General Merchandise
Topic: Disney Stores/Children's Place in Chapter 11

#	Author	Message
1	hightp Fri 3/28/2008 10:53a	Apparently the Hoop Holdings subsidary of the Children's Place has filed for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy/Restructuring in Delaware. As a result, Walt Disney Co going to regain control of about 200 of the 322 Disney Stores in May. The remaining stores would be closed. Children's Place hasn't filed, but they did report that the Disney stores haven't been profitable. Hopefully, if your local store survives, the merchandise would improve, but I somehow doubt it.
2	basil fan Mon 3/31/2008 5:14p	Not profitable? Impossible! I spent enough there in the last 6 months to keep any chain afloat. Seriously, is there any way to know which stores will remain open? I can't imagine life without the Disney Store. So You Wanna Be a Collector... http://www.whatsitsgalore.com/ disney/collector.html
3	Elderp Mon 3/31/2008 5:36p	I have been there lately and it has gotten too little girl oriented in my opinion. I think they need to broaden their potential marketbase. Also for a an Adult Male Disney fan there just isn't much in there I like. It is way more expensive to shop at the parks but at least there it is stuff I am interested in.
4	sgttibs Tue 4/1/2008 3:35a	>>I have been there lately and it has gotten too little girl oriented in my opinion.<< I can't fault the chain for that, since the girl-oriented franchises are popular right now. When Prince Caspian comes out, I'm sure they'll clear out some of the Hannah Montana / HSM / Disney Princess stuff. And the stores are always good for Cars toys. ;) My big gripe about Disney Stores is they're too plain. Then again, I go to an electronics store that's themed to Alice in Wonderland.
5	hightp Tue 4/1/2008 6:35a	When the Disney Store opened near me about 10 years ago, the mall store was, completely Disneyfied. There were 3 seperate connected rooms, with the main room, originally, handling housewares and adult merchandise. It was themed with the 7 Dwarves all around the ceiling, and 2 large windows in front, one with Alice the other with Donald's Nephews at an animators desk. The 2nd room, smaller than the 1st originally had children's clothes and plushes, along with the huge TV wall, which showed animated clips and Disney ads. The 3rd room, was, originally, designed for the Disney Art Collections, had a beautiful mural on the ceiling, and wooden cases housing the porcelain figurines on one side, and the limited edition cels on the other. It's funny, I loved this room, but could never afford any of the items. Now that I can swing a few, they're all gone. All the above only lasted a few years. Now, the store is just a shell of it's former self. Some of the 7 Dwarves stuff is around the ceiling, and the figues are in the front windows, but the Disney ambiance is gone. The fine art room is now a plush toy room (though the ceiling mural is still there). Everything else is kiddie stuff, with a minor exception of the small room, which has a few shelves of adult Tee-Shirts and PJs. I would hope the store remains open, there is a lot of potential there, but I doubt it would return to it's former glory.
6	vbdad55 Tue 4/1/2008 4:47p	If the stores carried the Mattel die casts of Disney's Cars ( over 100 models already released) - they would increase their male traffic flow -- but then management of these stores hasn't shown an intelligent thought in a while
7	ajnhollysmommy Tue 4/1/2008 10:38p	I agree with the die cast cars. Many people ask for these and all we have are the pvc sets.
8	ajnhollysmommy Wed 4/23/2008 1:56p	FYI our Disney Store now has Die Cast cars!! They are bigger the the matchbox sized cars.
9	basil fan Mon 5/5/2008 4:31p	Alas, I found out today my Disney Store is closing, along with the next-closest store. Now it will be a 1 1/2 hour drive, so look for me once or twice a year. My co-worker (the Mickey freak) and I cried on each other's shoulders and my boss (also a Disney fan) was in shock (our store is just down the mall from Disney). The unkindest cut of all was the sign outside the store telling us that the website will somehow fill the gap. As if I can afford to pay shipping + sales tax, even if you could find anything on the site. Oh, well, think of all the money I'll save with no Disney Store around. The Tarzan Equation http://www.whatsitsgalore.com/...zan.html
10	SFH Tue 5/6/2008 1:56a	Don't worry... they can re-open that location in Virtual Disney Store Kingdom. Oh... wait... SFH

All times are Pacific Time (US)

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