Why did Disney sell Disney Stores? About This Page:

[lorilovestigger]

Okay, I know Disney sold the Disney Stores to Children's Place, but I never heard why. Does anyone know? It really bums me out to be a new DVC member and I can't get the 10% off. Is it honored online at Disneydirect.com?
<font color="orange"> </font> Have A Tiggerific Day!!
Lori

[DISNEYGOOF]

I was buying a shirt recently at the Disney Store(the name hasn't changed on ours) and they said they still gave the DVC discount but I didn't have the card with me. Just in case when your at the DS, I would ask them if they still have the DVC discount.

[Jennifer2003]

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Disney Store(the name hasn't changed on ours)

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The name won't change on any of the stores. We are still going to be called The Disney Store and carry Disney items. You won't see regular, plain clothes at the Disney Store just like you won't see Disney characters at the Children's Place. Think of it like Old Navy, Gap, and Banana Republic. Or K-Mart and Sears. They're each their own identity owned by the same company.

Sadly, none of the Disney Stores should be accepting a Vacation Club discount. All the stores got the same memo a few weeks ago asking us to remove the key from the register.

As far as the original question as to why the stores were sold, even us "CM's" are unsure. You know how rumor mills work.

Hope this clears things up a bit. I stayed on at the store thru the change of hands and it's been a tricky transition.

Jennifer

[Dave Marx]

Chalk it off to stock market psychology. Poorly performing business units tend to have a disproportionately negative impact on stock prices (a little bad news goes a long way). One of the best ways for management (and the board of directors) to show that it is proactively dealing with an underperforming business unit is to sell it. Better to sell it today, then to risk having to close it as a failure sometime in the future. With this little black mark erased, Disney stock prices have one less reason to fall. Disney gets positive press from all the stock market pundits who suggested that The Disney Store was a bad idea ("See, Disney listens to me, I must be a genius!") And so it goes.

Meantime, Disney probably comes out ahead in the short run. The leases on the stores have real value to a company that wants to expand its presence in malls. Further, Disney still makes plenty of money on all that character and logo merchandise, without taking any risks.

[Disneybound!]

One of the CM's at our local store told us sometime ago when we asked that Disney was trying to focus of the entertainment portion of it's world, not so much on stores for merchandising. Does that make sense? It was kind of confusing the way she explained it, but basiclly....movies and parks I guess. HTH Ruth

[RobinKay6573]

The focus of DS has changed since they were first founded back in the late 80's early 90's. There was much more collectable merchandise. I can't tell you how many times when I worked as a CM at DS we had someone come in and say, "I can buy this SAME item at... insert: Target, K-Mart, Meijer)... for $10.00 cheaper." If DS sold more exclusive merchandise then I think they would have done alot better. I collect DS movie mugs they were discontinued years ago, which made me very sad. Now I can find then on e-bay.

DS got away from collectable and focused more on kids toys and clothes. They alienated many people (especially when you looked at the price tags!) Sales then started and much of the stuff was hard to give away let alone sell! They also made fatal errors in drop shipping. Finding Nemo came out in the summer of 2003 and we actually ran out of Nemo items MANY times during the fall and Christmas shopping season. We had probably 4 people a day coming in and asking about Nemo stuff...all we could say was we hoped to get some soon!

I still go to DS even know it isn't owned by Disney...they still have some cute stuff and I still have friends who work for DS.

[bubblemonkey]

As a former DS CM many of us at our store believed the downfall of the DS started when Disney let everyone and their dogs start putting Disney characters on everything imaginable. Why would someone pay $10.50 to buy a kid's Tshirt when they can get a simlar one at Wal*Mart for $5? Once the DS stopped selling popular items like pins and watches things seemed to get even more bleak. Lack of profit equals selling of DSs. We were on the block for over a year before the sale was final.

I loved my time there but without my park discounts I decided it was not worth the time away from DH &amp; DD. Of course I will miss the in-store doscounts...

[Jennifer2003]

You've all made some very good points!

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One of the CM's at our local store told us sometime ago when we asked that Disney was trying to focus of the entertainment portion of it's world, not so much on stores for merchandising.

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Yes, this does make sense, and yes, this is one of the stories that made it to my store as well. I'm sure there is a lot of truth behind it. Like I said, it makes sense!

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The focus of DS has changed since they were first founded back in the late 80's early 90's. There was much more collectable merchandise....If DS sold more exclusive merchandise then I think they would have done alot better.

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Agreed! I remember going into the Disney Store just to look around because it was so exclusive, I couldn't afford anything! Still, it was a cool window shopping trip! People still come in asking for the collectibles and stuff that was sold in those good ol' days. Can I tell you how badly I would like to see more adult stuff??? How many T shirts do I really need??

What's funny, is people come into my store with Disney items from other stores (Penney's, Target, Walmart, etc) and want to return it to my store because it's "Disney". I actually had a woman throw a shirt at my Cast Member and walk out without a refund when my CM told her it wasn't our merchandise.

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DS got away from collectable and focused more on kids toys and clothes. They alienated many people (especially when you looked at the price tags!) Sales then started and much of the stuff was hard to give away let alone sell!

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Now that the stores are owned by the Children's Place, you will be seeing a lot friendlier pricing. Instead of pricing on a single item changing every week of the month, there will be standard Value Pricing set. A lot of our items have been going thru pricing changes (for the better!) and will continue to only get better. I think the only higher priced items we have now is the snow globes.

I hope you all continue to shop with us!!! We love talking with Guests who are TRUE Disney fans. They make our day!

Interesting thread!

Jennifer

[xmasbee]

This is completely off topic. But since I have not been to the Disney Stores in a while I am behind! I am gathering that TDS no longer sells Disney Dollars and/or park tickets?

[RobinKay6573]

Actually DS does still sells Disney Dollars and Park tickets! When I went to DS a couple of weeks ago they were out of Disney Dollars. THey were waiting for some new ones to come in.