Are all Disney Stores UNmagical?

[LoriMistress]

I love the Disney Store, but no, they are not "as friendly" as the CM at the parks, nor are their enough of them. I usually go to the Disney Store during the big sales (The Day After Thanksgiving Sale, Day After Christmas Sale, etc.) That's when I buy almost everyone I need at the Disney Store for pratically nothing!

 

[Disneydreaming]

I'm so glad I read through this post. I had wondered what happened to the Disney stores, I didn't know they were taken over by another company and weren't Disney owned anymore. No wonder, as I have noticed big changes (for the worse) in the last few years. My kids and I used to get so excited visiting these stores, and now there isn't much to look at and get excited about. How sad that what was such a wonderful experience died at the hands of a couple of people.

 

[ArielBelle]

Fortunately...at Sawgrass Mills Mall down here in Sunrise, FL we have a Disney's Character Premiere! I visit every so often...and those are actual CMs that work in the store, and most of them are so friendly. This is the same store they have at the outlet malls in Orlando.

It is all merchandise from WDW parks that was either out of season or overstocked.

One CM there shares my infatuation with Figment and showed me a limited edition figurine that they had just received...it was originally $95.00 and I got it for $30. It even came with a limited edition pin!

This past weekend they had those giant Minnie stuffed animals that sell for $50 in the parks for only $25

Always such great deals on everything!

 

[GoofBall06]

The CMs at The Disney Store in my mall are still very very friendly and nice. They are always willing to answer questions and are always greeting you. I wish they would still sell movie coffee mugs, my mom LOVED those. I used to buy her one for Christmas and her birthday. But they stopped selling them...their coffee mugs are too big now.

 

[BRER STITCH]

To answer the original question.....NO!

The DISNEY STORES ROCK!

Everytime you need a quick "fix" of the MAGIC, stop in to any of the stores in New York State....especially in the Buffalo area!

The Cast Members are the best and the stores are always looking great!

The old attitude mentioned above of "the stores are in decline", blah blah blah.... has never been more INcorrect!

Most of the store closings were due to the 10-year leases that expired in many of the malls they were in. Most major mall developers include terms in the lease that the stores must remodel and upgrade their appearance in some way to renew their lease. As the sale of the Disney Stores was already in the works, there was no new design plans in place to move forward with right away. Finally, the new store look was approved and the new owners are going forward with it! :sohappy:

With the sale complete and the poor performing stores closed, a new round of stores will be opening over the next couple years with a (FINALLY!) brand new decor theme, making them more magical than ever!

Add to that a new merchandise mix and the outlook for the stores under the Children's Place guidance is better than ever! HANG IN THERE!!!

:sohappy: :sohappy: :sohappy:

 

[Aurora_25]

To answer the original question.....NO!

The DISNEY STORES ROCK!

Everytime you need a quick "fix" of the MAGIC, stop in to any of the stores in New York State....especially in the Buffalo area!

The Cast Members are the best and the stores are always looking great!

The old attitude mentioned above of "the stores are in decline", blah blah blah.... has never been more INcorrect!

Most of the store closings were due to the 10-year leases that expired in many of the malls they were in. Most major mall developers include terms in the lease that the stores must remodel and upgrade their appearance in some way to renew their lease. As the sale of the Disney Stores was already in the works, there was no new design plans in place to move forward with right away. Finally, the new store look was approved and the new owners are going forward with it! :sohappy:

With the sale complete and the poor performing stores closed, a new round of stores will be opening over the next couple years with a (FINALLY!) brand new decor theme, making them more magical than ever!

Add to that a new merchandise mix and the outlook for the stores under the Children's Place guidance is better than ever! HANG IN THERE!!!

:sohappy: :sohappy: :sohappy:

For the issue of the attitude of the Disney stores- maybe the ones that you go to aren't like that, but I guarantee you the ones down here are- I worked for a Disney store for a long time sso I know the quality that used to be expected and what is happening now- 2 different things. I am not saying every Disney store is like that, but most of the ones that I have gone to are.

