The New Disney Stores....

[zeitzeuge]

Great article about the new revamping of the Disney Stores.

 

[OrlandoMike]

It's about time! The Disney stores have been tired for quite some time!

Let's just hope they dont forget us adults who will spend on high ticket items. There is life after Pooh and the Princesses!

 

[Hydani]

Hmm, I don't know... it sounds interesting and cool, but not the most intelligent thing for Disney to do at this point in time. Oh well, we'll see, won't we?

 

[MonorailMan]

As an ex Disney Store cast member, I'll be excited to see the results of the makeover.

The rest of this comment involves some ranting about a couple things. You've been warned.


In making the decision to open any new Disney Stores or "revamp" the old ones they just need to take 3 things into consideration in order to not waste money: Location, location, location. The store that used to be here in COWlumbus was located in a mall that was downtown. The mayor of the city made the decision to open this mall in hopes of bringing more people downtown. It was a suburban mall in an urban setting. Let me repeat that for you. Wait for it............."It was a suburban mall..................in a downtown urban setting." It was one of the several not-so-bright decisions made by this city's officials. The mall itself sounded like a good idea because it offered shopping and dining options for the people working downtown. However, the people working downtown were really the majority of people who, at the time, came downtown. This mall was supposed to be one of several things that brought life and energy into downtown.

It never happened.

Tons of chic new (expensive) condos were also built in hopes of bringing more people downtown. Some people bought them......but what became more notable was the fact that a huge percentage of these buyers started moving out within less than a year. Why? Because there's currently no reason to live in downtown COWlumbus. At least not after 6pm. The only thing that stays open past 6 in downtown are the gay bars. The scary part? The mayor of the city wants to turn the mall where the Disney Store was into....(wait for it)........MORE CONDOS despite the fact that around half of the ones that are downtown are currently vacant. I'm sorry, the mayor is a nice guy, but if you make as many bad decisions as he does, you need to have your decision-making authority revoked.

Back to the Disney store......

The Disney Store didn't fare all that well here. (Surprise surprise.) I think the planners saw this location as a good idea, but weren't made aware of who made up the percentage of consumers in that local area. As a company who tends to like to plan ahead, Disney (luckily) closed the store a long time before the mall itself came to a close.

I know a lot of New Yorkers are complaining about the Times Square store and they think it won't do well, but I tend to look at it this way: Times Square isn't about the local people. It's about the tourists, which tends to make up a huge percentage of shoppers there. (Seriously.....how else could a 4-bajillion square-foot M&M store stay open for as long as it has? )

At any rate, while I hope the remodeling of the stores goes over well, I also hope that they take into consideration the location and market they're remodeling for because not every location is going to need the same kind of work. While I think all the stores (at least the 5 or 6 I've been in) need some modernization, I also think not all the locations are going to need the same high-budget lighting, sound and "fragrance" effects that was brought up in this article. We've gotta remember that when the company loses money, the price of merchandise and park tickets tends to go up.

 

[mikelan6]

When will they realize that it's not all about the store's decor ... but the MERCHANDISE in it. Right now, they Disney Store sells crap - for kids. Folks could buy the same things at Walmart for much less.

I remember when the Disney Stores used to sell unique items - even some art - that made going into the store a thrill.

 

[DVC~OKW~96]

There you have it, the merchandise. People will even travel a certain distance for good merchandise, but not the junk (yep, there I said it) that Disney now sells.

Get into the old "Disney at Home" sort of theme, and good quality clothing for adults and children and that will make a difference. Remember, waaaaay back when, there used to be a serious art store on WDW property? (I think it was upstairs over the Art of Disney Store that is now in Future World). Understated Disney merchandise, truly nice artwork, pottery, glassware, even some really unique and nice furniture. There were Tiffany style lamps (one of Tinkerbell, why oh why didn't I buy it then) all good quality.

That is what Disney needs. If it's going to be more of the same old schlock, fuhgeddaboudit.

 

[glenpreece]

I too am a former DS CM and agree that what is being sold now and over the past years has been crap. Children's Place totally shifted the focus onto the "clothing/toys" which is not suprising but now that they are owned by Disney they need to bring good merch back as you have all suggested. And I would really like to see some of the stores her in Ontario close. We have atleast 8 here in our province with 6 being within a half hour drive of each other. Where as in buffalo there are none. Make the stores unique with quality merchandise and don't over staturate the market!!!! Why not offer theme park merch? Or do the mail order from the stores etc? And get rid of the CM's who know nothing of WDW and tell ppl the wrong info!!!!

