsterdam Avenue, which Debra said she wanted to look “spa-like.” But once they opened in 2009, people would walk past and not know it was a dry cleaner, so she started displaying Barbies from her personal collection dressed in things like wedding gowns, skiwear, and casual attire with signs advertising the types of clothing the business could clean.

“It really caught on,” she said. “And they kind of got out of control.” She started with about 50 Barbies and estimates that she now has at least 500 in her collection — many of them donated.

As the dioramas became more popular, people in the neighborhood started to gift Debra their Barbie collections for her windows. Among these donations have been sets of vintage Skipper and Ken dolls with full wardrobes.

Her movie-themed dioramas have included “Black Panther,” “Star Wars” and “My Fair Lady,” to name a few. She’s also paid homage to the Tony Awards, “The Phantom of the Opera,” famous singers through history and different eras and holidays. One of her favorite displays was for the show “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel,” which takes place on Manhattan’s Upper West Side.

“It was perfect for the neighborhood,” she said. This was the one and only time she sewed her own Barbie outfit: a little black dress.

“It nearly killed me,” she said. “It’s so hard to sew small.”

The dioramas take an entire Sunday to create, starting with the dismantling and cleaning of the previous display.

“It gives me great pleasure sitting here and people don’t know I can hear them through the window,” she said.

“Someone walked by today who lived here and was with other people from out of town, and they were coming from the Museum of Natural History. They came here so she could show them, and the person went into a whole thing about how ‘they change them every two to four months.'”

Though her window displays rotate and change with the times (as have Barbie’s clothes, she adds), the “Barbie” movie dream house is here to stay. As a longtime Barbie collector and fan, when the movie came out and Barbie fever took over the zeitgeist, “I finally got my moment,” joked Debra. “I felt recognized.”

She’s kept adding dolls and accessories from the movie and has a new movie scene currently on pre-order.

The ideas all come from Debra, though she said Joel will often try and take credit. “He has basically nothing to do with it,” she laughed with an employee, but he does support it. “He loves it,” she said.

And it’s not just fun and games; it also helps to draw customers in. “We had a gentleman last week come in for tailoring with three young kids, and they love coming. He said, ‘I have to add 15 minutes if we’re passing your store.’ He may never have walked in otherwise.”

“It’s a nice thing to do for the neighborhood,” she added.

In a bustling city of millions with countless businesses opening and closing every day, a neighborhood staple like Apthorp can provide a sense of community and tradition. Debra said most of her customers are regulars and she’s seen children get married and have children of their own. “We have customers from 1982,” she said.

As for how long she’ll continue her Barbie creations: as long as the local kids don’t outgrow them, neither will she.