As for the other thing about a 10-year lease thing- that isn't true about the one that closed down here either- I asked the mall managers and the CM's that worked at the Disney stores why they closed and what was told to me was that the management at the Mall upped the price of leasing so the Disney company didn't feel it was smart to keep a store there. It had nothing to do with renovating it.....

Oh, and the store I used to work at that closed performed the best out of all the stores in this city.....
Just my 2 cents

 

[ThreeCircles]

I had a very unmagical experience in a Disney Store (prior to the chain being sold off) and haven't been back in since. Nor will I.

And, to be quite honest, I don't think I'm missing much. IMHO, Disney made a big mistake in selling the chain rather than closing it down. I have little doubt that TCP will also fail in turning the stores around and, sooner or later, they will close them down.

On a side note, about a month or so ago TWDC took the Disney Stores in Europe off the table and announced that they would retain ownership of them.

 

[MiRi]

ArielBelle: I was just there on Monday. We also have a similar store at Dolphin Mall. I must make a stop in there everytime. The CMs are very nice too.

At the Disney Store in Bayside, I've had good experiences. I have always encountered nice CMs at the Disney Stores.

 

[SnowWhite5669]

I worked at Disney Store for four years and at times I had a hard time deciding what not to buy because there was so much. Now it's just a random assortment of t-shirts for adults and occassionally a watch (I just scored a Skagen for my husband that was a return from Disney for $65) but I can say that I don't find anything in the store anymore. I don't even buy my DVDs there anymore! I'll just save my spending for Disney!

 

[lebeau]

The stores have definitely gone downhill over the years. There just isn't anything in them that's very appealing to me. I do, however, like a lot of stuff in the catalogues and we order from them pretty regularily.


I can't get over how much the Princesses and Pooh dominate things. Even Mickey and friends stuff takes a back seat to the Princesses and Pooh! Heaven help the fan of the obscure character.

 

[pat in the hat]

The Disney Store never sells pins. You can get them online, ebay is a pretty good source:wave:

Not true. I just saw some "generic" ones at a store in Ohio. I was very curious about them because there were only a few styles, and they were of characters. There were only a few and they certainly were not prominently displayed. While they were packaged like the other Disney Store pins (on cards and in cellophane wrap), they seemed new . . . and they were not on sale.

Sadly, I too used to love the Disney stores, but I don't even bother with them any more. Even sadder is the fact that the Gallery store that I was just at was simply storage space for the excess Princess and Power Rangers junk that they had piles and piles of!

While a few in key locations (NY, FLA) may still be exciting, I believe the majority of stores have not been magical for some time . . . just witness the variety of posts here (and the locations)!

I miss the old stores!

 

[MartyMouse]

I worked at the Disney Store for 4 years and can say I was there while the final nail was being driven in. When I started we wore the sweaters and it felt like being part of Disney magic. We all worked hard to maintain an attractive store and always be exceptionally friendly with our guests. But then came a thing called “Project Go” and that was what killed it for me. I had to quit, because I didn’t feel like the stores were keeping with the Disney ideas, and I have always been a man of principles.

But to be honest my managers and friends tried to keep a happy atmosphere (the best they could with the new rules), but the decline in good guest service also comes from the workforce that’s out there, potential cast members just don’t care about doing their job to the fullest and the problem can even be seen at Walt Disney World, it’s becoming a social issue. Another problem is the guests, people are in such a hurry theses days they don’t want to take the time to chit chat with cast members or wait to be helped they all have the McDonalds mentality.

 

[Captain Hank]

I'm a current Disney Store Cast Member, and I was one when we were still a part of the Company. Now, I can only speak for my store, but everyone currently on cast at my store fits the persona of a true Disney Cast Member and tries to give the guest the best experience possible. It's kinda tough when we have pretty steep sales goals to meet, but nearly every guest leaves our store with a smile on their face. As for cleanliness, again, I can only speak for my store, but we really do try our best. We only have so many Cast Members, and when our equivalent of a Brazilian tour group comes through and wreks havoc, it can take a little while to clean up, while still continuing guest service, selling, loss prevention and all of our other responsibilities.

