Disney Reimagines Retail Stores with New E-commerce Destination and Prototype Store Design

Today Disney launched shopDisney, a new e-commerce destination offering the best assortment of Disney, Pixar, Star Wars and Marvel products for fans of all ages across fashion, accessories, toys, home and more. A new prototype Disney store design was also revealed and is being tested in select locations around the world bringing the magic of Disney to retail through innovative technology, storytelling and cast member interaction.

“Our stores are destinations and gathering places for fans of our iconic brands, and are often their closest physical Disney touch point so creating an authentic brand experience is key.”

“No one creates experiences like Disney and our pilot stores will be testing grounds for interactive features that will differentiate the Disney shopping experience in the changing retail landscape,” said Jimmy Pitaro, Chairman of Disney Consumer Products and Interactive. “Online, shopDisney is the ultimate destination for the most extensive collection of curated merchandise from our stores, parks, and licensed partners. This combination creates a powerful omnichannel experience that represents the next generation of Disney retail.”

The new product assortment at shopDisney.com reflects the company’s commitment to creating products tailored for different audience demographics, from kids and families to millennials, and to innovating beyond the traditional and expected. New categories have also been added to round out the assortment including: Trend Fashion & Accessories, Toys, Home, Collectibles and Parks. Longtime fans will be thrilled to find twice the amount of authentic Disney Parks merchandise and ‘Create Your Own’ customizable products as previously available.

“We know our fans are looking for a one-stop-shop to find the most compelling product out there and with shopDisney we are uniquely positioned to curate the very best of Disney, Pixar, Star Wars and Marvel merchandise,” said Paul Gainer, Executive Vice President for Disney Retail. “We’ve also added product categories and brands that speak to new audiences following the success of our collaborations in the fashion space.”

Co-branded products and elevated collaborations will be featured from brands such as Coach, Le Creuset, Spyder, Steiff, rag & bone and more. New and exclusive capsule collections from fashion-forward brands will regularly be introduced on the site’s shop-in-shop “The IT List”, launching with denim from SIWY featuring Mickey and Minnie Mouse; and Disney Princess and Villain nail wraps from NCLA.



Disney stores around the world will also be incorporating more product for guests of all ages, beyond their traditionally child-centric assortment. The new prototype stores and site were designed with dynamic layouts that allow flexibility in featuring the different worlds of Disney, Pixar, Star Wars and Marvel as new content comes to market. The look and feel of both shopping destinations is light and contemporary, allowing product and content to shine. In store, digital elements such as giant LED screens were incorporated for custom-designed guest experiences that reflect Disney’s storytelling tradition.

“We are a storytelling company and our vision was to create a retail space that reflected our heritage,” said Gainer. “Our stores are destinations and gathering places for fans of our iconic brands, and are often their closest physical Disney touch point so creating an authentic brand experience is key.”

Cast Members and Characters engage with guests in a variety of interactive experiences such as opening the store each day with a special Welcome Celebration, learning and play activities in the stores’ Play Room as well as personalized celebrations for any guest. The most spectacular experiences take place each afternoon when guests gather to watch the parade stream ‘LIVE from Disney Parks’ and every evening before store closing when a specially created digital fireworks display is shown on the giant storefront screen.

The new Disney store prototypes are now open in Century City, Calif. and Northridge, Calif. in the US as well as in Nagoya, Japan and Shanghai, China. Two more prototypes will open in 2017: in Miami, Fla. Sept. 28 and Munich, Germany later this year.



About Disney store and shopDisney

Disney store, which debuted in 1987, is owned and operated by Disney in North America, Europe, and Japan. Disney store carries high-quality products, including exclusive product lines that support and promote Disney’s key entertainment initiatives and characters from Disney, Pixar, Star Wars and Marvel. shopDisney.com is the ecommerce destination for Guests of all ages, offering a curated selection of the best product from Disney store, Disney Consumer Products licensees, global collections and collaborations, and Disney Parks and Resorts, including trend fashion and accessories, toys, home and collectibles. Disney store and shopDisney offer magical shopping experiences that can only be delivered by Disney, one of the world’s largest and most successful entertainment companies.

