They closed our Disney Store.......

[anniet]

...well one of them anyway. And it was the better one.

It was in Kingston, MA. There's another in Braintree, but it's much smaller and doesn't carry near the selection the other did.

Does anybody know how many stores Disney intends to close throughout the country?

 

[BCVOwner2002]

I liked the Kingston store better too Annie! I wonder if Braintree will stay open! Annmarie

 

[Luv2Roam]

All by 2006.
I think more short term they are shooting for 300 (open) stores total.

 

[anniet]

Originally posted by Luv2Roam
All by 2006.
I think more short term they are shooting for 300 (open) stores total.

What? Did I understand that right? They're closing them all by 2006?????

 

[All Aboard]

I'm wondering if lease expiration dates are the only thing keeping ours alive, given what seems to be happening. I literally have 3 Disney Stores in about a three to five mile radius of my house. And two of those are very close together.

 

[Luv2Roam]

I was told by a CM that the info on the stores closings is available and no secret.
On another board, others have verified reading that store memo.
Anything is up for grabs between now and then. But seems like a credible rumor at this point.

 

[DisneyFan09]

Luv2roam -

I think that the CM you got your information from meant to say that all store closings would be complete by 2006. That does not mean all stores will close it means that's when they will finish with the closure of the stores they need to reach their goal of 300.

 

[d-r]

wow that is a big difference!

 

[eeyore0062]

All by 2006.

This is not true. They are paring down the amount of stores to number 300. All of the closings will be complete by 2006.

 

[maleficent1959]

Originally posted by Luv2Roam
I was told by a CM that the info on the stores closings is available and no secret.
On another board, others have verified reading that store memo.
Anything is up for grabs between now and then. But seems like a credible rumor at this point.

The closings are sure kept a secret from the CMs in the closing stores until just before they close. Some CMs are getting less than two weeks notice. Once the closing store is told, then the company releases the information to the rest of the company and the public. Although at least once the company botched it, and the store found out through a company-wide e-mail.

All that stores have been told about the closings is that they will pare the stores down to 300.

 

[Luv2Roam]

We will see. She made it pretty clear all by 2006. (And she is in management.) And again, others have posted actually reading the memo that did read that.
So it will be interesting.... I can see depending on the wording how it could be misread.

 

[dan-tot]

What do they expect when they take all the adult things out of the stores and only leave the small kids merchandise. The stores where for familys and not just the younger ones. I wonder if they get rid of the one at the Beltz shopping center?


Dan-tot

 

[owensamo]

Originally posted by dan-tot
What do they expect when they take all the adult things out of the stores and only leave the small kids merchandise. The stores where for familys and not just the younger ones. I wonder if they get rid of the one at the Beltz shopping center?


Dan-tot

Dan-tot,

The Belz stores (2 in Orlando and 1 in St. Augustine that I know of) as well as the other Character Premiere/Character Warehouse stores (such as Hilton Head, etc) aren't run by the Disney Store/Disneystore.com umbrella (even though even these are two separate divisions) but are actually WDW Merchandising stores. These stores won't be included in any DS store closing since they're under the WDW umbrella instead - a big plus for them. One of these actually just opened in Hilton Head - it replaced a DisneyStore outlet, so apparently the Disney Store outlet stores aren't immune to the DS closing syndrome.

FYI - we stopped at the St. Augustine Belz outlet on our drive back last week, and the clerk there said that she thinks it's a shame they don't advertise! Apparently very very few people know there's a WDW outlet store there. It's right next to the food court, and they had a ton of stuff we would have been more interested in if we hadn't spent tons of money at WDW already! So if you're driving up 95, stop and check it out! It's a great first stop on your way north out of Orlando.

Mur!