First Disney Store in Southeast Asia opens

It’s a thrilla in Manila, as The Disney Store opens in one of the world’s largest malls. SM Mall of Asia’s North Main Mall is home to the first such retail spot in Southeast Asia, ever.

It stocks a range of merchandise that would be familiar to US, UK, and Canadian Disney Store’s former shoppers, as well as Funko Pops and LEGO. Online reports show small Halloween and Christmas sections.

The store has ample statues about, with Mickey at the entrance, and selfie opportunity-sized poses of Spider-Man, Belle, Darth Vader, and Elsa inside. Dumbo hovers over the checkout desk. Smaller statues of Pooh and Tinkerbelle also appear.

Disney has store-in-store partnerships in Mexico’s Liverpool department stores, launched in 2021, and in South Korea’s Hyundai department stores, launched in 2023. Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and United Arab Emirates share 25 store-in-stores. In the United States, Target’s store-in-stores take a far more limited form, without separate staff or involved displays. Kuwait is seemingly the only other country where Disney has launched a standalone store with a partner, aside from its decades-long Disney Store Japan partnership.

Images in this article are from the official Instagram of Disney Store by SM, as shared from the accounts of influencers invited to a preview event.