Disney to close at least 60 Disney Stores in North America this year

Disney will be significantly reducing its brick-and-mortar footprint to focus on its ecommerce business and will start with the closing of at least 60 stores in North America.

“While consumer behavior has shifted toward online shopping, the global pandemic has changed what consumers expect from a retailer,” said Stephanie Young, president, Consumer Products Games and Publishing. “Over the past few years, we’ve been focused on meeting consumers where they are already spending their time, such as the expansion of Disney store shop-in-shops around the world. We now plan to create a more flexible, interconnected ecommerce experience that gives consumers easy access to unique, high-quality products across all our franchises.”

Disney has not announced which stores will close. The company also still has about 50 mini-stores set up in Target stores around the U.S. No information on the future of that relationship was disclosed either.

Over the next year Disney will focus on providing a more seamless, personalized and franchise-focused ecommerce experience through its shopDisney platform which will be complemented by greater integration with Disney Parks apps and social media platforms, the company announced.

According to the company, Disney will remain flexible in its approach and continue to evolve its retail strategy to best meet the needs of consumers when and where they want. Guests will continue to have access to Disney shopping experiences in 600+ Disney Parks stores, shop-in-shops, lifestyle and outlet locations, as well as third-party retailers around the world.