Disney today announced it’s latest round of store closures, and the Deptford Disney store will be closing September 15th (or sooner). Just 3 weeks away. This is part of 60 stores closing in this round as Disney leaves the mall retail store market to focus on internet sales, and partnerships with other stores such as Target.
While its a huge shock to consumers, Disney had told investors back in March it was going to significantly reduce it’s retail presence this year. Their initial round of closures this year was 40 stores.
In Deptford, everything in the store is already 20% off, and all sales are final. Cherry Hill closed earlier this summer.
To be clear.. they will still have retail stores inside the theme parks and related Disney resort locations. Their move to reduce their retail sales presence is targeted at the individual stores located in malls and outlets.
The absolute final day for this round of stores to close is September 15th and the liquidation starts immediately… but if they sell out early, there is a chance individual stores could close before Sept 15.
42Freeway visited the Deptford store this afternoon, and as we just mentioned.. everything in the store is 20% with no refunds. We would expect that as the weeks progress, the discounts will increase and the selection will diminish.
Nicely done preprinted signage was already setup around the store and at the entrance, announcing the pending closure and close-out sale.
NOTE: Disney Policy requires a mask to enter the stores. If you do not have a mask with you, they will provide one.
This closure list includes 4 in New Jersey (Cherry Hill closed earlier) and other media outlets have determined only one Disney store will remain open after this… in North Jersey.
Based on comparing the closed list to the Disney store locations list at their website, it seems two stores will still be open in Pennsylvania; Hershey and Limerick
Now It’s Time To Say Good-bye!
This one hits hard for many of us, as we all have memories of taking our kids to the Disney store or shopping for Grandkids there… or of course for ourselves! I remember when the first area store opened in Cherry Hill! Even as a young adult I loved visiting that store, as they had a theme park section inside the store… a video playing of new things at the theme parks.
We chatted with a store employee today who told us “We knew it was coming, for all of the stores. We just didn’t know when”
While it would be a small comfort to fans and employees if they stayed open through the holiday season.. we do have to wonder why close the stores before the big shopping season starts?
But when the total company revenue is $70 Billion dollars, the extra money from 3 months of even busy retail sales is probably just a drop in the bucket.
And while it is sad for the employees to lose their jobs so close to the holidays… every retail store is looking for good workers right now, so this gives the former Disney employees a chance to jump right in with another retail career.
Toy Stories
While we haven’t reported on this at 42Freeway, there are two other big Toy Stories to share, which could be a benefit to Deptford.
Target stores has been experimenting with a Disney product section in their stores and they just announced they are adding another 100 Disney sections to select Target locations… bringing the total to 160. Now we have to realize there are 1,900 US Target stores and we don’t know where Deptford is on that list… but they say Toy sales have been a growth area for them, and they want to continue to expand their toy offerings.
Macy’s Stores have announced a deal with Toys R Us to bring a branded toy section to Macy’s stores! This is happening for more than 400 Macy’s stores but we really won’t see the changeover until 2022.
There are several Target stores in our area including Deptford, and Macy’s is located in the Deptford Mall. I feel good about the odds of seeing a Toys R Us section our Deptford Macy’s, and we’ll see how things go with Target Disney sections for our area. For all I know.. they may already have one in our area?!
The REALLY sad thing about this is… damn.. considering how many Disney fanatics there are, and every kid has had multiple Disney products… if Disney can’t make money in brick-n-mortar retail stores, who can?
Mark from 42Freeway. Just feeling melancholy
Links and Location
Disney Store at the Deptford Mall
1750 Deptford Center Road
Deptford NJ 08096
Facebook: (Not Updated in 3 years)
Disney Retail Web
That’s attention to detail!