Childrens Place to give back Disney Stores!!

[TheDisneyGirl02]

Favorite memory:

We have a young boy, Ben, whom I'm guessing is 10-12. He has severe autism. Well his dad brings him in almost everyday to let him play. About 2 months ago, he was jamming away (his favorite is the electric keyboard from the Playhouse Disney collection) in the aisle as I was talking to his dad. His dad told me he was having a "bad day." I watched Ben as an elderly woman approached, and I could only assume was trying to pass through the aisle. Ben was currently occupying that space. I waited a moment as I watched the woman (85-90?) watch Ben. When he finally looked up at her a few minutes later, she stepped out from behing her walker and started dancing(!), so Ben kept playing. Round and round they went. She danced until he stoppped playing. I looked at his dad who was crying. I said "Bad day? That's Disney Magic." Dave ( that's the dad) shook my hand and I had to walk away because I started crying, too. So now when I'm having a "Bad Day" I think of that.

Wow...what a wonderful story! That almost made me cry! Thank you so much for sharing!

 

[dis24242]

Favorite memory:

So now when I'm having a "Bad Day" I think of that.

After reading this story ... I'll never have a bad day again.

Great stuff WDWGIRL

 

[MICKEY'SWORLD]

Well today I officially signed off on the store…what a sad day, seeing all the animation gone from the store was weird to say the least...I feel very fortunate though….i had a great week this past week at Disney world before my store closed. It was out of this world….my silver pass worked great, we got 35% off merchandise, 20% off all food. I have to say……..it was very hard to have the liquidator come in and take over the store from us; however the guy we had was great. He was very good to us and made us feel good about closing. It was really hard to watch the people come in and cry with us, and it was really hard to watch the other “guest” destroy the store looking for the big deals….wow last day everything was a dollar, we sold every last thing in our store, not even one fixture was left, I got back from my trip right after the door closed, I was sad not to be able to be there for that, but got to spend 1 ½ hours in my store by myself reflecting on every last moment I had there with my teamand some of our regular guest, i could almost hear the music in the back round, the stupid buzz guns that made so much noise they drove you crazy, driving home relizing you just say the HSM song that you are so tired of hearing day after day after day...boy now i am going to miss that. it was a hard start for me at that store, almost everyone that was there was very BITTER about the fact that Disney sold us to tcp. Everything had changed and they were not happy with it, and me my first day was BLACK Friday at my store….what a day to remember!! But the TRUE cast members stayed on with me and we became great friends, they truly taught me a lot about Disney, when I started I loved the idea of working for Disney but never imagined falling in love with my job..And I truly loved every bit of it. I will miss my cast so much they were very supportive of me as I was to them, we worked so hard together and became family and that WAS THE TRUE MAGIC for me,this is the best memory that I have, how close we all became when the rug was ripped out from underneath us when we were told we were closing, i didnt relize the passion and support we had for each other. I was very blessed to have found a new job 3 days after I found out we were closing, and of course a few of my cast is following me, but for some we will part ways, but forever have great memories of working together. Good bye Davenport Disney store! You will be missed!

 

[mamapajama]

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!

I wouldn't get too upset about the post that someone was going to apply for the CM perks. Those perks are a benefit-same as tuition reimbursement or vacation time-some companies offer better benefits than others and these benefits are part of what one considers when looking for a job. A good benefits package can sell someone on a position that may offer a lower salary-what a job lacks in salary, it can make up in benefits. So naturally CM perks would be a very nice benefit for a Disney lover. I worked for Children's Place as an assistant store manager for 4 years and I have to say that by the end (2001) i was miserable. I can't imagine it was any better at Children's Place run Disney stores. So i am happy for you that that is coming to an end and going back to the way it was before. That being said, I am still stuck in retail hell but no amount of CM perks could make me take a job inside a mall ever again. The hours of a mall are horrrid, especially during the holidays. Good luck with the new regime! Hope it gets better for you.

 

[jenseib]

I wouldn't get too upset about the post that someone was going to apply for the CM perks. Those perks are a benefit-same as tuition reimbursement or vacation time-some companies offer better benefits than others and these benefits are part of what one considers when looking for a job. A good benefits package can sell someone on a position that may offer a lower salary-what a job lacks in salary, it can make up in benefits. So naturally CM perks would be a very nice benefit for a Disney lover. I worked for Children's Place as an assistant store manager for 4 years and I have to say that by the end (2001) i was miserable. I can't imagine it was any better at Children's Place run Disney stores. So i am happy for you that that is coming to an end and going back to the way it was before. That being said, I am still stuck in retail hell but no amount of CM perks could make me take a job inside a mall ever again. The hours of a mall are horrrid, especially during the holidays. Good luck with the new regime! Hope it gets better for you.

I think that it's been close to a year now that Disney took them back over.

 

[Pixieflip]

thanks!

 

[jenseib]

This thread is from a year ago. It was brought back up to the top today.

 

[mickeymark34]

This thread has a lot of meaning to me.

 

[tinksgilrs251520]

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.

Do you the phone number to where I can contact for ideas on locations for any new stores? The closest Disney Store is on the other side of the state for me there used to be one 30 minutes from house and we have a outlet center with a childrens place in it already... Hope fully that will change into a disney store......

 

[jenseib]

Do you the phone number to where I can contact for ideas on locations for any new stores? The closest Disney Store is on the other side of the state for me there used to be one 30 minutes from house and we have a outlet center with a childrens place in it already... Hope fully that will change into a disney store......

This is an old thread. The changes were made a year ago. Disney only bought the Disney store, and not childrens place.

 

[TheDisneyGirl02]

Do you the phone number to where I can contact for ideas on locations for any new stores? The closest Disney Store is on the other side of the state for me there used to be one 30 minutes from house and we have a outlet center with a childrens place in it already... Hope fully that will change into a disney store......

Just go to http://www.disneystore.com/ and in the upper right hand corner there red button that says "Store Locator". Click there and just type in your address and it should tell you your closest store.

Hope that helps!

 

[mickeymark34]

I have read that Disney is opening stores in cities that once had Disney Stores at one time. I think they are calling them "Temporary Retail Units". Perhaps the Company is doing this to see how well a store would perfom in an area that it was once located, and keep it open.

 

[mickeymark34]

I believe the new store in Hawaii is one such store. I don't know which cities will have stores reopen, but it is good news.

 

[KerryCM]

They are opening 3 temp store here in MA. All 3 locations had store before. They are Burlington, Natik and Peabody. These are 2 year deals to see if they are a go forward or not.

 

[julandkrz18]

I just applied to the new Mass Store...YIPEEEEEEE. So glad they are coming back.

 

[mickeymark34]

Good luck!!!!!!!

 

[TinaMedley]

I wish they would put one in the St. Louis area again!!! I miss my Store.

 

[kc10family]

this sounds good