This is more than rumor, but I don't have many details. The sale of the Disney Stores was completed today. The stores have been informed, but no information yet as to the identity of the buyer.

This thread (http://mousepad.mouseplanet.com/showthread.php?t=31792) might shed some light as to the identity of the buyer.

This is more than rumor, but I don't have many details. The sale of the Disney Stores was completed today. The stores have been informed, but no information yet as to the identity of the buyer.Managers at some stores were told on Sept 7th that The Children's Place had bought the company. There are still few details, and no press releases that I can find.

AVP

How will this work? They will take over all the disney stores and keep the theme disney or are they turning it into just a normal kids toy store or something? And why would they by it if it isnt doing very well in the first place?

How will this work? They will take over all the disney stores and keep the theme disney or are they turning it into just a normal kids toy store or something? And why would they by it if it isnt doing very well in the first place?
Because it thinks it knows how to run it better than current management. Current management seems to have fallen into a rut of "Provide only what sells in mass quantities." this is caused by overanalysis of the metric, "Sales per square foot."

This leaves out the occasional browser who might on impulse buy a Pluto sweatshirt, if one actually existed.

Does disney still get a % of the profits?

Well, it's possible that Children's Place just wanted the space and/or the inventory stream.
Will it stay Disney-themed? Probably not. All the props could be taken down, and it could be just like any other store selling Disney and non-Disney items.

The mall was so much nicer when The WB store and The Disney store would compete for the best props and theming.

The mall was so much nicer when The WB store and The Disney store would compete for the best props and theming.
I remember those days. What happened to the WB stores?

Butts kicked by The Disney Stores, most likely.
In reality, I recall going in a lot, but not really buying a lot.
Butts kicked by the accountants is even more likely. However, WB didn't try to sell the stores. It just closed them down. I think there's still a pretty nice catalog with exclusive items.
The online store doesn't have anything very interesting, though. Halloween outfits, for example.

You make a good point. I always went in that store but out of all the times i only bought one thing. I still have it somewhere, it was a stuffed bugs bunny dressed kind of like a gangster.

New Orleans (where I'm posting from) had a very nice Warner Brothers Store at Riverwalk. I remember being more impressed with the concept and design of it than Disney Stores. It had distinctive departments for art collectibles, kitchen and housewares, jewelry, adult apparel, children's apparel, toys. It showed more of a breadth of programming on it's video wall, not just kiddie stuff but adult stuff, too, promoting itself across the board. Problem is that they chose a mall downtown next to a major convention center and hotel, the Hilton, and mostly adults go there, not as many families. The store would have survived better had it been in suburbia, maybe. And the idea of cartoony kitchenware maybe didn't appeal to a lot of adults, although adults find counterpart Disney kitchenware appealing, why one and not the other? Over time the merchandise became more pedestrian and the upscaleness of the store and it's merchandise became more diluted. It became more and more ho-hum to go in there, where when it first opened the concept seemed fresh and very hip.

Nowadays if you want cool or clever Disney merchandise it takes going to the theme parks. A new marketing director at Disney is promising to make Disney a more hip and upscale "brand" sold at fancy department stores. I think until this clarifies that Disney is simply confused and out of touch with what consumers are looking for from them. Until Disney gets a handle on what it's consumers want, then continuing consumer apathy will haunt "the brand".

Children's Place: Never heard of them, I'll have to check them out if/when they open local to us where Disney Stores had been. My guess is they might have a few token Disney-themed children's apparel items. But Disney might be going for this upscale department store branding and online direct sales, as well as continued "partners" stuff with Wal-Mart, Target, Kohls, anyone else. It's still not hard to find Disney-logoed apparel, just gotta know where to look.