Childrens Place to give back Disney Stores!!

[S.S.]

Children's Place to curtail Disney stores
Retailer is in 'advanced' talks with the Walt Disney Co. to take back many Disney stores.
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SECAUCUS, N.J. (AP) -- Retailer Children's Place Retail Stores Inc. said Thursday it is in talks with Disney for the company to regain control of about two-thirds of the stores in the Disney Store chain.

Children's Place said it is in "advanced" talks with the Walt Disney Co. for Disney to take back many of the Disney stores in North America. Children's Place has operated those stores under a license.

Disney confirmed it is in talks with the company, saying the stores could be an important expansion of the Disney brand.

Children's Place also said it swung to a loss in its fourth quarter mainly because of impairment charges and other costs related to the Disney deal.

For the quarter ended Feb. 2, the company reported a loss of $58.5 million, or $2.01 per share, from a profit of $44.7 million, or $1.48 per share in the prior-year quarter.

Excluding asset impairment charges and other costs related to exiting the Disney business and costs associated with the decision to stop construction of a new headquarters building, the company earned $20.5 million, or about 70 cents per share.

Analysts polled by Thomson Financial expected earnings of 89 cents per share.

Revenue rose 4% to $670.9 million from $645.2 million in the fourth quarter of 2006. Analysts predicted revenue of $675.2 million.

Sales at the company's Children's Place (PLCE) stores rose in the quarter, but revenue from its Disney stores fell slightly.

Same-store sales, or sales at stores open at least a year, rose 3% across all the company's stores. Same-store sales is a key indicator of retailer performance since it measures growth at existing stores rather than newly-opened ones.

Disney (DIS, Fortune 500) store same-store sales, though, fell 4%.

Besides the hefty charges, the company blamed its loss on high inventory levels at its brands, saying merchandise did not resonate with consumers.

For the year, the company also swung to a loss of $59.6 million, or $2.05 per share, versus a profit of $87.4 million, or $2.92 per share in the prior year.

Revenue climbed 7% to $2.16 billion from $2.02 billion in 2006.

For the year ahead, Children's Place said it plans to cut about 80 jobs from its shared services workforce and will not fill about 50 open positions. The company said it will recognize savings of about $120 million.

The retailer said it will incur expenses associated with the cuts of $1.5 million to $2 million in its fiscal first quarter.

 

[TinaMedley]

Well, lets hope if Disney gets them back they'll make some major changes. CP was supposed to improve product and choice, but they hadn't really made that much of a change until recently. We'll see if this really happens.

 

[TinaMedley]

just heard that it is a done deal. I don't know when the transfer will happened, but hopefully it will be soon!!!

 

[RichmondTiggerFan]

Just hope that Disney will do it right this time. They need more adult clothing & household items and they don't need to put a Disney Store in every mall in the USA.

 

[TheDisneyGirl02]

Just hope that Disney will do it right this time. They need more adult clothing & household items and they don't need to put a Disney Store in every mall in the USA.

No, they don't need a store in every mall in the USA - that's part of the reason why they sold the stores in the first place. They extended themselves too far so it wasn't unique anymore.

Some of the stores currently carry adult clothing and household items, but not all of them do. It's sad because it's really nice product. Hopefully if/when the stores go back to Disney, they will make sure that all stores carry the product that sells.

 

[nicolemm]

Did Disney store employees receive a cast member discount before the move to childrens place. If so, hopefully they all get it back! Yeah for them!

 

[kiddisney]

it's about time - the children's place didn't do disney justice - again like others have said - no adult clothing - no housewares -

we loved going to the disney store before - it was special - watches - collectibles -

i hope disney does it back to what it used to be

 

[ColleenG]

I hope they'll improve the qualtiy of the toys they sell. Most of the Cars toys we have gotten there have broken with in 10 minutes of taking it out of the package. I was very upset that they would sell such junk and DS couldn't understand why couldn't just get another one.

 

[honeymom]

If the DS store goes back to Disney and they get the old cast member perks, I am applying for a job.

 

[JulianneCP]

I work at the Disney Store Crossing my fingers that my store will stay open! It is a done deal Even though they make is sound like it is not It is! However we have no time table nor do we know what stores will stay open. They are going to keep just 200 stores~ So a lot of jobs will be lost

While I have a few fun perks it is nothing like what the old CM got when it was manged by Disney I would love to regain them

I work at a small mall however we have a high volume and do well 10 miles down the road from me there is a bigger mall so who knows if they will keep us both open and another one just over the MD boarder

 

[Family Fun Mom]

If the DS store goes back to Disney and they get the old cast member perks, I am applying for a job.

Me, too!

 

[PoohsFan1]

I work at the Disney Store Crossing my fingers that my store will stay open! It is a done deal Even though they make is sound like it is not It is! However we have no time table nor do we know what stores will stay open. They are going to keep just 200 stores~ So a lot of jobs will be lost

While I have a few fun perks it is nothing like what the old CM got when it was manged by Disney I would love to regain them

I work at a small mall however we have a high volume and do well 10 miles down the road from me there is a bigger mall so who knows if they will keep us both open and another one just over the MD boarder

I too work at the Disney Store and am very excited about Disney Corp. buying us back. I work in a mall that is in a suburb of Chicago which does very well for our district, so hopefully our store will not be one of the ones closing. I believe that now that Disney Corp. has bought us back, the magic that was once lost will be regained.

 

[TheDisneyGirl02]

If the DS store goes back to Disney and they get the old cast member perks, I am applying for a job.

Me, too!

