As part of her Sylvanian Families collection my daughter has a few small shops and stalls. This Sylvanian Shoe stall actually came in a pack where two sets were being sold as a multibuy and I paid £12.99 for both...a great price considering they usually cost this much each!

The Sylvanian shops are more stalls than shops, and the shoe shop is no different. It comes with a main base, a seat unit and mirror and numerous accessories but no building. My daughter loves making a market street with these stalls and there's something very lovely about seeing them all together...I certainly wouldn't mind visiting such a quaint market myself.

Opening the box it was quickly evident that this small toy was going to require a lot of assembly. The stall itself is one piece and just needs stickers adding to decorate it. however the shoe cleaning accessories come in awkward plastic holders and need breaking free...not the easiest of tasks. They also require stickers adding to them and being very tiny to start with you definitely need a steady hand. So our first task was to separate the little bottles of shoe polish and brushes and adorn them with their decoration.

Next was the shoe box assembly. There's only two shoe boxes, but I spent over half an hour assembling these. They're made to fit together kind of like a puzzle...only there's no instructions and both the lid and main box need putting together. I found it very frustrating, so a child would doubly so and this is without doubt a job for an adult. My daughter wandered off to do something else completely leaving me to put this toy together, which considering it's small size took quite a long time!

Once all the fiddly bits are complete the shoes are ready to be added. I was quite surprised with how many shoes came with this set....there's six pairs of big shoes and 3 pairs of babies...so something to fit any of your figures. I was also surprised at how nice they actually were...there's some very pretty designs and set out on the stall they look lovely. To finish off the set there's a sofa with a lovely pink satin cushion attached and real mirror so your toys can check out their new footwear. Unfortunately this set doesn't come with a figure, so you'll need to use one of your own as shop keeper, but as Lucy has plenty this wasn't an issue for us.

Once everything was in place my daughter was keen to play with her new shop. I must admit i thought this was more of a novelty/collector piece and didn't rate it that much play wise to begin with. But after seeing her play time and time again with the set and hear her act out the different characters visiting and trying on shoes I've completely changed my mind. I love hearing her acting out the ladies chatting and trying on shoes, and out of all the stalls she has, this seems to be her favourite. The fact that shoes do actually fit is a huge boon, as many of the products on other stalls are mainly for show, and she can take them on and off until her hearts content.

Despite some initial reservations about this toy, and annoyance at the amount of putting together it required, it's actually been a big hit. I'm certain I'm becoming boring now in my insistence on the quality of these toys in general, but it's a fact and this one is no different. This is a very sweet, lovely toy which offers lots of imaginative and interactive play. If you're looking at purchasing any of the Sylvanian stalls or shops then I'd recommend this one highly.