Disney Takes Another Step Toward Selling The Stores

[PamOKW]

Disney has hired 2 investment banks -- Bear Stearns and Goldman -- to find a buyer for the Disney Stores. They want an arrangement like they have in Japan. A company buys the stores and then pays Disney royalties.

The Disney Stores were good and had potential to be wonderful. Maybe a new owner could make that happen but I can't really see how a non-Disney company can do it at all.

 

[Planogirl]

Well Disney hasn't been able to do it and they seem to have lost interest in trying so maybe someone else can figure it out. All I know is that I'd better be sure to buy a few of the nightshirts they've recently put out. Who knows what might happen soon.

 

[Walt's Frozen Head]

Why, Wal-Mart, of course.

Wal-Mart already sports a wider selection of Disney-related paraphernalia than any Disney Store, and has for several years... hell, Wal-Mart is a veritable Sears with Ears. The Waltons might as well continue their assimilation of the American goods distribution industry by taking their dime out of our nation's shopping malls.

 

[Planogirl]

Why, Wal-Mart, of course

Actually, Target has a lot too including some nice things designed by Michael Graves. Ooh Michael Graves! Swan and Dolphin. Target. Synergy!!!

 

[PamOKW]

The Michael Graves products are the type of thing I'd love to see in the Disney Stores. Did you know Michael Graves is currently recovering from a massive stroke? He is making progress.

 

[Walt's Frozen Head]

Did you know that the monorail stopping at the Swan and Dolphin (running through the hotels where the black squares are, now) will also run through two gigantic red concentric circles?

I have no idea what that means.

 

[d-r]

Honestly, y'all, this is just my opinion. But I have been reading this "Walmart" an target stuff for a while now, and I don't see it.
I went to wal-mart one time, looking for all this disney stuff. It is where I finally found the Love Bug dvd, for only 14.44. Beyond that, I didn't find a whole of Disney stuff. I looked at Target too, found some cheap feeling nemo plush and some stuff for dogs if you have a little dog. I didn't think that either one had more than the disney store, and the quality of what I did find was a lot, lot less than the quality of the disney store (nemo plush, for example).

Also, wasn't it a month or two ago that Disney signed up those two banks to help them find a buyer?

 

[d-r]

oh yeah, Target has mickey mouse tvs and dvds, now we'll be getting those! And you can find some pooh baby stuff at most stores.

 

[ohanafamily]

d-r, here is a link to Target.com search on the word Disney.

I counted about 50 items that were listed as corrent


http://www.target.com/gp/search.htm...l=index=target&field-keywords=disney&x=9&y=13


New for Walmart--- about 3100 items.


http://www.walmart.com/catalog/sear...arch_query=disney&Continue.x=29&Continue.y=14

I would say that Walmart wins the "more Disney" of the two...

My personal feelings are that we should give it a little more time after the departure of Peter Whitford... they keep promising that things will get better.........

JMHO

 

[PamOKW]

I've also seen some Disney clothing items at Kohl's. Saw some women's lounging PJs yesterday. While they weren't what I wanted, they were better than anything I've seen at the Disney Store in a long time. JC Penney also used to have some Disney items. Not sure if I've seen any there recently.

 

[jlambrig]

Yes there is Disney stuff at JCP's. It has been a few years but I seem to recall that one of the reasons for creating TDS was becasue Disney felt the quality of merchandise at other retailers was becoming unacceptable. So they tried to pull more in house to address that. I am not making judgements on the quality of stuff in TDS nor am I seeking opinions on that point but I was wondering if anyone else recalled that as a reason for creating TDS. It seems like this could be a risk once outsourced again. Although I am in favor of selling them.

 

[isyne4u]

Originally posted by ohanafamily

My personal feelings are that we should give it a little more time after the departure of Peter Whitford... they keep promising that things will get better.........

