USA Gets Disney Store Pop-Ups, First in May

Today, Disney Parks Blog announced that pop-up stores with Disney Store merch will be piloted in two cities.

Pittsburgh’s Ross Park Mall will be first, on May 23, followed by Westfield Garden State Plaza in Paramus, New Jersey, in the autumn. Neither location has an end date.

Along with Disney Store exclusive products, Disney Store Limited Edition promises “immersive in-store designs,” and daily opening ceremonies.

Operated under license

The gap between the two openings is surprising. The company operating these pop-ups is Go! Retail Group, which has experience opening lots of locations fast through the Go! Calendars brand. Hopefully they’re only announcing the first two finalized leases, and the fall phase will include more locations.

Go! in recent years has revived Toys’r’us in the United States with standalone locations.

It’s not the first time Disney Stores have operated under license in the US: they were owned by The Children’s Place from 2004 to 2008. Additionally, Target runs a number of shop-in-shop locations.

Internationally, licensed stores are operated in a number of countries, including the Philippines and Mexico, as well as the Middle East.

Still more to be learned

I’m curious to find out more about the stores. Will they be in a unit, like the new Toys’r’us or like Go! Toys and Games, or will they be in mall corridors, like many of the international pop-ups? Will they have similar training to Disney Store’s traditional cast members?

Whatever the case, it’ll be interesting to see how this all plays out.