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The Downtown Disney Thread
- Thread starter Sharon&Susan
- Start date
Phroobar
Well-Known Member
Well that is ugly.
Disney Irish
Premium Member
What? This is a thing? Why?!?
Don't get me wrong, I'm kind of a minor Pele' fan, but only because I was alive and watching TV in the 1970's and remember when everyone in the Smart Set was saying how soccer was going to take over the USA and become America's Pastime for the 1980's and beyond. In the Carter years I even attended a few Seattle Sounders games with stylish friends and I wore a jaunty striped rugby shirt (yes, different sport, but in the 70's we didn't ask too many questions, it was more about theme and tone) and at the games I drank some rather dark imported beer that was kind of gross, trying to get in the spirit of the thing. But then... nope.
Although the soccer craze of '77-'78 came and went, Pele' seemed like a genuinely good person and a great ambassador for that failed sports concept. And now he has a store? In Downtown Disney? Why? Who is the target demographic for this? And... why?
Must be getting forgetful as the years go on, this discussion was had already in this very thread by you not more than 17 months ago.....
I love that! Well done!
Pele was a soccer star, famous in the 1970’s when soccer had a brief American interest, roughly during the same years as Disco and about as successful as Disco long-term. Pele had just one name. Like Cher.
Unlike Cher, I hadn’t heard his name in decades until now.
TP2000
Well-Known Member
Exactly. The photo here shows it just that; empty. A very odd choice for Downtown Disney.
When a tourist from Seattle or Sydney or Seoul goes to Southern California, they buy poseur surfwear from stores like Curl Surf.
I can't imagine anyone coming home from a long-distance SoCal vacation and saying "I brought you a
Yes, completely true. But as the scenario above lays out, is it really something Southern California is known for among tourists going to Disneyland and wanting to buy some souvenirs from "Cali"? Knowing the DLR tourist demographics (Western states and provinces, Pacific Rim countries) , it seems a very odd choice for the relatively limited retail space available in Downtown Disney.
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TP2000
Well-Known Member
Oh, you don't even know! You should see how many boxes of Panko breadcrumbs I now have stocked in my pantry because I absolutely refuse to write a grocery list and yet I'm forgetful and I keep convincing myself I'm desperately low on Panko breadcrumbs so I MUST buy more.
I do vaguely remember discussing this Pele' store topic back in 2021, now that you mention it. But that was pre-opening and there wasn't a picture of the (rather empty) store. The photo here spoke a thousand words we didn't have in 2021.
But seriously, if anyone needs Panko breadcrumbs, let me know. I can FedEx three or four boxes.
TP2000
Well-Known Member
I bet you're right. It was probably a deal to get them into Disney Springs. Which makes much more sense with all the Brazillians at WDW.
But still, Brazillians go to WDW to get a big dose of Americana. I would imagine it would be far more interesting and exotic for them to use their souvenir funds at an NFL or NBA or MBL store that screams Americana, rather than the same soccer gear availalble to them at their local mall back in Brazil.
If the target audience for these Pele' stores are foreign tourists who follow soccer, wouldn't they want to buy something they can't get at home when they are on their big USA
And I also recall those early Sounders days in the Kingdome. Although I was too young for the dark beer then
I had no idea we were at the Kingdome together! Wasn't that a unique little era in US sporting life?
The late 70's were right when Jim Zorn became so popular with the Seahawks and the Kingdome really was hopping year-round. My mother's father was a huge proponent of getting the Kingdome built in '76, and he rallied his fellow Swedish-American businessmen of the day from around Puget Sound to the cause. He was just so damn proud of that facility when it opened with the Bicentennial. He got us several box seats for various games in the 70's and early 80's.
Thank goodness he was long since gone by the time it was imploded, as it would have killed him.
As for the beer, it's funny what you remember. It was such a talking point that the beer stands at the Kingdome switched to offering something that wasn't Oly or Ranier for the Sounders games. For the life of me I can't remember what brand of dark beer it was, but it was clearly NOT Rainier. It was so exotic back then!
No disrespect for Rainier or Olympia though. I did the Oly brewery tour in Tumwater once, and I loved those Rrrrrrrrrrraaaaaaiiiinniiiieeeer! beer commercials with the motorcycle screaming off into the distance.
