The Disney Store is going for the Adult Market again!

[Goofymommaof2]

I would just like our local Disney Stores to go back to the way they used to look. I miss the Plush Mountain! The lighting is terrible, the selection as worse and I miss being greeted the way I used to be greeted.

 

[mking624]

I work at TDS and have for the last 4 years. So I started when Disney still owned us. While it is nice to see more of an adult selection, I can't say it's really the stores fault for "driving away customers" and becoming more "toy oriented." The bottom line is that stores will focus on what actually sells. And it's the kids items, not the adults, that really drive the revenue. Adult selection started going down because people simply were not buying enough of it to be profitable. I heard guests saying every now and then about how they missed the adult stuff and would buy it all the time...the problem was, they were not buying so much of it for the entire company to keep making it and selling it. Disney didn't drive off the customers...the customers simply weren't buying what they had. So they instead began to focus on the kids hardline and softline items.

When Hoop Retail (TCP & TDS) decided to start marketing more adult items again, at first, we saw a splurge of people buying as it slowly started becoming more incorporated into the stores. However, once again it has slowed down. The stores have a bunch of new adult items and not much of it is selling in spite of it being on the floor for several weeks now. We are once again seeing the fact that people are only buying the adult merchandise once it gets marked down so low...and then they'll still wait until it's an additional percentage off the clearance price. People complained about the lack of adult merchandise and when TDS responds, people don't buy it until it's like only a couple of dollars. And then they wonder why the merchandise was going away to begin with. And this isn't just happening in my store. I have seen and heard several times (from my managers) of where MANY stores across the country are complaining about this stuff not selling and to just please put it on sale so they can get rid of it.

The adult merchandise is GREAT to have in the store. But if customers want it to stay, they need to actually buy it, preferably before it gets marked so low that it makes it pointless for us. I mean sales are great...hey, I'm a bargain shopper myself! But we're still a business. So did the "powers that be" really make a mistake when they took the adult stuff away? I don't personally think so...and obviously Disney didn't either. And I think with the lack of huge sales on this adult line they've really been pushing, I think Hoop is realizing the same thing. Now I'm not saying that every single store is in the same position. There have been some stores that have had moderate or even good success with their adult lines. Unfortunately, this is not a chain wide "victory" story.

As far as how TCP has been since the changeover of companies...I can't say I'm all too happy. Now I'm not going to get into how people are greeted or how plush mountain is maintained...that's all on the cast members. But the behind the scenes stuff does get to me sometimes. As someone else pointed out...they promised us so much stuff (ranging from remodels to product we would carry), and hardly any of it was delivered. Disney was even upset when TCP breached their license agreement regarding remodeling (among other things...they eventually settled charges). I know our projector went out MONTHS ago and only within the last few weeks did we finally get a new one. We also have three tvs, only 1 works properly and in spite of many phone calls, the other two are not repaired. Our register system goes down on a frequent basis (and this happens chain wide as well). Some of the products have real quality issues and we sometimes look at things and say to each other "WHAT were they thinking when they decided to sell that?!" It's absolutely absurd. TWDC did a much better job running this chain.

 

[teruterubouzu]

I too miss the old disney store. It felt a bit more upscale and was better maintained.

When I was in a shop a couple of weeks back, the adult apparel just wasn't very appealing. I wish they'd start carrying things like the Disney Couture line. That line seems to be quite popular, even amongst people who aren't really Disney fanatics.

It would also be nice if they could carry more of a selection of DVDs and CDs. They play a great selection of Disney music in the shop, but they don't seem to sell any of it at the store near me. They still got a couple of small purchases out of me, but I would have spent more if the product mix was a little better.

 

[Disney Von Drake]

I work at TDS and have for the last 4 years. So I started when Disney still owned us. While it is nice to see more of an adult selection, I can't say it's really the stores fault for "driving away customers" and becoming more "toy oriented." The bottom line is that stores will focus on what actually sells. And it's the kids items, not the adults, that really drive the revenue. Adult selection started going down because people simply were not buying enough of it to be profitable. I heard guests saying every now and then about how they missed the adult stuff and would buy it all the time...the problem was, they were not buying so much of it for the entire company to keep making it and selling it. Disney didn't drive off the customers...the customers simply weren't buying what they had. So they instead began to focus on the kids hardline and softline items.