 

[jackskellingtonsgirl]

My friend e-mailed that article to me today.

They are going to have to choose their locations carefully, or they will have PRECISELY what they feared - parents dropping off their kids at the store.

It's funny. The mall across the steet from me is more of an upscale mall. They have a lot of "boutique" shops, many that are the only TX location. That mall used to have a Disney Store. The rumor for a long time was that the Disney Store would come back, and that it would be this FABULOUS flagship store with a wishing fountain and all kinds of crap. Never happened. I think we managed to keep 3 Disney Stores, none of them in a convenient location. We haven't been to any Disney Store since last December when we were hitting the after Christmas sales.

 

[MonorailMan]

I'd have to agree that the quality of merchandise went a little south towards the end of the last decade. When I was a cast member they used to have animation sericels and would even order production cels for you if you talked with one of the cast members. If I remember correctly, I think they also had some higher end watches, clocks and ceramic pieces. But the last time I went to a Disney store the only thing I remember them having is clothes and plush toys (we were never allowed to call them "stuffed animals" because it made them sound dead) that seemed as though you could get at pretty much anywhere, as well as DVDs and kid's costumes that looked a little on the cheap side.

What happened to the magic? My GAWD, what happened to the magiiiiiiic???!?!

That was me being overly dramatic. Thank you.

 

[OrlandoMike]

If I remember correctly, I think they also had some higher end watches

Ummm Ya! I have a Visa bill that confirms that!

 

[MonorailMan]

Ummm Ya! I have a Visa bill that confirms that!

Just because they're in the showcase, it does NOT mean you have to buy 5 at a time, Mike!

 

[zeitzeuge]

Well, I think with Disney taking it back over, I would expect the merchandise to be something like what you could buy online at Disneystore.com. Who knows though. I think they know that after the kids store took them over, they went downhill and why. Would be stupid for them to repeat the error by putting in the same old crap.

I would assume if they're putting a million dollars into these stores just for to refurb, they're going that extra mile to make it a store we want to shop in.

I just hope the high end mall Northpark that Jackskellingtongirl mentioned gets one.

 

[jackskellingtonsgirl]

Well, I think with Disney taking it back over, I would expect the merchandise to be something like what you could buy online at Disneystore.com. Who knows though. I think they know that after the kids store took them over, they went downhill and why. Would be stupid for them to repeat the error by putting in the same old crap.

I would assume if they're putting a million dollars into these stores just for to refurb, they're going that extra mile to make it a store we want to shop in.

I just hope the high end mall Northpark that Jackskellingtongirl mentioned gets one.

I think there may be bad blood between Disney Store and NorthPark, but with the new business plan maybe they can work it out.

The Disney Store used to be kind of in the middle of the mall, maybe where The Ralph Lauren store is now. Then they moved to a "temp" location right outside of Foley's, which is now Macy's. That was late 2004, before the construction of the new part of the mall was done. NorthPark used to be a horseshoe, not a rectangle. The mall used to dead end at Lord & Taylor, which was roughly where Barney's is now. They knocked off that end, extended it down to where Nordstrom is, and added that whole piece where the food court and movie theater are now. While they were doing that the Disney Store was supposedly planning to come back.

The Disney employees at Valley View told me Disney was haggling with NorthPark over lease rates and space. I heard at one point that Disney wanted more sq. footage than NorthPark was offering. I have a feeling it had more to do with $ per sq. foot after the remodel than NorthPark being too full. I have seen more effort for NorthPark to attract families, so it wouldn't be unheard of for them to put in a new Disney Store. We shall see!

 

[postage stamp]

Ya know, I never really thought about the decline in the quality of their merchandise until you guys mentioned it here.

I remember going to the Disney store that was near my home town around the time it opened. I was probably about 10. And I DO remember really nice artwork, watches, and a lot less tchotchke crap.

I hadn't been in there much over the last ten years, but now that my kids are old enough to enjoy it we go in when we are at the mall. There isn't even anything (besides the princess dresses) that my KIDS want in there.

When a 3 and 4 year old girl can leave the Disney store empty handed and not even be horribly disappointed you know something is wrong.