I am only on page 3, but it doesn't surprise me that the Marketplace is struggling, the place is a dump. Every time we walk through there, we comment on how decrepit the buildings look, especially the Art of Disney building. I think it's going to be hard to sell higher end products in a building that looks and feels like that place does. And every time they've removed a cabinet, and now I hear they've removed a bunch of the art from the walls. All the money they have dumped into Disney Springs and none of it to freshen up the Marketplace.
Even newer stores like WoD and Once Upon a Toy, all the fun, kinetic elements have been allowed to rot or been removed for something I'm guessing is, "easier and cheaper to maintain." All of the retail spaces that have been recently renovated have left me feeling turned off by shopping. The new Animal Kingdom megastore feels dark and cavernous. Things like moving the Art of Disney merchandise to the Muppet store where pricey items are left to be handled and broken by dozens of little hands. And the CM's don't know their merchandise either.
I can't imagine anyone with real retail management experience would look at how Disney sells their products and the environments and rate it acceptable. And the fact that no face-lifting has been done at the Marketplace other than the Co-Op building, I'm left feeling that it is intentional.
We walked through the new areas on our last trip. The only store we even went into was Uniqlo. It was very bright, airy, modern, and had reasonably priced merchandise. What a concept. The fact that there was so much Disney stuff too was an added bonus.
I forgot we also went in the Coke store, and had the same feeling we get from Disney. It was too small, the aisles were too narrow, displays felt cheap and thrown together. It felt like no one cared about presentation and the retail experience.