As for our merchandise, I, too miss the days of more diverse merchandise, and I think our change in focus hurt us more than it helped us. However, we have changed focus to a primarliy children's store, and we are trying to offer the best experience within that. We will continue to offer a decent selection of grown-up merchandise, but don't expect the balance to turn any more in favor of grown-ups.

Finally, to answer the OP's question, no. I can't speak for all Disney Stores, but I can speak for one. I think mine is pretty darn magical, and my fellow Cast Members and I are doing our best to keep it that way.

 

[debndon]

I worked for the disney store for 5 years 1998-2003, when I first started there is was great, a lot fun and interaction but alas the michael eisner took over and they became work horses. Everything changed, they started tracking sales and the amount of people that came in to the store. They wanted in our location Nova Scotia Canada to have atleast 22pecent of the customers that came into the store to buy something. Not to mention they also wanted ADS (add ons) they wanted people to buy more than one item. They problem started to arrise when our store manager left (she was awesome) and the assistant took over, she's one of these rich women who is doing it just to past the time. There is a lot more people out there who could use the job and money more than her. She takes everything to the extreme, because she owns $250,000 of disney stock she kept picking away at everything. I was relieved to leave in 2003, no more fun, getting to work on wednesday at 6am to do stock on the floor (hard on the knees) and sweat it out and then go home at 9:30 because that's the only reason they brought you in. The Disney store is now under rehad and will open with a new look in september not to mention they are also opening up another Disney Store right across the way in a nother mall not 20mins away. Before it was unique to a region we were the only one in the province, now there's 2 in the same city that can't support 2. But that's the eisner era for you... sell it off make money and now it's up to another company to keep it going. There was 2 or 3 of us from the original 1998 cast and we tried out best to make it magical but when your driven out every day by you can't do that anymore you have to sell sell sell it's frustrating. I still shop there, but I only buy 2 times a year because there's not much more to shop for. (adults) I hope things get better but it will never be the way it was unfortunately

 

[Aurora_25]

I worked for the disney store for 5 years 1998-2003, when I first started there is was great, a lot fun and interaction but alas the michael eisner took over and they became work horses. Everything changed, they started tracking sales and the amount of people that came in to the store.

Just as an FYI (not to start anything) but Michael Eisner took over Disney in 1984....

but I do agree that CM's were looked at as work horses and stuff like that- although I loved working there- I had great managers and assistant managers and it was alot of fun, the pay wasn't that great, but then again, that's retail in general.

 

[artdude323]

I'm not sure where you guys all live or shop at the Disney store, but when you say you only have Princess and Pooh merchandise, that's pretty alarming.

Our local store is what used to be called a Spotlight Store, which means they got the full line of everything, thought I don't think that's still a DS label for their stores. Still, I see much more than princesses and Pooh.

There are proprietary plush, beanies, at least 50 different snowglobes besides the mini ones, DVDs, CDs, the line of tents - Incredibles and Buzz Lightyear, the rest if the boys toy line of the Adventurers, the dinnerware that was carried over the summer, the newly installed fixture for watches, back-to-school lunchboxes, all besides the T shirts, kids clothes, and princess lines.

Maybe someone(s) was exaggerating just a little?

 

[Noah&Emily'sMom]

I go to the Disney Store in the mall, and I just don't feel any magic at all It's like going into a regular store just with Disney stuff in it. There is ALWAYS toys, clothes, etc scattered everywhere... They need to hire some new workers. The people who work there now are rude, they don't know anything, and they won't help you.

