WalMart to buy Disney Stores?

[raidermatt]

While looking at other sites for rumors on the other minor goings on at Disney right now, I saw a rumor that WalMart was looking to make an offer to Disney for the Disney Stores, and that Disney was likely to say yes.

I saw it on a couple of sites, but there wasn't anything in the way of a verifiable confirmation, so I'm not bothering with a link.

Anyone hear anything on this?

 

[Tekneek]

That would be horrible. Walmart is a horrible company to be involved with. They have probably done more to drive down wages and benefits in this nation than any other corporation during the past 20 years. The scandals all across the country regarding them forcing workers to do OT "off the clock" were big news recently. They settled for millions of dollars. People hold up the founder as some genius, who is big-time rich, while they contribute paltry amounts towards employee benefits, and pay less than half their smaller competitors do. This would make The Disney Store even worse than it is now.

 

[mitros]

Amen to that!!

 

[Werner Weiss]

Anything is possible. But this rumor sounds like it might have come from someone's imagination. (I am not accusing Mr. raidermatt of anything.)

WalMart has never shown an interest in operating any sort of small-sized specialty stores in high-rent shopping malls. It's not what what WalMart does. It's not what they're good at. It's not what they understand.

 

[lucky_bunni]

Originally posted by Werner Weiss
WalMart has never shown an interest in operating any sort of small-sized specialty stores in high-rent shopping malls. It's not what what WalMart does. It's not what they're good at. It's not what they understand.

Actually, if you look into it, they have been toying with a couple of smaller-scale retail ideas in Europe. Their interests have mainly been in apparel and in a confection store concept. I wouldn't put it past them because I'm sure the price tag for the stores would be change Walmart could find in its sofa. Besides, has anyone seen the amount of Disney stuff is sold in Walmart stores? You could probably find more Disney stuff in a Walmart store than in a Disney Store. I'm not saying I even think this will happen, just making an arguement for why the rumor makes sense.

 

[CM Tinkerbell]

From what I've heard, Disney is not interested in selling to another large retailer. If the Disney Stores are sold, they are making sure that they still maintain a very large amount of control as to how the stores are run, the merchandise, etc. If they are sold to another retailer, they feel they will not have the sort of control that they would like. It's my understanding that they've been courting more "investment" types and not retailers.

 

[Grog]

You could probably find more Disney stuff in a Walmart store than in a Disney Store.

I was thinking the same thing. Over the past few years, I've seen way more Disney items (the kind people want to buy, not the stuff that's in the Disney Store now) at Wal Mart than at our local Disney Store. I don't know how much truth there is to this rumor, but I could see this working, because Wal Mart will probably bring back the adult sized clothing and collectibles that people want.

 

[deb305]

Frankly, all of Disney merchandising seems messed up. Back when the Disney stores first opened they carried high quality clothing, unique stuffed animals, unique costumes. Things rarely went on sale, and they style/quality of the products were very distinct from the few items being sold elswhere. Disney had tight control on their brand, and the Walmarts/Kmarts of the world sold only a very few cheap items.
Today the Disney Stores are filled with junk, and half of the toys can be bought at Walmart for much better prices. Also Disney went nuts and licensed the brand everywhere, there is actually a Disney Isle in our Walmart. Our thin size 5 daughter bought a Disney Ariel costume from Walmart, that didn't last a week before ripping.
Finally the Disney Store was a great place to buy good Disney clothes in larger sizes. No more, the highest they go is 2x, a very small 2x. Have you been to WDW lately, there seem to be more Pooh sized people (like me) than non-Pooh.!
The Disney Stores reflect what has gone wrong with all of Disney in the last 10 years. As long as they were a premium high quality brand in the (parks, stores, movies, etc) they did great. As soon as ME brought in management teams that get improved results by cost cutting (cheap new parks, reducing upkeep of current parks, lower quality merchandise, second rate television programing, etc),while maitaining high prices, instead funding real product growth, their customer base began eroding.

 

[DouglasF]

I just wanted to add my voice to what already has been stated. I doubt even if Wal-mart were to take over Disney's retail operation they would implement the changes that the Disney Stores need. Disney stores need to reintroduce products that would interest adults, not just five year old girls who need a "princess fix". Merchandising in the theme parks seem to do ok with products geared toward adults. Hey it's a major focus for Epcot! I just thought it was incredibly idiotic when I went to a Disney Store and they didn't even carry photo albums. Seemed like a no-brainer to me. I ended up going with Disney's Mail Order Division.

