Can We Talk about The Disney Store

This is something that I have been wanting to tackle for quite a while.  You see I have a love/hate relationship with The Disney Store.  I love the fact that I love the fact that I live rather close to a mall with a Disney Store but I hate what I feel it has become.  Now maybe it's just me but at least with my Disney Store, I feel like they have become a glorified children's store.  Now I don't know how many of you  live near a Disney Store but I feel like when I used to go to The Disney Store, there was actually material there for older fans that I could find and it wasn't overrun with stuff for just little kids.  

Now I can understand business wise, that it makes more sense to sell Disney items for kids because that would make more money and parents are more likely to buy these things.   Still as a Disney fan, it irritates me to see that this is the way they have decided to go.   I mean when,  I love seeing little kids get excited about seeing merchandise with their favorite Disney characters on it but still, I feel that in some areas, The Disney Store ignores the older Disney fans.  Really, the only Disney Stores that I know where you can find good quality adult stuff is at Downtown Disney and the Disney Stores in bigger cities such as the one in NYC.  

Now don't get me wrong, I have found some great stuff at The Disney Store's such as my Steamboat Willie stuffed animal and my newest Mickey stuffed animal that I got while my trip in Chicago.

Now I'm not trying to say The Disney Store is bad and I I have heard they are trying to rework there stores to sell more Disney stuff for the older fans. I don't know, maybe it is just my store but it feels like it has forgotten about the older fans and another bugged me for a while but thankfully, the stopped doing this.  They used to put the Disney Channel merchandise near the front of the store while the merchandise based on Classic Disney was pushed to the back.  Luckily, they do that that much anymore and there is actually a nice balance of Disney Channel and Classic Disney in the store now.   Though with Disney Channel that brings me back to my point that I feel like the stores are catering to the younger fans and don't care about the older fans.    

As I have said before I'm a Disney fans that embraces all Disney and even like some Disney Channel stuff. Heck, I wrote an article defending High School Musical but this irks me to no end.   Sure, Disney Channel may be popular right now but  the show unless really good are easily forgettable while the films that Disney produces for the most part are timeless.  Maybe it's just me but I feel like this is another slap in the face to older Disney fans. Granted, more classic Disney stuff is appearing in the stores but part of me actually wishes they would get rid of the Disney Channel items. Save for maybe The Disney Junior stuff and Phineas and Ferb stuff since that doesn't bug me as much but all the other Disney Channel merchandise can go.

Now I know my two Mickey dolls aren't the best examples of Disney merchandise for older fans since well they are stuffed animals but I think the Steamboat Willies works because A. that is classic Disney and B. that is something that taps in with Mickey fans such as myself and I really feel that it would be great if they more Mickey stuffed animals based on classic shorts because I think that would be a step in the right direction and it would show the stores actually care about the older fans. Personally, I  would love to see a Band Concert Mickey stuffed animal be released since as I have said in the past that is my favorite Mickey short and heck, I was even able to find a Timothy Q. Mouse doll there but that was like right before it became the glorified children's store that is, now.  

Does this mean, that I'll never enter another Disney Store? No, of course not because even with all the qualms I have I have found that they are slowly bringing back merchandise for the older fans and having a little nephew this is a great store to find birthday/Christmas presents. Still part of me wishes, that these stores hadn't become so overrun with children's items.   Another thing that would be great to do and I don't if the NYC Disney Store still does it but sell the Disney Pins.  Seriously that would be a great way to bring in the older fans and show that you actually care about their thoughts. I mean when I went to the old Disney Store in NYC before it moved near Times Square, I was able to find some great NYC Disney Pins.  Of course part of that comes from the fact that it was a World of Disney Store and was not owned by the same people that own the Disney Store or owned. I'm not sure if the people who owned The Disney Store at the time, still do.

I hope you guys understand where I was coming from with this article/semi-rant.  These are just my views and  being a Disney fan that tries to embrace all Disney, The Disney Store sometimes makes it a little hard to do that.  What's your take on this?  Have you ever experienced anything like this with a store that you used to like. Let me know in the comments.  Again, keep in mind I was using my Disney Store for this article and each person's shopping experience at a Disney Store may be different. I will say this though about my Disney Store, the employees are some of the nicest employees for any store in my mall.