Disney Store - Meh

[C&G'sMama]

So we were in the in the Boston area over the weekend spending Halloween with family. They live in Burlington so we went to the Burlington Mall on the way out of town to go to the Disney Store. We haven't had one in our area in years and thought it would be fun. We were disappointed. We remember the nicely themed stores and some nice merchandise. The store felt like an aisle of a big box store and the merchandise to match. Is that how all the stores are now?

 

[griswalds]

Luckily I have 2 within 30 miles of me. The one at the regular mall is very Disneyish--- large characters on the walls, large TV screen playing clips, lots of cool merchandise. Really gives you the 'at Disney' feel. The store at the outlet mall is just that--an outlet. Very industrial feeling, really no decorations around the store, just racks and shelves. Honestly, I have gotten good deals at both in the past.

 

[MikeinBoston]

The Disney Store in the Burlington Mall used to be outstanding, big themed, they had anamatroincs of Disney Characters, for whatever reason they moved into a un-remodeled former sneaker store, and by the looks you can probably tell. Such a disgrace.

 

[Suz725]

Burlington Disney store isn't any good...most of the good ones in this area closed...braintree is much bigger but has that same feel as Burlington.

 

[jackskellingtonsgirl]

Our brand new Disney Store opened last week. It is the 10th store in the US to open in the "re-imagined" theme.

It is a nice store. There is a magic mirror where you wave a wand and a princess clip plays, a coloring table with paper and crayons in front of a HUGE movie screen that plays clips chosen by a touch screen (the current clip has to finish before another one begins, so the kids can't stop what is playing in the middle and change to a new one), the CM's are all very nice, happy, etc.

The merchandise is HEAVILY skewed towards the girls. There is a little corner for boys to build a race car, a table of adult size T-shirts, a corner of Christmas ornaments. They have some nice coffee mugs, some really cute plush, and 3 different Vinylmation series. Everything else is for girls.

I didn't see anything I wanted to buy, except a set of Nightmare ornaments. And while I LIKE the ornaments I am not falling over myself to own them so I will wait and see if they get marked down.

To be fair, I never bought much at the old Disney Store. I mostly just went in to add money to my gift card. DS is too old for most of that stuff, and I find that their clothes are cut weird. The clothes in the parks are cut weird, too, so I don't buy much there either.

 

[zeitzeuge]

I'm wondering if the Burlington store is still the old store type? Like Elizabeth said, they've only redone 10 stores so far. I know that many more are in the works and that there are many old stores still out there.

I liked ours. It will be great for Christmas gifts for Steven's nieces and nephews. We found a few things for ourselves. I hear that they're testing out more adult and park merchandise in the future as well as more collectable things. Like you said, it's heavily girls of course, but was nice to see they had a decent section for boys with all the toy story, Cars and the build your own Racers section too. We'll probably get some ornaments for our Disney tree. We saw a couple that we want.

But overall, I thought the store was beautiful and well done, with nice touches here and there. Especially love all the trees with the video's shown on them.

 

[LukenDC]

The Disney Store at the Tyson's Corner Mall outside of DC is very dated. I am hoping that it gets "re-imagined" in the near future.

I will put up a Disney themed Christmas tree this year with only Disney ornaments. I bought several ornaments when I was at WDW in September. I noticed, however, that the Disney Store ornaments tend to be much nicer than the ornaments sold in the Disney parks. They are more detailed and seem to be of an overall higher quality. They also can be quite heavy for a tree ornament. The Disney Store also has a better selection of Disney character ornaments than the Christmas stores in the parks. The Disney Parks, however, are the best source of glass ornaments.

 

[zeitzeuge]

The Disney Store at the Tyson's Corner Mall outside of DC is very dated. I am hoping that it gets "re-imagined" in the near future.

I will put up a Disney themed Christmas tree this year with only Disney ornaments. I bought several ornaments when I was at WDW in September. I noticed, however, that the Disney Store ornaments tend to be much nicer than the ornaments sold in the Disney parks. They are more detailed and seem to be of an overall higher quality. They also can be quite heavy for a tree ornament. The Disney Store also has a better selection of Disney character ornaments than the Christmas stores in the parks. The Disney Parks, however, are the best source of glass ornaments.

