News Magic Kingdom's Main Street Confectionery closing for refurbishment

TrainsOfDisney

TrainsOfDisney

Well-Known Member
Animaniac93-98 said:
Hey, don't forget the Starbucks!
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That upgrades it from a Walmart to a Target!

The sad thing is Main Street wasn’t designed for retail... the shops were part of the theme. Yes you could buy stuff, but now they’ve flipped it around and the goal is to sell Merch and write a little backstory about why it makes sense for a Starbucks to be there.
 
UNCgolf

UNCgolf

Well-Known Member
Magic Feather said:
Fair.

I'd struggle to call "entryway featuring prominent merchandise and dining" an opinion, but I digress.
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I don't think it's actually one or the other.

I agree that they existed to sell you merchandise -- if they didn't, they could have been full of props and nothing else -- but they were also designed in a way (including at least some of the merchandise on sale) to help fit a theme. They were a combination of retail space and show. It may not have been a 50/50 split, but it was maybe something like 60/40. Now they're like 95+ retail.

I actually think it could be driving down retail profit margins at WDW at this point, because they've homogenized the store offerings so much across the board. It feels like there's no longer a reason to go inside most of the stores in the parks. You can go to World of Disney at Disney Springs and find probably 90% of what's available elsewhere. Do they really need 10 stores all selling the same merchandise when they could have 5 instead and cut costs? Or use that extra space for something else?
 
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T

TrojanUSC

Well-Known Member
UNCgolf said:
I don't think it's actually one or the other.

I agree that they existed to sell you merchandise -- if they didn't, they could have been full of props and nothing else -- but they were also designed in a way (including at least some of the merchandise on sale) to help fit a theme. They were a combination of retail space and show. It may not have been a 50/50 split, but it was maybe something like 60/40. Now they're more like 95+ retail.

I actually think it could be driving down retail profit margins at WDW at this point, because they've homogenized the store offerings so much across the board that it feels like there's no longer much reason to go inside most of the stores in the parks. You can go to World of Disney at Disney Springs and find probably 90% of what's available elsewhere. Do they really need 10 stores all selling the same merchandise when they could have 5 instead and cut costs? Or use that space for something else?
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Exactly. There is very little specialized merchandise anymore. It used to be themed to the area you were in.
 
Animaniac93-98

Animaniac93-98

Well-Known Member
Magic Feather said:
...that's exactly what it was designed for. Only difference is sponsors and third parties were swapped for Disney merch.

Some people like to pretend that corporate synergy and merchandising were absent from Walt's Disneyland TM.
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Main Street's merch and presentation was far more complex that what it is now.

Disneyland's original pharmacy was a period accurate recreation. Now it's a shop with Disney character purses. Main Street Motors at DLP sold antique cars when the park opened. Now it sells sweaters.

WDW's Main Street also used to have attractions like the Cinema, Penny Arcade, Walt Disney Story and the Plaza Swan Boats. The flower market at Center Street (where the 2001 Emporium expansion is now) was a popular photo op. There was variety to what MS offered.

Retail/dining was always a major component. And sponsors like Hallmark, Kodak and Coca-Cola were also chosen for being correct to the period. Stores like the candle shop, clock shop etc added complexity to the items on sale and maintained the idea that this street was made up of individual locations with their own personality. Now the West side is just 2 stores that look more or less the same.

Yes, it's still "merch", but not all "retail" is the same.
 
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UNCgolf

UNCgolf

Well-Known Member
Someone posted this link on another thread (had already closed that tab so not sure who it was), and it seemed appropriate for this discussion.


That's Frontierland and Liberty Square as opposed to Main Street, but it shows how the shops used to be a much larger part of the show than they are today. They were individual stores generally offering items related to the area's theme instead of every store selling the same Disney stuffed animals and other assorted branded items.

I don't expect them to ever go back to that level of theming/show (although it would be nice) but they could at least do a split. Have a few shops that are actually themed for show and some that sell the standard Disney merch.
 
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SpoiledBlueMilk

SpoiledBlueMilk

Well-Known Member
Last week a cast member from the Confectionary told me that the Chapeu shop will become part of an expanded Confectionary once the redesign is complete.
 

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