What I'm about to say, I truly don't mean it in a disrespectful way, but I do feel like I need to respond to these comments.

If the only reason you want to work at the Disney Store is because of the Disney perks, you won't be working there for the right reason. I was with the stores before the sale and I'm still with the stores now. I'm not there because of the perks, not even for the pay (which isn't that great), but I'm there because of the feeling I get when I can make it a magical experience for our guests. I love the looks on the children's faces when they see Mickey hanging from the ceiling. I love the way some adults act like kids in the store and I just love talking to guests about anything and everything Disney.

The sale of the stores nearly ripped us apart (emotionally it was horrible, we lost so many long-time CMs) but we survived. We've made it through the last four years together - still spreading the Disney magic while not getting anything by the way of perks back for it. We've done it because we love it. We do it for the guests and for each other.

Since the news broke on Thursday, I can't tell you how many threads I have read where people are all gung-ho to get jobs at the stores to get the perks. In a way, it really upsets me because if we weren't good enough before there was the chance we would get the perks back, why are we now?

Once again, I truly don't mean any disrespect to anybody on this thread or on the boards at all, but this has really been bothering me the last couple of days. If you want to join the Disney Store cast, just make sure you're in it for the long-haul. It's sort of like a marriage, you have to be there through the good and the bad.

 

[dvc at last !]

Did Disney store employees receive a cast member discount before the move to childrens place. If so, hopefully they all get it back! Yeah for them!

I agree. The CM's at
The Disney Store are selling the product and should have the perks !

 

[Family Fun Mom]

What I'm about to say, I truly don't mean it in a disrespectful way, but I do feel like I need to respond to these comments.

If the only reason you want to work at the Disney Store is because of the Disney perks, you won't be working there for the right reason. I was with the stores before the sale and I'm still with the stores now. I'm not there because of the perks, not even for the pay (which isn't that great), but I'm there because of the feeling I get when I can make it a magical experience for our guests. I love the looks on the children's faces when they see Mickey hanging from the ceiling. I love the way some adults act like kids in the store and I just love talking to guests about anything and everything Disney.

The sale of the stores nearly ripped us apart (emotionally it was horrible, we lost so many long-time CMs) but we survived. We've made it through the last four years together - still spreading the Disney magic while not getting anything by the way of perks back for it. We've done it because we love it. We do it for the guests and for each other.

Since the news broke on Thursday, I can't tell you how many threads I have read where people are all gung-ho to get jobs at the stores to get the perks. In a way, it really upsets me because if we weren't good enough before there was the chance we would get the perks back, why are we now?

Once again, I truly don't mean any disrespect to anybody on this thread or on the boards at all, but this has really been bothering me the last couple of days. If you want to join the Disney Store cast, just make sure you're in it for the long-haul. It's sort of like a marriage, you have to be there through the good and the bad.

I wasn't even thinking about the Disney "perks." I would just love to be a part of the Disney family. Children's Place is just another store, Disney is something special. I'd love to be a part of that. A Disney run Disney store is the closest thing to being a true Disney cast member as I can get here in Metro Detroit.

 

[SandraVB79]

Oh, I really hope the Disney Stores will become something more than a place for kids stuff.
I hope they'll bring back the art and collectibles and watches and... All the adult stuff

 

[TheDisneyGirl02]

I wasn't even thinking about the Disney "perks." I would just love to be a part of the Disney family. Children's Place is just another store, Disney is something special. I'd love to be a part of that. A Disney run Disney store is the closest thing to being a true Disney cast member as I can get here in Metro Detroit.

Thank you for saying that you wouldn't be in it just for the perks, because from all of the message boards I have read over the last couple of days, most people are in for the perks. Even after TCP took over, we still were a Disney family. We banded together and stayed together through thick and thin. It never mattered who signed our paychecks, it was what was in our hearts that mattered.

I felt exactly the same way that you did when I first got my job at the store (about being the closest thing to a WDW CM while still at home), but regardless if you work at WDW or your local Disney Store, you ARE a CM and you help bring magic to guests every single day!

 

[mamaprincess]

If the DS store goes back to Disney and they get the old cast member perks, I am applying for a job.

That is exactly what I will do! I hope and pray our little Disney Store in Peoria Illinois will be one of the 2/3rds going back to Disney! I always talk to the employees at our local stores and they miss the perks. I was planning on working at the store when my daughter goes to Kindergarten anyway but the perks would be an awesome bonus and I would be happy to see the employees regain them.

 

[JulianneCP]

DisneyGirl02 you must work at a wonderful store When I started working at TDS I thought it would be filled with magic Nope We have lost two asst. manger's since i started working there 4 months ago!!! Everyone asks "oh what a fun job that must be" Not really I love spreading magic to the kids talking about everyone's upcoming trips, giving gift ideas, helping plan bday parties etc... but some of our upper mangement does not have Diseny in there heart so it makes it hard to work with them

 

[bevgray]

As someone who stayed loyal to the Disney Stores here in Indianapolis from the first Castleton store (when they had low/high end collectibles), through the downturn (when the collectibles went away), through the down and then upswing of Children's Place ownership, one thing remained constant for me. The caliber of the Cast Members who hung in there and did their best to make even the less desirable merchandise look good and keep the place fun for the guests. Only a little snack of pixie dust, perhaps, but still present. Thanks to all of you.

I think the quality of the merchandise has been improving steadily, not as it was in the beginning but far better than the stuff that was carried just before the sale to Children's Place. Hopefully, Disney will return to the "glory" days and regain the full banquet of pixie dust.