How one mall shop in Glendale became 747 stores
The first Disney Store opened on March 28, 1987 at the Glendale Galleria in Glendale, California. It was the first Disney shop built outside a theme park or a resort, and the interior was themed to Hollywood on the theory that every store would eventually reflect the town around it.
The format was built to be loud. Video screens ran cartoon clips above the sales floor, staff were called cast members, and almost everything on the shelves was made for the chain rather than bought in from other suppliers.
It expanded with the American mall. By 1997 there were more than 600 Disney Store locations in the United States and ten other countries. The chain peaked in 1999 at 747 stores across 11 countries, the largest it has ever been.
That peak came the same year mall anchor traffic began to slide, and the chain rode the slide down with every other tenant on the concourse, from Toys R Us to the record shops at the far end of the food court.
The 2021 decision that emptied the concourses
On March 3, 2021 Disney said it would close at least 60 North American Disney Store locations before the end of that year, about 20 percent of a chain that then ran roughly 300 stores worldwide. The plan was expected to leave fewer than 250 open by the close of 2021.
Stephanie Young, then president of Disney's consumer products, games and publishing unit, gave CNBC the reasoning in 2021. "While consumer behavior has shifted toward online shopping, the global pandemic has changed what consumers expect from a retailer," she said.
The selling moved to shopDisney, the company's own e-commerce site, and to Disney Store shop-in-shops inside Target. Neither those Target shops nor Disney's 600-plus theme park stores were part of the 2021 closures, which is why the company could shut dozens of malls' worth of retail and still say its stores were growing.
For shoppers the effect was the same one Kmart customers had already learned. The chain did not announce an ending. It just stopped being anywhere near you.
Who owns the Disney Store today, and where are the 20 left?
The Walt Disney Company owns the Disney Store outright and runs the surviving shops itself. There is no licensee and no separate operating company, which is why no bankruptcy filing will ever turn up for the chain the way one did for Kmart or Toys R Us.
As of 2026 there were about 20 standalone Disney Store locations left in the United States. Against the 747 the chain ran in 1999, that is a reduction of roughly 97 percent in 27 years.
Almost all of them are outlets. The list runs through Tanger and Premium Outlets centers in Branson, Las Vegas, Myrtle Beach, San Marcos, Sevierville and a dozen other towns, and the single exception is the Times Square flagship in New York. Outlet rents are cheaper than mall rents and the traffic is already there to buy discounted brands, which is the whole reason the survivors sit where they do rather than in the enclosed malls the chain was designed for.
The count is slippery because Disney now sells the same merchandise four ways, and three of them get counted as Disney retail in company statements: more than 600 theme park shops, the Target shop-in-shops, shopDisney online, and the standalone stores people actually mean when they type the question into a search box. Disney has not published a store list, and independent trackers counting locations one by one in 2026 land at 20 or 21.
Why Europe lost its last Disney Store in January 2026
The European end came on January 4, 2026, when the Disney Store at Disney Village outside Disneyland Paris closed after 33 years. It was one of the last shops anywhere still built to the original specification, with oversized character statues and the maximalist color of a 1990s mall unit, and its closure was revealed through the Disneyland Paris app in November 2025 rather than announced.
The Champs-Elysees store had already gone in 2023, with Levi's taking the space. Between them those two closures ended the classic Disney Store in France entirely.
What replaced the Disney Village shop opened on September 22, 2026 under a different name, Disney Wonders. Disneyland Paris describes it in 2026 as a "bright, contemporary boutique where the magic of storytelling surrounds you at every turn", with zones for Disney, Pixar, Marvel and Star Wars and two chandeliers carrying more than 40 character illustrations.
The reception tells you what was lost. Fans complained that the replacement leans on screens and a grey palette where the Disney Store had color, theming and a moving centre display.
What the 2026 mall pop-ups are testing
In April 2026 Disney announced Disney Store Limited Time, a run of temporary shops built with Go! Retail Group, the operator behind the current Toys R Us and Babies R Us stores. The first opened on May 23, 2026 at Ross Park Mall in Pittsburgh. The second opened at Westfield Garden State Plaza in Paramus, New Jersey on September 3, 2026, and is scheduled to run through the 2026 holiday season.
The Paramus shop is small, at 2,300 square feet on Level 1 in a unit that used to be a Pink store, and it drew an estimated 1,500 shoppers on its opening day. It closes on Sundays. They are deliberately styled after the Disney Store of the 1990s and early 2000s, down to a daily opening ceremony, which tells you which decade Disney thinks the nostalgia sits in.
Patrick Sager, vice president of Disney Store, told NJBIZ in 2026 that the format lets Disney "bring the Disney Store experience into new communities, deepen our connections with fans, and learn from how they engage with the brand."
Nothing in that is a commitment. The leases are short, the inventory is limited, and Disney has said the shops are temporary. What it is, plainly, is a test of whether the chain still has a floor under it, run the way Disney has tested products since it bought Club Penguin: quietly, in one market, with an exit already written.
Where to find Disney Store merchandise today
The chain's own products outlived most of its addresses. The 1990s bean bag plush lines, the exclusive VHS clamshells, the snow globes, the shopping bags and the cast member name badges all still circulate, mostly from people who worked in the stores or cleared one out when it closed.
Nearly all of it reaches buyers through Etsy's vintage Disney Store listings. Prices follow condition and character rather than scarcity, since none of it was manufactured to be rare, and anything still carrying its original hang tag sells for a premium over the same piece without one.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is the Disney Store still open in 2026?
Yes. About 20 standalone Disney Store locations were still trading in the United States in 2026, all of them outlets except the Times Square flagship in New York, alongside shopDisney online and Disney Store shop-in-shops inside Target. Disney also opened two temporary Disney Store Limited Time shops in 2026, in Pittsburgh in May and in Paramus, New Jersey in September.
How many Disney Stores are left?
The Disney Store is down to about 20 standalone locations in the United States in 2026, from a peak of 747 stores in 11 countries in 1999. Independent trackers counting them one by one land at 20 or 21, because Disney does not publish a store list and also counts its theme park shops and its Target shop-in-shops as Disney retail.
Who owns the Disney Store now?
The Walt Disney Company owns the Disney Store and operates the remaining shops directly, along with the shopDisney website that replaced most of them after the March 2021 closure announcement. Europe's last classic Disney Store, at Disney Village outside Disneyland Paris, closed on January 4, 2026 and reopened on September 22, 2026 as a differently named boutique, Disney Wonders.