Truly a different time. Sad to see what downtown Seattle has become now. I'm just glad all my old relatives are long gone, as they'd just be furious to see the condition of Seattle's downtown areas now. From the 1962 World's Fair and all its promise, to.... this.
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TP2000
Well-Known Member
That would certainly make more sense than Pele'.
Or a SoCal Sports store that offers Lakers, Dodgers, Rams, Chargers, Angels, Ducks, USC, UCLA, etc., etc. merchandise. Especially the Lakers and Dodgers, those are truly global brands that tourists would buy.
NobodyElse
Well-Known Member
TP2000
Well-Known Member
And bland. Also boring. And rather pointless. It could be Denver or Atlanta or Houston. Who would know, or care?
CaptinEO
Well-Known Member
So they're removing the elephant and covering up the arches to make it look like standard 2020s buildings? Yikes.
truecoat
Well-Known Member
What? This is a thing? Why?!?
Don't get me wrong, I'm kind of a minor Pele' fan, but only because I was alive and watching TV in the 1970's and remember when everyone in the Smart Set was saying how soccer was going to take over the USA and become America's Pastime for the 1980's and beyond. In the Carter years I even attended a few Seattle Sounders games with stylish friends and I wore a jaunty striped rugby shirt (yes, different sport, but in the 70's we didn't ask too many questions, it was more about theme and tone) and at the games I drank some rather dark imported beer that was kind of gross, trying to get in the spirit of the thing. But then... nope.
Although the soccer craze of '77-'78 came and went, Pele' seemed like a genuinely good person and a great ambassador for that failed sports concept. And now he has a store? In Downtown Disney? Why? Who is the target demographic for this? And... why?
Money laundering?
Consumer
Well-Known Member
The elephants and Babylonian arch were deemed racist and not inclusive enough (I'm not joking).
Phroobar
Well-Known Member
Aren't malls pretty much closing anyway.
chadwpalm
Well-Known Member
- In the Parks
- No
Will you autograph them?
NobodyElse
Well-Known Member
BTW, I totally agree that a SoCal Sports Team store makes even more practical sense than just an Angels store. It would cover all the bases (slightly unintentional pun left fully in tact). It would be a one-stop shop for many tourists. (Unless teams have some sort of delicate superstitious objection to their merch being displayed right next to their rivals.)
Some tourists enjoy picking up items from local teams as souvenirs. Anecdotally, when I was in Munich last year, I noted four FC Bayern stores just in the old-town area itself.
And in the Sol area of Madrid, here are the directions from one Real Madrid store to another.
And a few years ago we had relatives visiting from Norway, so we let them use our Angels season tickets we had at the time. They came out of there with jerseys, foam fingers, and who knows what else.
So, a Pele store doesn't quite seem logical to me, but I also clearly don't fully understand the specialty retail mindset. Like, who's buying high-end luggage once you've already made it through security at Tom Bradley terminal...?
TP2000
Well-Known Member
As an old Swedish-American, there's a Norse joke somewhere in there. But I'll let the more clever Swedes here come up with it.
I don't get that either. I have purchased the odd passport wallet or zipper pull in the Tom Bradley Tumi store store on occasion, but the full range of luggage? The mind boggles at who they think their consumer demographic is inside a 21st century airport sealed off from society.
I'm with @SSG on this one, I think this odd Pele' store at Downtown Disney was just a part of a contractual obligation to secure the more coveted WDW store, in order to fill some empty (and still empty) retail space out in Anaheim. And yet, even in WDW, who is their target audience of foreigners from soccer-loving lands who have just spent a minor fortune to travel to the USA to buy American souvenirs?
I'm from a soccer-loving land, not a huge soccer fan myself though, I only follow Italy's Serie A, AS Roma.
Some time ago, a friend knew I was visiting Orlando and asked me if I could get him an AC Milan jersey. I found it at the Disney Springs Pelé Store at a much better price than if he bought it down here. Needless to say, he was very grateful.
Perhaps 'better prices' is one of the reasons why foreign visitors buy at Pelé Stores in the US. Licensed soccer team jerseys are super expensive locally.
TP2000
Well-Known Member
Fascinating! So these foreign soccer jersey's are cheaper at Pele' stores in American super-touristy areas like WDW or Disneyland than they are in their home countries? I wonder why that is? Other than simple free-market economics, obviously.
I don't have much to add, except that I owned an Alfa Romeo Spider from 1990 to 1994. It was a gorgeous car! So.... Grazie!