The old Disney Store had a well deserved reputation for very inflated prices for their merchandise. It was common for items to sit on the shelves for several weeks with few buyers. Only after substantial markdowns did the items begin to sell in any quantity.

One of the many promises made by Hoop Retail was to reduce initial selling prices to avoid the markdown syndrome. Thus far, they haven’t kept that promise. They’re still over pricing most items in the stores and savvy consumers won’t pay inflated prices. Hoop needs to reassess their pricing policy.

Hoop is driving off customers just as did Disney with inflated prices.

It would also be nice if they could carry more of a selection of DVDs and CDs. They play a great selection of Disney music in the shop, but they don't seem to sell any of it at the store near me. They still got a couple of small purchases out of me, but I would have spent more if the product mix was a little better.

I can tell you why they don’t carry a larger selection of DVD’s and CD’s. It’s simple. They don’t have the room to stock them and they can’t compete will the big retailers such as Wal-Mart.

I’ve always thought it rather amusing that when a new Disney DVD is released, the Disney Store would sell it at full retail price while at the same time you could go to Best Buy or Wal-Mart and buy it for a discounted price of 25% or more. CD’s are heavily discounted as well.

Same thing is true for resort rooms at WDW. Does anyone pay rack rate (except for DVC members)? Deep discounts for WDW resort rooms are ubiquitous. But I digress.

The Walt Disney Company has expressed their dissatisfaction with Hoop Retail concerning a whole host of issues. In short, Hoop has been dragging their feet and missing target dates for store refurbishments and failing to take on the full load with the online retail business. They also have been slow to integrate with the Disney retail distribution system. I don’t know what (if any) punitive action Disney will invoke.

For now we’ll just have to wait and see what happens. I tend to think that Hoop is now coming to regret their involvement with Disney.

 

[mking624]

The old Disney Store had a well deserved reputation for very inflated prices for their merchandise. It was common for items to sit on the shelves for several weeks with few buyers. Only after substantial markdowns did the items begin to sell in any quantity.

One of the many promises made by Hoop Retail was to reduce initial selling prices to avoid the markdown syndrome. Thus far, they haven’t kept that promise. They’re still over pricing most items in the stores and savvy consumers won’t pay inflated prices. Hoop needs to reassess their pricing policy.

Hoop is driving off customers just as did Disney with inflated prices.

Well I don't know that I completely agree with that, being that many comparable things I've seen at other stores are either around the same price or higher (even before Hoop took over). Yes there are *some* things that I consider to be overpriced, but there are also many things that I believe are pretty good buys when I see similar items in other stores. If we want to talk about "very inflated prices" when it comes to Disney...the parks are the first place we should be looking. TDS is no where near those prices. If we want to compare to other stores...well even in kids merchandise I've seen prices higher in other stores. A Disney beach towel at Sears was $24.95 this summer, while our beach towels were $14.50 for one...or 2 for $20. Even at 2, we were still cheaper than their 1 towel. Our backpacks at regular price were $19.50 (now on sale for $12.99), their Disney ones were $24.50.

 

[TheDisneyGirl02]

I hope the Disney Store reverts back to how it was before -- not just merchandise, but service as well. The last time I went in with my son the manager was standing next to the cashier pushing merchandise with a hard sell, which I thought was tacky. She was fairly insistent we buy a Disney picture frame, saying something to the effect of "it will cost three times this much at Disney! Buy a souvineer NOW and save!" I passed (each of the several times she mentioned it to us while checking out) which received a disappointed look from her each time. She pulled the same spiel on the lady infront of us, and I heard her doing it as we were leaving too. Tacky, IMHO. Didn't seem very "Disney" to me, but learning they aren't owned by Disney any longer would explain that I suppose.

I was thinking about this post last night while I was working at my Disney Store. Sadly, cashier pushing or what we call adding on at the register is something that is nothing new. It's been going on for years and not just at the Disney Stores, but at retail stores in general. It's something that upper management wants done. Do I do it, not really. I'll suggest an add-on at the register, but I don't push the guest to buy it. I don't like when it's done to me, so I won't do it to somebody else. At the parks, there's really no need to do that since people will pretty much buy anything down there (I know I do! LOL!).

FYI, the Disney Store is now carrying an adult Jack Sparrow and Elizabeth Swan costume as well as Jack and Sally from Nightmare Before Christmas. Just wanted to share that!