Thank you ohanafamily!!!! As a cm it is really nice to see someon want to really give us a chance. Don't get me wrong, I understand how everyone is feeling right now and I know this has been debated ad nausem, but I have my rose colored glasses stuck firmly to my head and my bottle of pixie dust to spread all the time and I want to stay a Disney cm, not an employee of a company who owns all of Disney. I know tds will never please everyone and I accept this fact, but I hope in the next couple of months, those that left us will hear from their friends that we have some new stuff in!! As soon as everything is gone from teh Whitford Days, we should be ready to roll with some better merchandise.

Thank you too, for the fact that so far in this thread no one has said "just close them".

Thanks, my soap box has been properly stowed for the rest of the journey!!
tara

 

[d-r]

Originally posted by ohanafamily
d-r, here is a link to Target.com search on the word Disney.

I counted about 50 items that were listed as corrent


http://www.target.com/gp/search.htm...l=index=target&field-keywords=disney&x=9&y=13


New for Walmart--- about 3100 items.


http://www.walmart.com/catalog/sear...arch_query=disney&Continue.x=29&Continue.y=14

I would say that Walmart wins the "more Disney" of the two...

My personal feelings are that we should give it a little more time after the departure of Peter Whitford... they keep promising that things will get better.........

JMHO

? huh? did you think that I was saying that target had more disney stuff than wal-mart?

I was saying that, besides stuff like movies/cds, the quality of the stuff I've seen there is lower than the stuff I've seen at disney stores - that is IMHO of course because that is somewhat subjective. After looking at the walmart link I would add video games and books.

FWIW - most of the stuff at wal-mart and target are baby, video games, videos, music, and books. And, some of it is double counted at wal-mart - click on the baby and you will see that it counts the same videos and books that show up in the other one. But why I am talking about this anyway?!?!? LOL!! I was saying it isn't the "same stuff" as at the disney store, and it isn't the same quality, that is what I'm saying. I ain't comparing wal-mart to target....

EDITED....
This...has...nothing...to...do...with....what...I....was....trying....to.....say....but....I...can't...resist....it....Ohanafamily...why...did...you..do...this...ughh

OK - at wal-mart, there are "1298" matches for disney under the major category 'baby.' Of those, 1198 are books that are also listed under the 1498 book matches; 24 of them are video/dvd , also listed under the 111 movies; 71 are music, also listed under the 102 music; there is one baby toy, two nursery items, 2 toddler items.

Another major category is toys. There are 41 matches under toys. Of these, 20 of them are video games, also listed under the major category "video games" (21 items). There are two items listed under the major category "home" these are also listed under "toys." There are 23 items in the major category "electronics" - 21 of them are also listed under the major category "video games" (remember these are also under "toys.")

There are two items listed under the major category "home." These are the same two items that are listed as the two toddler items under the "baby" category, and are also listed under the "toy" major listing category.

Now count those video games as some overlap in titles on game boy, x-box, game cube, psx/2, pc. The videos there is some overlap between vcr/dvd. Music counts both cassettes and cds. I noticed read-along-dvds are in both video and music.

Again, I was never comparing wal-mart to target! I was thinking about the quality of the stuff at the dept. stores vs. disney store.

DR

 

[ohanafamily]

no, No, NO

I had no desire to compare Target to WalMart...I was just noting that Target was not the home of all things disney, so they might be less of a condidate to take over TDS stores than the mart of walls. As far as merchandise quality/selection, have you been in a TDS lately?

My apologies for any misunderstanding, I was just trying to give supporting facts for someone else's arguement.

"No Good Deed Ever Goes UnPunished"

 

[d-r]

LOL...I just couldn't stop looking at the wal-mart items and seeing how many times they were cross listed!

 

[lacdriver]

Walmart in orlando has a whole section of disney things I got my 15 mth old a my first minnie onesie and my other son an daughter things like a disney tote bag for $3.97 along with a mickey hat and a minnie & mickey sweetheart photo frame for 4.97 also they had tees for $5.00 we bought so much stuff there when we went, that the small stuff we bought at the park didn't compare.