Now, I'm not saying all Disney Store CM's are like that, but the ones who work at the DS I go to are very unhelpful

I couldn't agree more, I actually (gasp) hate my local Disney Store. I used to go for my disney fix, and it was fun to look at all the new collectibles and pick up the Giant stuffed animals and carry them all around the store, with friendly CM's enjoying the magic with me. My friend Kim worked at the store when it first opened and you had to wear that light blue uniform, at the store closing they had to hold hands and sing the Mickey Mouse Club song...... Now you could spend a half hour in the store and never see/speak to a CM. The one that rang up my sale on Saturday didn't even say hello or thanks have a nice day:fork: Rudeness in retail is unacceptable, but alas only 65 more days until I can go to the REAL Disney store:sohappy:

 

[manda0125]

Disney Store

I too work at my local Disney Store. I 've been there for almost 5 years now and I have seen the change in merchandise. For awhile all we carried was plush! But I think that they are starting to come back alittle and carry more diverse product. It will never be how the stores use to be when they first opened up. But it's alittle better. I was always told that when the stores first opened up they were meant to be a specialty store. But then the big guys got greedy and we jumped into the retail business. And of course to keep up with all the other stores that carry Disney we had to change our whole dynamic. I miss the days of the store being a specialty store. It was more magical!! I also heard the reason we didn't carry pins anymore was because we were taking the business away from the theme parks. I don't know if I totally believe it, but I can see why it might cause a problem. The last time we had pins, they went on clearance. People were buying them by the handfulls, and stating that they were going to go to Disney and trade them for better pins. So people were trading a pin that they paid $.99 with a pin that is worth $6.00. I can kind of see Disney having a probelm with that.

 

[shoppingnut]

The World of Disney Store in NY does sell pins and not just NY ones. I was in the store last week and there was a large display of them, didn't notice if there were any Ltd ed or just general ones. This store has so many things that you can buy in WDW, like the pet items, Mr. potato head w/parts etc. It has always been a nice store.

However, the same can not be said for the Disney Stores because once they removed the adult and collectible merchandise, it did turn into a Pooh store. It used to be that they had original toys that were not sold at other stores. Also, why did they think people were going to buy toys at their stores at a higher price when they could be purchased at Walmart for far less money. The same is true for the vhs & dvd's. Once they removed the adult merchandise, I had much less of a reason to go to the store and rarely went. This only hurt them because when I was in there buying things for myself, I'd buy for my nephew too.

Also, the way they managed their merchandise was out and out stupid because I recall talking to a manager during the 90's and she told me that their store sold tons of plush and the large ones at that, but couldn't get enough of it. Meanwhile the store that was located several miles away in another mall didn't sell the plush and always had excess, but there was no way to transfer it to the other store without going through a long process that made it not worthwhile. They didn't stock the stores according to what they sold the most, but stocked the stores generally across the board. This way of stocking is now what we are seeing in WDW itself, where there is such repetition of merchandise that there is no more originality in the different parks or ride areas that there used to be.

 

[ThreeCircles]

It used to be that they had original toys that were not sold at other stores. Also, why did they think people were going to buy toys at their stores at a higher price when they could be purchased at Walmart for far less money. The same is true for the vhs & dvd's.

I think this is one key that has yet to be solved and also why I feel the Disney Store is doomed for total closure in the future.

As it stands now, TCP will sell Disney merchandise by license agreement. But, lets not forget that Disney has more license agreements than you can shake a stick at. Walmart, K-Mart, toy stores, etc. will all be selling Disney merchandise as well and probably at a significantly reduced price.

And, Disney really has no real interest in seeing the Disney Store as a success now. Sure, it's going to add license revenue's to the bottom line of TWDC, but I'm guess the size of that figure will pale in comparison to the overall licensing revenue.

Some will argue that the stores will act as an "advertisement" for Disney but others also suggest that, in fact, the over-advertisement of the Disney brand is partly to blame for the failure of the Disney Stores.

While I lament for TCP employees that were former Cast Members, I cannot say that they are still Cast Members. They no longer work for TWDC. Not that they are not good people, mind you.