I noticed that too. If you want great glass ornatments, the parks are your best bet, but if you want the sculptural character ones, the disney store had a great selection. We have probably 100 Disney ornaments, but can't seem to stop buying more!

 

[koolaidmoms]

The Burlington Store was bland. It was stark white walls with what looked like white shower curtains with Disney characters covering the upper part of the walls. All the shelves were white, no characters, no movies, nothing.

Even from the front window you would not have known this was a Disney store except it said Disney. It was a white background with a purple landscaped bare tree with snowflakes around it. That does not scream Disney to me.

We will have to try the Braintree store next time we visit Boston. We wanted an antenna topper and wanted to look at music boxes and ornaments. They had no antenna toppers and music boxes and only a small sections of ornaments.

Guess we will just have to make a trip to WDW to do some Disney shopping.

 

[C&G'sMama]

The first Disney Store I ever went to was in Faneuil Hall in Boston. I remember it being 2 stories and having a Fantasia Theme with the buckets and Sorcerer Mickey. This was well over 20 years ago.

Hopefully the stores JSG and Z are speaking of will make a comeback. There were definitely way too many at one point, but it would be nice if they put a little Disney Magic back in the ones they have.

 

[wehttamrd]

I remember when the Disney Store first opened. They were great. and had great merchandise. Sadly, it somehow turned into a ridiculous toy store. I miss the old disney store!

 

[jackskellingtonsgirl]

The Disney Store has made some mistakes. Selling the retail stores to The Children's Place was a disaster. Now that Disney has ownership back, hopefully things will change for the better. The problem is "You can't please all the people all the time". I could probably go the rest of my life without BUYING anything in the Disney Store. I like it, I just don't need any of that stuff.

Their focus is going to be on the cash cow - Princesses. I doubt there will be much in the way of clearance. I am not sure how much the stock will change. I tend to think there will be SOME new things, but most of it will be replenishing the same items over and over. There is always a fresh crop of little girls who start liking princesses. The same little girls who already like princesses will break, rip, or outgrow their current princess stuff. That profit will never, ever go away.

Niche markets like collectibles, adult clothing, etc. has NOTHING on the princess stuff. And in a store with limited square footage, you put stock out that will sell. These stores aren't like World of Disney with a room dedicated to each type of merchandise.

 

[zeitzeuge]

Here's a link to Laughing Place, that shows video and pictures of the first new Disney store that opened in Montebello, CA. Gives you an idea of what the new ones look like.

http://www.laughingplace.com/Lotion-View-1065.asp

 

[wehttamrd]

looks the same to me...

 

[npmommie]

Luckily I have 2 within 30 miles of me. The one at the regular mall is very Disneyish--- large characters on the walls, large TV screen playing clips, lots of cool merchandise. Really gives you the 'at Disney' feel. The store at the outlet mall is just that--an outlet. Very industrial feeling, really no decorations around the store, just racks and shelves. Honestly, I have gotten good deals at both in the past.

We usually go to the one at Solomon Pond mall ( in MA ) and it is very Disneyish. movie is always playing, great merch, feels very Disney to me when we go there

I have been to the one at Pheasant Lane mall in Nashua NH and I thought it was very plain and not very "disney" either.

 

[jackskellingtonsgirl]

Our mall has not had a Disney Store for about 4 years. It closed when they were building the Nordstrom wing, and the rumor at that time was that when the new wing opened they would open a new flagship Disney Store with a wishing well and all sorts of froo-froo.

In the months leading up to the closure the store bounced from space to space within the mall, so the spaces that were not intended to be Disney Stores were very plain and blank. They basically just moved the merchandise to those spaces - they didn't do any sort of work on the space beforehand.

The space they are in now was a jewelry store, but they worked on it for months to convert it to the new Disney Store.