 

[Candlelady]

A few years ago Disney approched our company with the idea of carrying the Disney line in our retail stores. We ultimately declined. Disney was informed it would be too costly to redesign our stores to include their products and we did not want to 'stray' from our core product.
The truth of the matter is their products were not up to our standards.

When You Care Enough to Send the Very Best.

 

[Micca]

They could change the name of the stores to "Walt-Mart"

 

[Grog]

They could change the name of the stores to "Walt-Mart"

Good one!

 

[Planogirl]

Originally posted by Candlelady
A few years ago Disney approched our company with the idea of carrying the Disney line in our retail stores. We ultimately declined. Disney was informed it would be too costly to redesign our stores to include their products and we did not want to 'stray' from our core product.
The truth of the matter is their products were not up to our standards.

When You Care Enough to Send the Very Best.

If your company is the one that I think it is, I would definitely agree.

 

[exDS vet]

I think a Wal-Mart purchase of the Disney Store chain would be appropriate. Too many people are living in the past where DS is concerned. As a former Disney Store manager, I can tell you that the demise of that store has been and will eventually lead to it's permanent closure.

If any company can purchase the store and get the rights to sell Disney's exclusive product, they would be right to carry it in their own stores. Disney Store is nothing today. Sure, the company has boasted about their great Thanksgiving sales. Big deal! So did everyone else. We haven't heard much since, have we. And the sales were being compared to 2002, which wasn't much, considering the dismal comp sales they had to beat after 2001.

Disney Store was once a great business unit of TWDC. That history was just that during my tenure with the company. The upper management was horrible, and the product mix was on the decline.

Believe it or not, adult clothing does not sell at Disney Store. It never did, and it won't come back. As much as everyone cries about it, they all just need to get over that fact. Toys sell at Disney Store. Overpriced toys that you can buy anywhere else. I remember a time when DS merchandise was special. That all ended shortly after Paul Pressler went to Disneyland. Videos and DVD's sell at Disney Store, but they don't make any money on them. Disney pre-sells videos with those lithos and coupons just to get you to come back to buy overpriced toys.

If Wal-Mart or another large retailer buys the Disney Store chain, it will finally bring what many people have been waiting for. The closure of the Disney Store chain. Trust me, it won't be long before Disney Store becomes a memory, just like the Warner Bros. Store.

 

[Cruelladeville]

It's actually a smart idea for Walmart to buy out Disney, since they currently stock Disney merchandise. If they bought out the Disney Store then Disney's only retail outlet would be thru Walmart, and Walmart could force Disney to cut their costs further. When Walmart contracts with smaller companies to supply them, Walmart tells THEM how much they are going to pay per item, how it will be packaged, how it will be shipped, and when and which warehouse it will go to. Then it levies stiff penalties if all their demands aren't met once the contract is signed. Walmart is not a nice company to do business with. Walmart can ask whatever price that it wants to in its stores.

 

[nicurn]

I did notice that in order to buy any kim possible merchandise (with the exception of 1 pin in MGM studios and a few t-shirts at the disney store) I had to go to walmart. Kim possible (the disney channel character) is a walmart exclusive. (at least through christmas). maggie

 

[Tekneek]

Originally posted by Cruelladeville
Walmart is not a nice company to do business with.

Yep. They are a horrible company. They treat their employees far worse than their competition does. Since my wife and I finally read about how horribly that company is ran we have stopped doing any business with Walmart.

 

[exDS vet]

Originally posted by Tekneek
They treat their employees far worse than their competition does. Since my wife and I finally read about how horribly that company is ran we have stopped doing any business with Walmart.

Ever look into how the Disney Store is run and how they treat their employees? You might want to stop doing business with them as well.

 

[Tekneek]

Originally posted by exDS vet
Ever look into how the Disney Store is run and how they treat their employees? You might want to stop doing business with them as well.

A big difference would be that The Disney Store is not putting people out of work and driving down wages across an entire industry, like Walmart is.

 

[Jestocost]

America can be an…interesting…place. As Henry Ford said (paraphrased), I want to pay my employees enough that they can buy my cars. Today, people aren't willing to pay more, but they all want to earn more. As a result, manufacturing jobs have headed overseas, because what consumers are willing to pay rules the day in the end. (Don't tell me that if we paid more, people would be able to buy more, because that only means that products would cost more, so people would have to be paid more…)

As to Wal-Mart buying the Disney Stores, did the Disney Stores sell in a year what Wal-Mart sells in a day? I LOVE the Disney Stores, but I don't know that Wal-Mart would even have to announce the purchase, since it would not be material. It's just so far from the Wal-Mart business model that I can't imagine it.

Go Hens!