Disney Store Disappointment

[Joshua_me]

That's the problem. I remember how great they used to be. Makes dealing with them now such a huge disappointment.

^ My feelings exactly.

I don't understand why the cheap kiddie, um, stuff can't coexist with the higher priced clothing and collectibles.

Although, I'm sure the profit margin is the bottom line. I guess there's more money to be made appealing to the 8 and under set.

Pity.

Our store here in Sarasota closed altogether. But, I missed it terribly long before it was officially gone.

 

[Cherinva]

Our store here is so SMALL and they don't carry much. Whenever I get to the mall, I try to stop in, just to see what they have, but wind up walking out with nothing.....sad.

 

[persimmondeb]

And they don't carry much in the way of clothing for older children and adults. I have no dignity and will cheerfully wear anything Disney, as will my son, but it's been really hard to find anything decent for years. And I could wear a girl's 14-16 in a t-shirt, but they only carry that in the parks, not the stores.

He's absolutely an adult size by now, but he's been too big for their boy's clothes for years and years, and we had some real tears over it, especially Pooh and Nemo things. And the adult selection gets more boring by the minute, especially the men's. We found a really cute Cars sweatshirt for him in the spring, but it was the exception.

 

[disneysteve]

I so miss the days when my ds was young and we would make it a planned event to go to the mall and visit the Disney Store, the Museum Store and the Warner Bros store

I know exactly what you mean. These were "destination" stores, places that people would plan a trip just to visit. I would sometimes spend an hour or more at the Disney Store just hanging out with the CMs.

The CMs used to each carry a small notebook and keep guest info on file. When something came in that a regular guest might like, they'd call them and tell them about it. It was the most superb customer service ever.

I sell Disney memorabilia and more than once, a store CM called me when a guest was looking for an item that they were sold out of to see if I might have one or be able to get one.

One of my favorite stories was one time when my GF at the time happened to go into the store with her sister who was visiting from out of town. All of the CMs greeted her by name and asked where Steve was. Her sister was astonished.

So for those of you who weren't around then, that's what the Disney Store used to be.

 

[luvdumbo]

I long for the days of the unique merchandise and the limited edition stuff they used to carry way back in the day when Warner Bros. studios had a store too. I remember both stores having artwork and sculptures and stuff. Our Disney store used to have a seperate room dedicated to this stuff. Now all you get is generic or similar stuff that you can buy at other stores.

 

[paulasillars]

The closest Disney store is over 3 hours from me so I haven't been in one for several years since they closed ours. I used to spend a fortune in there and had recently gotten my DM into wanting to shop there for the grandkids.

The nearest Disney Store used to be in Sydney, Australia but it closed years ago - used to love going in there for my little bit of Disney when I went to Sydney.

The nearest store is now Hawaii - the Ala Moana shopping centre to be precise. Its just under 5000 miles away

Who says I'm a Disney addict?

 

[FloridaDreaming]

I remember how they used to be. I have some nice pieces from the good days. Back when going there was an experience and like visiting your favorite place for a little while.
I even remember, way back when, having lunch at one of the store's restaurants. Was it Mickey's Kitchen? I can still taste the little cookies that came with my kid's meal.

 

[WaltD4Me]

^ My feelings exactly.

I don't understand why the cheap kiddie, um, stuff can't coexist with the higher priced clothing and collectibles.

Although, I'm sure the profit margin is the bottom line. I guess there's more money to be made appealing to the 8 and under set.

Pity.

Our store here in Sarasota closed altogether. But, I missed it terribly long before it was officially gone.

I don't understand why they can't co-exsist in the stores either. Even more so though, I can't understand why nice quality tees, sweatshirts and clothes can't co-exsist next to the cheap crappy screen printed ones in the WDW shops.

I have pretty much and very sadly given up on Disney merchandise. Even though I understand the business logic behind selling cheap crap, it's sooooooooooooooooo disappointing coming from Disney. My sister and I love our embroidered Disney sweatshirts and I had to scour Ebay for WEEKS to find one for her for Christmas. I'd much rather give my money to Disney, even willing to pay more, but they can keep all the craptastic discount store junk they sell now. Sigh. Remember when Disney = Quality?

 

[Joshua_me]

Sigh. Remember when Disney = Quality?

Double sigh.

Indeed I do.

My entire family has an embarrassingly large collection of Disney pajamas and sweatshirts. Giving them to one another has been a sort of Christmas tradition in our home since the the early '90's.

And in the past few years, I've watched as the quality of fabric and the (once) generous size of the clothing get worse and worse.

Times used to be that an XL set of PJ's hung off of me - which was fine since they're mostly cotton they shrink up in the wash, anyway.

But last year's collection was an embarrassment. The XL's were tight on me ?

Now, I know I've gained a little weight but... It was around that time that it occurred to me to try a little experiment. I took out a 4 or 5 five year old pajama bottom, (that had been washed countless times) spread it out on my bed and laid the new "XL" over the top of them.

It was shocking the difference.

The new PJ's were a good 3 to 4 inches "slimmer" than the old one's were. Slimmer and made of a far thinner material.

I hate to see Disney merchandise headed in this direction, and I've yet to decide if our Disney clothing tradition is about to come to an unfortunate end.

 

[mcymse]

I've been disappointed with the Disney Stores for years, ever since they turned away from their original format and merchandise. When they went from marketing to everyone including adults and collectors and focused almost 100% on little kids, we lost interest. We used to spend many hours and many hundreds of dollars there. Now we hardly ever even go in. It is really a shame. They took a great concept and totally destroyed it.

The first sign of structure change was when they downsized the store at the biggest mall in Indiana. I used to enjoy the store too, like a mini "disney" fix and alas now it is for a rare baby gift. Focus...totally lost. I'm not even sure if can get theme park ticets there anymore.

 

[disneymom8589]

We were excited when it was announced that Disney stores in the area were returning and were hopeful that they would go back to having merchandise that appeals to adults and collectors, but nope! As others have said, it appeals only to kids...especially girls! I have 2 baby/toddler grandsons and I couldn't even really find anything for them. Very disappointing!