2 Disney Stores in Indiana closing (Ft Wayne, Greenwood)

[MFfan310]

Bad news for those of us living in Fort Wayne (or the south part of Indianapolis)... I read in the Fort Wayne Journal-Gazette two-days ago the Glenbrook Square and Greenwood Park Disney Stores are closing soon as the leases expire.

(I can't post a link yet, as I'm still a newbie.)

This is sad news for me: I'm from Fort Wayne, and though I love visiting the Disney Parks when I'm in SoCal or Orlando, I love visiting the Glenbrook Disney Store, too. It's one of the few "pink and green" stores left, dating back to 1991 or so, but I've been hearing rumors of it's demise for a while, even after it escaped the dreaded closing list of last year. Then again, the owner of Glenbrook (General Growth Properties) has a tendency to kick out well-performing tenants to bring in new, hot ones. For example, GGP kicked out Lord & Taylor at Water Tower Place in Chicago in favor of American Girl Place by jacking up Lord & Taylor's rent when their lease came up. I wonder if this was the case here.

Does anyone have a firm closing date for the Glenbrook or Greenwood Disney Stores? If not, I guess I'll have to make one last visit to the Glenbrook store and ask. Oh, and stock up on plush fast...

 

[Stumpy]

This is the first I've heard of this one. My wife works down in Greenwood and she loves that store. Judging by the foot traffic we observed when we've been in there, I assumed it did a decent amount of business. It's a shame, but I guess the niche market for Disney fans just isn't there to keep the stores operating.

 

[Shelby5514]

Wow, that's too bad. Another empty store is just what Glenbrook needs. You'd think GGP would learn and start working with the retailers to try and keep them around.

 

[tydad]

Well that stinks,we were just in glenbrook this week at Barnes and Noble getting my new passporter book. Guess we will have to go back and see what kind of deals they are having

 

[MFfan310]

This is the first I've heard of this one. My wife works down in Greenwood and she loves that store. Judging by the foot traffic we observed when we've been in there, I assumed it did a decent amount of business.

Same at Glenbrook. Foot traffic and sales seemed to always have been extremely high at that particular Disney Store. For a while, it seemed like it was going to be one of the first stores renovated in the Imagination Park format according to the old manager (who later left for somewhere else, IIRC).

I wonder if GGP wanted to pull the Disney Store out because it no longer fit the other retailers in proximity since the store opened 20 or so years ago... the other kid's retailers (Build-A-Bear, Gymboree, The Children's Place, and Justice) are in different sections of Glenbrook, and Disney is in a place near H&M, Forever 21, Banana Republic, Abercrombie & Fitch, and Victoria's Secret. Not exactly the best image for Mickey and Co. From the perspective of GGP, they might want to put, say, a Sephora cosmetics store in the place of Disney to complement the other retailers and continue the "hip" image of that mall area (this is what is called "clustering" in mall-speak).

Yeah, I hate to see the mouse leave my hometown. But I have to present it from a business standpoint, too. It's the ol' marketing student in me...

 

[scuba]

The Florence, Kentucky store is going down also. Florence is just south of the City of Cincinnati, that brings us a total of 3-4 stores in this area to lose the chain. It's sad and I happen to believe that most of what they sold was higher quality to that you can buy from the box stores.

 

[Mom of DisKids]

The Florence, Kentucky store is going down also. Florence is just south of the City of Cincinnati, that brings us a total of 3-4 stores in this area to lose the chain. It's sad and I happen to believe that most of what they sold was higher quality to that you can buy from the box stores.

I am really upset! That means we won't have a store anywhere near us!! I read something yesterday that said that Disney hopes to relaunch these stores in 5 years as "interactive" stores.

 

[MFfan310]

CM told me that the Glenbrook store is closing April 22nd as I was picking up a few T-shirts and a Goofy plush.

Asked the mall office at Glenbrook about what store will be replacing it (inquiring minds want to know), and they were surprised, as if they didn't know that the Disney Store was leaving! And not surprisingly, the lady at the mall office was shocked and saddened, too, about Disney leaving. (When I tell my friends, that's their reaction 90% of the time.)

I hope they decide to return someday...

 

[Haley/Hayden Mom]

The one here in Birmingham is closing too.Not sure of the last day yet but we are going mMonday to get shirts for our upcoming Disney trip.

 

[mshoo1]

We just got an email from Disney saying that the Disney Store at Dulles Town Center in Sterling, Virginia is closing as well. I guess they are continuing to consolidate the number of stores before embarking on the big redesign.

The email included a 15 percent off coupon for the Tysons Corner store and the online store.

Here is the full list of store closings:

USA:

ALABAMA
Riverchase Galleria - Birmingham, AL

CALIFORNIA
South Bay Galleria - Redondo Beach, CA

COLORADO
Southwest Plaza - Littleton, CO

FLORIDA
Broward Mall - Plantation, FL

GEORGIA
Arbor Place - Douglasville, GA

IDAHO
Boise Town Square - Boise, ID

ILLINOIS
Yorktown Center - Lombard, IL
Spring Hill Mall - West Dundee, IL

INDIANA
Glenbrook Square - Fort Wayne, IN
Greenwood Park Mall - Greenwood, IN

KENTUCKY
Florence Mall - Florence, KY

MASSACHUSETTS
Silver City Galleria - Taunton, MA

MICHIGAN
RiverTown Crossing - Grandville, MI
Southland Center - Taylor, MI

NEW MEXICO
Coronado Center - Albuquerque, NM

OHIO
Belden Village Mall - Canton, OH

SOUTH CAROLINA
Broadway at the Beach - Myrtle Beach, SC

TENNESSEE
Coolsprings Galleria - Franklin, TN
Opry Mills - Nashville, TN

TEXAS
The Parks At Arlington - Arlington, TX
West Oaks Mall - Houston, TX
Collin Creek Mall - Plano, TX

VIRGINIA
Dulles Town Center - Dulles, VA
Valley View Mall - Roanoke, VA

CANADA:

BRITISH COLUMBIA
Metropolis at Metrotown - Burnaby, BC

MANITOBA
St. Vital Centre - Winnipeg, MB

ONTARIO
Scarborough Towne Centre - Scarborough, ON