Disney is closing 20% of its brick-and-mortar Disney Stores before the end of the year

DCBaker

Premium Member
Original Poster
"Disney said Wednesday that it will close 20% of its brick-and-mortar Disney Store locations before the end of the year as part of a bigger focus on its e-commerce business.

At least 60 of its North American locations will close, the company said, citing changing consumer behaviors and a desire to link its online shopping experience to its Disney Parks apps and social media platforms. There are about 300 Disney Stores worldwide.

“While consumer behavior has shifted toward online shopping, the global pandemic has changed what consumers expect from a retailer,” said Stephanie Young, president of consumer products, games and publishing.

The pandemic has accelerated the shift away from physical stores to digital shopping by about five years, according to data from IBM’s U.S. Retail Index. Industry-wide e-commerce sales jumped 32.4% to $791.7 billion in 2020, and that figure is only expected to grow.

Disney’s plan is to start by shuttering one-fifth of its Disney Store footprint and then evaluate where other closures may need to take place. The company is looking at Europe, in particular, as a place to make significant reductions.

The company declined to provide financial details about how closures will impact its results, but noted that there will be an undisclosed number of layoffs that coincide with the stores closing. Disney also declined to say which locations would be affected.

Notably, Disney’s other shopping experiences, which include more than 600 Disney Parks stores, shop-in-shop locations in stores like Target, lifestyle and outlet locations, and third-party retailers around the world will not be impacted.

Disney’s partnership with Target, which has placed miniature Disney Stores inside the discount retailer, has grown from 25 stores to more than 50 since 2019. The company declined to share plans for future locations.

The company says it will improve its current ShopDisney website and increase its product assortment to include more adult apparel collections, streetwear, premium home products and collectibles. Disney Stores tended to be a curated selection of children’s apparel, toys, plush and games. Online Disney will be able to cater to a wider demographic and expand its offerings.

Disney is expected to share more details about its website revamp and product releases in the future."

 

markc

Active Member
An easy way to tell if your store will be closing or not - see what "style" it is. Over the past 8 years, Disney had made an effort to renovate the old stores into their Imagination Park or new "white" style stores. Those were the ones that were significantly profitable where it made sense to throw money into them. The rest of the stores were left in their old styles until their profitability feel to a point where it makes no sense to keep open. It seems this announcement is confirming that they are accelerating that effort and closing the rest of those "older" style stores.
 

ppete1975

Well-Known Member
i think this is the wrong direction. Bring back the old disney stores but plus them. The targets ive seen are a joke. Lets be honest there are disney fans all over the US. And most of us dont get to go often. So I know i go to the outlet mall disney shop just to pick up some disney magic and feel a little disney magic when i cant go to the parks. There are people who have never been, kids who love mickey and if you had a store with photo ops and some disney magic, heck even had disney store exclusives youd make tons of money.
 

Sirwalterraleigh

Premium Member
I think this is short sighted. Once the pandemic is over with - NOBODY is going to want to "stay home" any longer and I think we'll see a resurgence of shopping malls.

No...to the no...to the no-ity no.

The exact opposite trend has been happening for decades. The reality is brick and mortar retail is never coming back. Every year a new record of bankruptcies and closures occurs.

And after a little armchair research...the reasons are quite enlightening. Mainly that the construction of retail is so far behind that they are like 2 economic trends/cycles behind.

The explosion of brick and mortar stores that happened because of the 1980’s was actually built from 1995-2005. So they were 2 recessions behind and already into the growth of online.

If you consider that trend...that means retail will close for the 2010-current online explosion until roughly 2035. That leaves noting left.
 

ppete1975

Well-Known Member
No...to the no...to the no-ity no.

The exact opposite trend has been happening for decades. The reality is brick and mortar retail is never coming back. Every year a new record of bankruptcies and closures occurs.

And after a little armchair research...the reasons are quite enlightening. Mainly that the construction of retail is so far behind that they are like 2 economic trends/cycles behind.

The explosion of brick and mortar stores that happens because of the 1980’s was actually bulky from 1995-2005. So they were 2 recessions behind and already into the growth of online.

If you consider that trend...that means retail will close for the 2010-current online explosion until roughly 2035. That leaves noting left.
i agree which is why you cant do the same old same old. Shopping has to be an event, photo ops, animatronics maybe. I still think toys r us would have survived (even with the buyout that doomed them), if they had reinvented. Take part of the store and do birthday parties, even include a package where every kid gets a gift card to shop that day. Let lego make a lego area let barbie have an area. Ny kind of had it, and the reboot in houston on a small scale has tried.
you cant just have a boring store anymore, but if you put made it an event to go to the store, especially in states that arent florida or california (although right now california would prob do well) you could amplify the disney brand and bring in lots of money.
Im old enough to remember the looney tune stores and disney stores in their prime, sad one didnt survive and the other is neutered.
 

Sirwalterraleigh

Premium Member
Times Square store closed it’s larger second floor months ago. Now its a packed smaller ground floor with less collectibles. Looks like that will go.

That store has always been a rough go...

What’s funny is the rent prices in New York City are so low right now...that they could name their price. But there’s also no customers
 

Disney Analyst

Well-Known Member
No...to the no...to the no-ity no.

The exact opposite trend has been happening for decades. The reality is brick and mortar retail is never coming back. Every year a new record of bankruptcies and closures occurs.

And after a little armchair research...the reasons are quite enlightening. Mainly that the construction of retail is so far behind that they are like 2 economic trends/cycles behind.

The explosion of brick and mortar stores that happened because of the 1980’s was actually built from 1995-2005. So they were 2 recessions behind and already into the growth of online.

If you consider that trend...that means retail will close for the 2010-current online explosion until roughly 2035. That leaves noting left.

I think an article I read earlier stated that they believe Covid sped up the e-commerce push by 3-5 years. So I expect many platforms to do the same. I know Best Buy announced a similar move.

I just hope Disney Stores online platform improves, if you order in Canada you get dinged with crazy customs and duty fees.
 

ppete1975

Well-Known Member
ca
I think an article I read earlier stated that they believe Covid sped up the e-commerce push by 3-5 years. So I expect many platforms to do the same. I know Best Buy announced a similar move.

I just hope Disney Stores online platform improves, if you order in Canada you get dinged with crazy customs and duty fees.
canada is a great example, build a huge store where its an experience, more like a cruise ship experience with tons to do ... i honestly think when disney store started, chef mickey, and disney quest.. they had the right idea... just poor execution. You wouldnt need to build a park, just experiences. IF nothing else it would make people want to visit more, and also sell alot of stuff and disney plus marketing.
 

Phineas

Well-Known Member
Also, they need to improve on packaging items. I’ve lost track of how many times I had to call them in the last year due to things arriving damaged.
I’ve paid for limited edition pins that they throw into a box big enough for a pair of boots, with zero padding, and not always with the cardboard backing, just rattling around all the way to me.

Even their paid shipping is a joke. Here’s $6-10 for you to haphazardly send me an item maybe sometime next week, we guess?
 

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