There are currently more than 200 Disney store locations in North America; more than 40 Disney store locations in Japan; one flagship location in Shanghai, China; and more than 70 Disney store locations in Denmark, France, Ireland, Italy, Portugal, Spain, and the United Kingdom, plus online stores www.disneystore.co.uk, www.disneystore.fr, www.disneystore.de, www.disneystore.se, www.disneystore.dk, www.disneystore.it, www.disneystore.es, and www.disneystore.co.jp. Disney store and shopDisney are the retail merchandising arms of Disney Consumer Products and Interactive Media, the business segment of The Walt Disney Company (NYSE:DIS) and its affiliates that extend the Disney brand to merchandise. For more information, please visit dcpi.disney.com/disney-store or follow us at www.facebook.com/shopDisney, www.instagram.com/shopDisney and www.twitter.com/shopDisney.

Disney opens today in London biggest - and interactive - Disney Store in Europe !

Disney has unveiled its new Disney Store in Oxford Street, London, and it will be the biggest in Europe when it opens today! The 8,200 square-foot store is twice as large as the previous Oxford Street store and has taken two years to plan and construct. The centrepiece of the store is a 28 foot high castle which sits in the middle of the store and is the first thing to be seen when walking in.

But the new Disney Store is more than that at it is in fact part of the new generation of Disney Store designed by WDI Imagineers and which includes interactivity elements for guests! This is the tenth shop in Europe to be built on the new Disney Store concept, with the new design set for a worldwide roll-out.



The store uses the latest state-of-the-art fully-customisable technology including animated trees, and cartoons on the walls and music which are adjusted by an iPod Touch handheld device controlled by a member of staff. The store will begin each day with an opening ceremony in which one child will be chosen to use a giant key to open the rope barrier, with Tinker Bell appearing and spreading pixie dust on the showpiece castle.



Jonathan Storey, Disney's marketing and guest experiences director, said: "We really wanted to make this store more than just a place to buy merchandise. The castle really does signify what Disney is all about. This really is our showcase centrepiece.
"Being the Walt Disney company, we're primarily an entertainment company. While it's important to have great products we wanted to entertain out guests at the same time. We thought, 'How could we entertain children and families?' The idea was to create the best 30 minutes of a child's day."



Other interactive experiences for children include the Disney Princess Magic Mirror. By waving a wand in front of the mirror, youngsters can watch short stories appear before them from princesses Ariel, Belle, Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, Snow White and Tiana.



At the "Disney Theatre" guests can choose from 50 clips and trailer in an electric atmosphere and let's not forget the "Imagination Explosion" where Tinker Bell magically appears and children have to help her banish the villains hiding in the store. It involves lot's of bell ringing so children will love this one. Finally, the store is scented with the brand new Disney fragrance called (you guessed it): Imagination!



It looks great doesn't it, and my hope is they will build a Disney Store like this in France very soon, although i wouldn't be surprised if we found some of these interactive elements in the huge Disney Store opening next year near the entrance of the Disney Village at Disneyland Paris.

A first video showing the castle at the entrance of the store is already available on Youtube and here it is below. You'll see on it the pixie dust and projection effects on the castle, probably the same effects that guests will see each day during the store opening ceremony.

More videos showing this new Disney Store will probably be available very soon on Youtube and you can count on me to post them as soon as available.




This next video is showing a young girl moving in the store while she experience the "magic mirror".




Picture: copyright Disney

Disney Store on line released new Main Street collectible replicas, and more...

Christmas day is in four weeks from now and i think it's the right time for a little Disney collectibles article. The Disney Store on line released recently new items and some of them were a surprise as i never thought they will ever produce this kind of small replica of the famous Main Street windows!

Frankly, it's not a bad idea but who could have imagine that they will do it? After all, it just prove that everything is possible with Disney! However, no surprise about their choices as the first one above is the Magic Kingdom window dedicated to Elias Disney, the "family patriarch" as they say in the caption of the picture which is right as Walt's name was Walt "Elias" Disney but also his father first name was Elias. Size is 9" high and price is $50. Limited edition of 250.

Also released this other Magic Kingdom window dedicated to Roy E. Disney. Same size - 9" high -and price: $50. Limited edition of 250.



