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Disney is closing 20% of its brick-and-mortar Disney Stores before the end of the year
- Thread starter DCBaker
- Start date
Disney Analyst
Well-Known Member
Yeah I’m not seeing it reported anywhere else yet. I sincerely hope they aren’t shutting out Canada fully… unless they seriously plan to update the online shipping experience for us.
ppete1975
Well-Known Member
i hate to say its been coming for a bit..... remove the plussing- let the disney stores get run down- new locations are outlets with no theming- close disney stores leave outlets.
Worst part is the website is horrible and disney is missing the biggest part. I can buy a mickey mouse shirt at walmart... or target. I can get something better on etsy. I go to disney stores for the magic... for that feeling in between trips. The old original stores were great!!! They even had special events (like the actual cars from cars in the parking lot of shopping mall near me), Now its a bland space with no theming no disney magic.. just a way to get rid of merchandise that didnt sell, and really cheap shirts. And the website is a joke. It sells out in not time, charges too much for shipping and is unreliable just to name a few things.
Great Northern Mall, North Olmsted OH
donsullivan
Premium Member
It's less about the location of the store and totally about how much revenue/profit it generates. if the store isn't meeting the profit thresholds, and the lease is coming up (with a likely rent increase) it may be time to move on. Besides, in todays Amazon world, the vast majority of our society is now totally comfortable ordering this stuff on-line instead of going to a retail store.
That doesn't mean that retail goes away, but it does mean you need a lot less of it to achieve the goals.
ppete1975
Well-Known Member
thats not entirely what they are looking at though. They arent just closing the underperforming. They are closing the classic disney store model (leaving very few) and leaving the outlets and even building new ones. While outlets currently are popular we have seen this swap before, and with many malls going multiuse it seems short sited. It appears disney would rather have bland no magic boxes that can be opened quickly instead of themed spaces appears to be the bigger push.
Ldno
Well-Known Member
That really doesn’t make any sense because they literally took down all 3 locations in San Antonio, all 3 being popular locations all over the city, i mean even downtown river center mall is a known location for it’s river walk tourist trap, there’s something big going around here.
i visited all 3 locations and i can attest to the fact that all 3 operated differently, one store offered 20% while the downtown one offered 30% final sale discount.
I can probably point the finger and say that Disney’s Target‘s venture is going full steam because to be honest there’s like at least 10 Targets around the same location of all the old 3 disney stores and at the time they did the limited galaxy’s edge theming everything sold out. With that said it wasn’t the best set up but it got the job done.
I think that’s the route for them going forward.
I also live within 30 minutes of the outlet disney store but from what I heard the outlet store is not owned by DIsney, but let’s just say I can shop for the biggest discounts there!!!
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donsullivan
Premium Member
Just because a geographic location is popular doesn’t automatically make a retail location profitable. Disney is clearly changing their retail strategy to one that doesn’t want as many physical brick-and-mortar stores so they are closing lots of them. They clearly have a new financial model and if a store doesn’t meet it today, or is expected to be unable to achieve the targets in the future they’re closing it down.
Disney Analyst
Well-Known Member
This is the article that people are quoting:
But it seems to claim they are now closing all stores, including those in Canada…
“Multiple sources have informed Retail Insider that US-based mass media and entertainment conglomerate Disney will be shutting almost all of its standalone retail stores, including all 18 locations in Canada. Two Canadian locations already shuttered last month. The move comes as Disney re-evaluates its operations amid a challenging time for retail and landlords in North America as the pandemic increasingly shifts consumer shopping patterns to online channels.”
But it seems to claim they are now closing all stores, including those in Canada…
“Multiple sources have informed Retail Insider that US-based mass media and entertainment conglomerate Disney will be shutting almost all of its standalone retail stores, including all 18 locations in Canada. Two Canadian locations already shuttered last month. The move comes as Disney re-evaluates its operations amid a challenging time for retail and landlords in North America as the pandemic increasingly shifts consumer shopping patterns to online channels.”
BrianLo
Well-Known Member
I wonder if they mismanaged them. I can speak to the Calgary Market Mall location. The mall was insanely busy again as of last summer and I think the Disney store was one of the very few closed retail locations a good 6 months after the mall reopening.
I actually didn't realize how few there were in Canada... I lived across the street from it. Not that I ever bought anything or went in.
Sirwalterraleigh
Premium Member
Just got a lovely email saying the closest one to me is closing...
always sad
always sad