Almost Half of Disney Stores in US have Reopened, More Within Days, As Some Locations Close Permanently (UPDATED)
Slowly but surely, Disney Stores across the the world are emerging from hibernation. But some locations won’t reopen, as DisKingdom reported recently.
Before the pandemic, there were 184 Disney Stores in the United States. Of them, 49% have reopened. We reached out to a variety of the malls with unopened stores: one suggested that the location would reopened this week, another suggests the reopening will be tomorrow.
DisKingdom previously reported on two closures—North Georgia Premium Outlets and University Park Mall—but today we can add a location in Jacksonville, Florida to the list.
The Jacksonville Daily Record reports that a location at St Johns Town Center has signage saying that “this Disney store location will not reopen.” As the newspaper reports, both the mall and Disney have yet to remove the location from their websites. Jacksonville’s location opened in 2014.
A location at the Tucson Mall in Tucson, Arizona has also closed, the mall confirms. The location opened 1991 as part of a new mall wing. The store still had the classic look of Disney Stores, with a filmstrip entrance, a mountain of plush at the back of the store, and even a diorama of the classic short Lonesome Ghosts.
Dude… my heart hurts. Hearing the Disney store closed makes me feel like I lost an old friend
— justine 🪐 (@bongiohmyvanni) July 12, 2020
Disney Store has been removed from the website of Desert Hills Premium Outlets (Cabazon, California, opened in April 2014). We have yet to receive confirmation of that store’s closure, and Disney still lists it on their website.
The location at Westfield Countrysides (Clearwater, Florida, open since at least 1997) is still listed on both the Disney and mall websites, but DisKingdom has learned that this location is also closed.
So far, none of Disney’s Canadian locations have reopened. Three locations in the United Kingdom have closed (Edinburgh, Londonderry, Romford), and there’s suggestion that Munich, Germany’s 3-year-old outpost is also closing.
At least 90 US stores have reopened
Looking through the Disney Store’s location list, DisKingdom was able to find 90 locations that were listed as having reopened.
That includes 23 stores in California, three in Florida, three in North Carolina, nine in New Jersey, four in Nevada (all in Las Vegas), six in New York state, four in Pennsylvania, 10 in Texas, and three in Washington.
Two locations of the store have opened in the states of Georgia, Massachusetts, Maryland, Ohio, and Virginia. One store has opened in Colorado, Connecticut, Hawaii, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, New Hampshire, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Utah.
Canadian stores yet to reopen,
but none have shuttered
In Canada, none of the chain’s locations have reopened yet. None of the malls contacted by DisKingdom knew when the store would reopen, but great news, all expect that the stores will reopen. Backing that confidence up: Disney is hiring for a variety of positions in Ontario.
Disney Store has three locations in British Columbia, four locations in Alberta, one location in Manitoba, and nine locations in Ontario.
Canadian cities have kept COVID in check for the most part, with malls in Manitoba and in British Columbia reopened in May, and malls in Ontario reopened in June. (Indeed, Manitoba hasn’t seen a COVID death since May, and has gone 12 days since anyone tested positive.)
DisKingdom has reached out to Disney.
Unconfirmed closure Munich
Disney expanded into Germany in 2017, with what was intended to be a flagship store in Munich. One consultancy firm said the timing couldn’t be better, with increasing awareness of the Disney brand in the country, and lower rents. Applauding its product and format, Brand Experts concluded that “the store is, and will likely continue to be, a great attraction for German Disney fans as well as tourists.”
DisKingdom has reached out to Disney’s German offices to try and get independent confirmation of this closure.
the disney store in munich is closing today…. bruh… I hate it
— Icé (@RiseFromSilence) July 3, 2020
UPDATED at 1:28 pm ET on July 13: Confirming the closure at Tuscon Mall in Tuscon, Arizona.
UPDATED at 2:27 pm ET on July 13: Adding various other possible closures.
UPDATED at 9:29 pm ET on July 13: Removing a mall whose website had readded the store.
