We’ve said it once and we’ll say it again. For those who don’t live within driving distance of Disney Land or Disney World, their retail store was as good as it got between vacations. Unfortunately, only a month ago the force behind the animation studio announced that they would be closing 60 locations across North America and we’re not going to lie, this was sad, but knowing that a few cities would be able to hold on to their space was comforting.
Flash forward to April – where the company has actually doubled down on their plan to push their e-commerce platform and we feel some type of way. Hold on to your Mickey ears, Canada, because Walt’s successors have decided that instead, they will just shut down ALL Disney Stores across the country.
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As we’ve mentioned before, with Disney+ doing as well as it is and now with their parks reopened to the public, it’s safe to say this likely has nothing to do with cutting costs to save themselves during the pandemic. Despite their revenue reportedly falling 22%, they still exceeded Wall Street’s mid-COVID expectations.
Sadly (as if it could get any worse for die-hard fans), it won’t even be that long until their standalone shops are completely cleared out. According to Retail Insider, the company is wasting no time with an exit strategy already in place.
Apparently, the plan is to have most, if not all stores out by the summer, with August 1st seeing only one location (in Ontario) left.
Now, yes we’re practically heartbroken, but we also kind of get it. Shopping has just changed dramatically over the last year and with the success of their online store, there just is no need for 300 Disney Store locations worldwide.
We still can’t help but feel like this is the beginning of the end of an era, they’ve gotta do what they’ve gotta do. Bon Voyage, Disney Store, you will be missed.
