Nov. 6 (Bloomberg) -- Mattel Inc.’s general manager for its Barbie store in Shanghai resigned about eight months after the world’s biggest toymaker opened its first dedicated outlet for the blond-haired blue-eyed doll.

Laura Lai, 41, was replaced by Mattel “retail specialist” Dann Murphy, the El Segundo, California-based toymaker said in an e-mailed statement today. It didn’t say why or when Lai resigned. Lai said in a phone interview today that she stopped working for the store on Oct. 22.

“We are very pleased with the foundation Ms. Lai put in place during her tenure helping us develop and open Barbie Shanghai,” said Mattel, which also makes Fisher-Price and Matchbox toys.

Mattel chose Shanghai over London and Paris for its first dedicated Barbie store, which opened March 6. Barbie is Mattel’s highest-margin product and accounts for 19.4 percent of sales, Gerrick Johnson, an analyst at BMO Capital Markets in New York, estimated.

The 3,500 square meter (37,700 square foot) store is the first of a planned global chain as Mattel invests “heavily” for “aggressive” expansion in China, Richard Dickson, general manager for the Barbie brand, said before the opening.

More than 500,000 people visited the store between the opening and Oct. 9, Lai told Bloomberg News last month. The store includes a spa and a restaurant and sells Barbie dolls, clothes, stationary, cosmetics and jewelry. The opening was timed to mark Barbie’s 50th anniversary on March 9.

Mattel said third-quarter profit fell 3.5 percent to $229.8 million as consumers spent less on toys and Barbie faced challenges from new dolls.

To contact the reporter on this story: Saul Sugarman in Hong Kong at ssugarman3@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: November 6, 2009 04:53 EST