 

[zeitzeuge]

Our mall has not had a Disney Store for about 4 years. It closed when they were building the Nordstrom wing, and the rumor at that time was that when the new wing opened they would open a new flagship Disney Store with a wishing well and all sorts of froo-froo.

In the months leading up to the closure the store bounced from space to space within the mall, so the spaces that were not intended to be Disney Stores were very plain and blank. They basically just moved the merchandise to those spaces - they didn't do any sort of work on the space beforehand.

The space they are in now was a jewelry store, but they worked on it for months to convert it to the new Disney Store.

I might be in the minority, but I actually like the new stores. I think they look different and I like the new look. I remember the old ones and they're nothing like the new. Sure, I know that the majority of the merchandise right now isn't for me, but it is great for gifts and my inlaws are excited as hell to be able to shop there for the grandkids. I keep reading that they're looking at expanding park and collectible merch, testing things out to see if they sell. There were as many adults without children there the two times we've been there, as there were children.

Plus, even though most of the store isn't for me, we enjoy going in, looking around and talking to the CM's. They're so friendly and we talk all things Disney. A few of them were CM's at the parks.

 

[jackskellingtonsgirl]

I might be in the minority, but I actually like the new stores. I think they look different and I like the new look. I remember the old ones and they're nothing like the new. Sure, I know that the majority of the merchandise right now isn't for me, but it is great for gifts and my inlaws are excited as hell to be able to shop there for the grandkids. I keep reading that they're looking at expanding park and collectible merch, testing things out to see if they sell. There were as many adults without children there the two times we've been there, as there were children.

Plus, even though most of the store isn't for me, we enjoy going in, looking around and talking to the CM's. They're so friendly and we talk all things Disney. A few of them were CM's at the parks.

Oh, I don't dislike the store! I just won't be buying anything. Of course I might buy a gift for my charges now and then, but I won't buy them something every time we go to the mall. I will add to my gift card every week, but that's about it. The CMs are REALLY nice. I spoke to a girl the other day who used to work at one of the TS restaurants at WDW. The store manager is really friendly, the district people are all excited about the new store.

I am asking myself what they could sell that I WOULD buy. I'm not sure. Like I mentioned the other day, we don't buy lots of stuff in the parks, either. I LOVE my Dooney bag from the parks, I love my Mickey earrings, I love my Animal Kingdom Lodge blanket. This year we bought a few pins, a Star Wars blanket, an AKL hoodie (because I am ALWAYS freezing and it was on clearance), DS bought some odds and ends. We used to pack an empty duffle and fill it with stuff we bought as the week went on, but we don't do that anymore. We haven't needed the souvenir duffle for the past several trips.

If DS was little we would probably buy a lot of stuff, or at least spend a lot of time looking for something he might like.

 

[zeitzeuge]

Oh, I don't dislike the store! I just won't be buying anything. Of course I might buy a gift for my charges now and then, but I won't buy them something every time we go to the mall. I will add to my gift card every week, but that's about it. The CMs are REALLY nice. I spoke to a girl the other day who used to work at one of the TS restaurants at WDW. The store manager is really friendly, the district people are all excited about the new store.

I am asking myself what they could sell that I WOULD buy. I'm not sure. Like I mentioned the other day, we don't buy lots of stuff in the parks, either. I LOVE my Dooney bag from the parks, I love my Mickey earrings, I love my Animal Kingdom Lodge blanket. This year we bought a few pins, a Star Wars blanket, an AKL hoodie (because I am ALWAYS freezing and it was on clearance), DS bought some odds and ends. We used to pack an empty duffle and fill it with stuff we bought as the week went on, but we don't do that anymore. We haven't needed the souvenir duffle for the past several trips.

If DS was little we would probably buy a lot of stuff, or at least spend a lot of time looking for something he might like.

Oh sorry, it wasn't directed towards you at all.

When we're at the parks we buy a full pin lanyard, few sets of ears and maybe a new tshirt and/or hoodie. That's about all. It's rare if we buy some ornaments or collectables. Ornaments we buy throughout the year usually online.

And yes the CM's are great. We could barely get out of the store last time. We were there over an hour just talking.