The Disney Store has finally returned to Disney fans across North America following a nearly seven-year hiatus.
For North American Disney fans who love everything about Disney, Disney stories, Disney films, characters, colors, merchandise, and the like, September 15, 2021, became a dreaded date.
By mid-September 2021, most Disney Stores across the continent were closed, per an announcement from Disney in March 2020.
Only 25 stores were reported to have made the cut–that is, to have remained as they were–for the time being. Even the original Disney Store, located in Glendale, California, isn’t safe from the clearing out of the fan-favorite Disney-themed locations and was among the dozens of casualties once the hammer fell and the majority of Disney’s beloved retail chain stores were gone.
But even before Disney began scrapping Disney Stores in North America, The Walt Disney Company–under Bob Iger’s administration–made the online version of the store, DisneyStore.com, a thing of the past, replacing it with a rebranding and calling Disney’s online store shopDisney.com.
In March 2020, when Disney announced it would be closing at least 60 of its retail stores in North America, the company said it would be focusing its time, attention, and energy on the online retail site, but for many fans who looked at brick-and-mortar Disney Store locations as their escape between Disney Parks pilgrimages, the news was hard to hear.
Earlier this month, Disney announced yet another change, which went into effect overnight on Tuesday.
Disney fans were surprised–and many were thrilled–to go online on Wednesday morning and find that shopDisney.com, which has been in place since 2017, had been rebranded to DisneyStore.com.
Overnight, as the transformation took place, Mickey was already on the site, teasing a new “magic” coming “in just a few hours” and redirecting fans to DisneyStore.com when they typed “shopDisney.com” in the search bar.
Beginning on Wednesday, shopDisney.com is no more, but in case you forget, don’t worry. Thanks to pixie dust and the modern marvels of technology–you’ll be directed to DisneyStore.com!
