Disney Store Catastrophe

yodiwan1 · Post by **yodiwan1** » Jul Mon 21, 2008 10:54 pm

i always loved collecting the snowglobes, all sizes! Now all they ahve are big expnsive ones. I mis the small ones. Luckily I left working at the store right before it went downhill.

Esmeralda · Post by **Esmeralda** » Jul Tue 22, 2008 7:20 am

I don't even go to the Disney Store anymore, the only one left around here is at the Mall of America. It just looks like any other kid/tween department store.

I don't think these are more profitable because Disney is buying them back from Children's Place. Hopefully they'll return the fun decorations and timeless merchandise soon!

cordray2643 · Post by **cordray2643** » Jul Tue 22, 2008 10:14 am

Yes, I was the one that voted in the positive for the New Disney. Here is the thing, while it is not my cup of tea, I realize that this is a business world and frankly I want the Disney "business" to do well. This means capitalizinf on the recent success of franchises like Hannah Montana, HSM, and the like. Now, I do draw the line at compromising the parks, but they have not done that. The local Disney store is usually in the mall, that means the customer base are mall customers. I think Disney has spent alot of time and effort and realize that with the travel industry plumetting, that the other revenue streams needs to be strong to weather the economy. This is one way to do that.

There is still plenty of traditional Disney merchandise available to everyone via the online stores (in fact at better prices due to lower overhead). I am a firm believer in that whatever protects my family's fun and magic that we experience for 2 weeks at WDW and 12 days at DLR each year is good.

Captain Schnemo · Post by **Captain Schnemo** » Jul Tue 22, 2008 6:50 pm

cordray2643 wrote:...I realize that this is a business world and frankly I want the Disney "business" to do well.

If it does well at the expense of everything that made it great in the first place, what's the point?

jcodirewolf · Post by **jcodirewolf** » Jul Tue 22, 2008 7:12 pm

The problem is that several years ago Disney decided to drop the Disney Stores (aka the Mall stores) and only go with the large World of Disney Stores. They sold all the stores to A Childs Place (Another mall store chain.)

johno

AKLRULZ · Post by **AKLRULZ** » Jul Wed 23, 2008 5:59 am

Haven't been in years, we always walk past it.

earningmyfins · Post by **earningmyfins** » Jul Wed 23, 2008 10:28 pm

cordray2643 wrote:I realize that this is a business world and frankly I want the Disney "business" to do well. This means capitalizinf on the recent success of franchises like Hannah Montana, HSM, and the like.

This is for the younger set, what about the hardcore Disney fans who want what they can't have anymore. No one wants to search the internet for old stuff. There would be more business if they paid attention to those people, too.

Post by **Len90** » Jul Wed 23, 2008 11:21 pm

I have to agree with you on that. I find that in order to get something close to what the Disney Store used to be like, I have to either go to the World of Disney in NYC or Walt Disney World.

elizabethswann · Post by **elizabethswann** » Jul Thu 24, 2008 12:50 am

earningmyfins wrote:This is for the younger set, what about the hardcore Disney fans who want what they can't have anymore. No one wants to search the internet for old stuff. There would be more business if they paid attention to those people, too.

Agreed! I would much rather go across town to the Disney Store at my local mall for the old school stuff instead of what's out now.

JWG · Post by **JWG** » Jul Thu 24, 2008 8:31 am

Esmeralda wrote:I don't even go to the Disney Store anymore, the only one left around here is at the Mall of America. It just looks like any other kid/tween department store.

I don't think these are more profitable because Disney is buying them back from Children's Place. Hopefully they'll return the fun decorations and timeless merchandise soon!

You must live near me. That's my local Disney Store, too. Haven't been in it for quite awhile as I don't even go to MoA.

smudo · Post by **smudo** » Aug Wed 13, 2008 9:28 pm

The old Disney Store I worked at opened in 1996. We had Plush Mountain, the mini-theatre, animatronics, hidden Mickey carpet, you name it.
When Disney bought back the chain, we were ordered to close down (a Disney Outlet opened up 10 miles away from us three years ago...our sales have never been able to recover). Fortunately I put in a request to work at this newfangled Disney Outlet...

...Unfortunately, it's just not the same. Linoleum floors, no animatronics, no Plush Mountain, no theatre, and a gross white palette for all the shelves/hardware that just screams "Hi, welcome to Wal-Mart!"

As for the waves of Hannah/HSM/Camp Rock junk...the sad truth is that it sells. It sells really well. For every kid/kid at heart who wants a Mickey plush or classic movie snowglobe, we get about 10 teenie-boppers who will spend insane amounts on Jonas Brothers/Hannah Montana shirts. There are still a lot of kids out there that would rather buy a Little Mermaid lunchbox than a High School Musical one though, so maybe this new generation isn't completely lost...

Post by **Len90** » Aug Wed 13, 2008 9:36 pm

I registered my disgust of the new disney store when I was in one last week. The workers told me what I already knew that it was bought back by Disney. Then she told me that things are going to get better. Once TCP's warehouse of merchandise is empty, there are strong rumors that they will start getting in stuff that the parks have. If this happens, then I can put up with the new decor.

spodie · Post by **spodie** » Aug Wed 13, 2008 10:39 pm

smudo wrote: As for the waves of Hannah/HSM/Camp Rock junk...the sad truth is that it sells. It sells really well. For every kid/kid at heart who wants a Mickey plush or classic movie snowglobe, we get about 10 teenie-boppers who will spend insane amounts on Jonas Brothers/Hannah Montana shirts.

How depressing.

IMFearless · Post by **IMFearless** » Aug Tue 26, 2008 3:53 pm

sigh
The local Disney Store was converted directly into a Children's Place years ago anyways, there's no semblance of Disney remaining. I didn't really care, as the Disney Store was going downhill anyways. What annoys me to heck is all this Hannah Montana/Jonas Brothers/High School Musical junk. I mean really. None of it is really all that great in the first place, I don't understand why today's kids like it so much. And this is coming from someone from the Nickelodeon/Sega Genesis/Power Rangers/Pokemon generation. Though, I as a former homeschool student may already be biased against HSM....

MintJulepRoo · Post by **MintJulepRoo** » Sep Tue 09, 2008 1:38 am

Once TCP's warehouse of merchandise is empty, there are strong rumors that they will start getting in stuff that the parks have.

I would actually be sad if the Disney stores in the mall got merchandise that the parks have. The unique quality would vanish as well as the excitement of shopping in the parks. I like the fact that park merchanise is not easily accessible. If they had to stock Disney Stores all over the country with the same merchandise as the parks, the product quality would go down just like what has already happened in the Disney stores. It would depress me to walk in the Emporium and say, hmm I already got that at the mall...

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Disney Store Catastrophe

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