Always about Main Street area this replica of the famous dedication plaque found at the Magic Kingdom reproducing the inspirational words read by Roy O. Disney on October 25, 1971. Today it rests below the Town Square flagpole on Main Street U.S.A: ''Walt Disney World is a tribute to the philosophy and life of Walter Elias Disney... and to the talents, the dedication, and the loyalty of the entire Disney organization that made Walt Disney World bring Joy and Inspiration and New Knowledge to all who come to this happy place... a Magic Kingdom where the young at heart of all ages can laugh and play and learn - together. Dedicated this 25th day of October, 1971 - Roy O. Disney''.
The plaque itself is really in Bronze with black resin base. 5" high and wide, $45.00.



Always available, the famous ''Partners'' Walt Disney and Mickey Mouse Statue a detailed bronze replica of the famous ''Hub'' statue. Also in Bronze, 9" high, 135.00.



Something different, now. The Disney Store guys are always trying to find a new kind of merchandise item and i must say that considering the hundreds of thousands Disney merch items that were produced during the last 60 years, it's probably not an easy task. However they succeed with this new "Princess and their wishing well" series! Frankly, the idea of the wishing well is the one that was missing!

More seriously, they did six new items on that theme with Cinderella, Jasmine, Ariel, the inevitable Tinker Bell (not a princess but who cares ) and of course Snow White, probably the most legitimate as there is really a wishing well in the movie. Limited Edition of 750, 9" high, $75.











As usual the design is a bit kitch but if i had to choose my favourite for the design it would be the one with Sleeping Beauty.



You will note that it's not always a "wishing well" but sometime "fountains". Unfortunately it's not "real" fountains - which would have been much better - and the reason why is probably a manufacturing cost. In fact, it's perfectly possible to do it but it's not possible to do it and have it work well with cheap pumps. From what i've heard they did a bad choice - translate: a cheap choice - recently on the Tiki Room fountain collectible and people had a lot of problems as the fountain stopped many times after a few minutes. If that is the truth, then it could explain why they didn't do real fountains on this new series but instead a "translucent resin fountain".


Thanks to leave a comment or discuss this article on D&M english forum on Mice Chat

All pictures: copyright Disney

Goodbye "Disney Store", Hello "Imagination Park" !

Editor's Note: There won't be a lot of Disney news in the next two weeks, and as i also need time to prepare great future posts we will have two weeks of the best of Disney and more! A great selection of the most favourite D&M articles. And we begin by the fantastic Tom Thordarson articles series.

However i'll let you know if there is interesting news and there is one today with the New York Times article about Disney and the "ambitious floor-to-ceiling reboot of its 340 Disney stores in the United States and Europe — as well as opening new ones, including a potential flagship in Times Square"! With a new name - probably "Imagination Park" "Disney will spend about $1 million a store to redecorate, reorganize and install interactive technology."

Think about a place where you will find not only Disney merchandise but also "Theaters that will allow children to watch film clips of their own selection, participate in karaoke contests or chat live with Disney Channel stars via satellite. Computer chips embedded in packaging will activate hidden features. Walk by a “magic mirror” while holding a Princess tiara, for instance, and Cinderella might appear and say something to you. It’s your birthday? With the push of a button, eight 13-foot-tall Lucite trees will crackle with video-projected fireworks and sound. There will be a scent component; if a clip from Disney’s coming “A Christmas Carol” is playing in the theater, the whole store might suddenly be made to smell like a Christmas tree."

And guess who gave the idea to Disney to "dream bigger"? Disney's biggest stock holder and Apple CEO, Steve Jobs himself!

Don't miss Brook Barnes full New York Times article HERE.

Wall-E windows now on the Disney Store at Champs-Elysées, Paris

Those of you who don't live in France may not know it, but the Disney Store on the Champs-Elysées avenue in Paris , known as the "most beautiful avenue in the world" - which is a bit exagerated - is one of the best seller Disney Store in the world.

And, as the movie is released July 30 in France, they've changed their windows yesterday with a new Wall-E theming. Inside the window of the corner a real-size animated Wall-E - not a Audio-animatronic, don't dream - and all the other windows are themed on the film, including a real size Eve. Inside, the store, of course, plenty of Wall-E merchandise. Here are the pictures, sorry for the inevitable reflections in the glass.









All photos: copyright Disney and more