Disney store closures include these two California sites. What are your options?
The Disney stores at the Vintage Faire Mall in Modesto and Fashion Fair in Fresno will close as part of the entertainment giant’s shift to more online sales.
About 60 stores will close across the nation by Sept. 15, leaving about 40 in operation, Disney announced.
The closures will leave only three Disney stores in Northern California — in Sacramento, Livermore and Gilroy. Fans also can find merchandise at www.shopdisney.com.
The stores offer princess costumes and other Disney character merchandise, as well as Star Wars, Marvel and other brands.
The Modesto store opened in 1992, one of the longer-tenured stores at Vintage Faire. It boasted an 8-foot screen for animated movies and other video and musical attractions, The Modesto Bee reported at the time. The Fashion Fair store in Fresno opened in 1994, according to Fresno Bee archives.
Disney announced the plan in March without naming most of the stores that would close. A news release noted that COVID-19 reinforced the desire for online shopping.
“We now plan to create a more flexible, inter-connected e-commerce experience that gives consumers easy access to unique, high-quality products across all our franchises,” said Stephanie Young, president of consumer products, games and publishing.
Though shifting toward more online sales, Disney also is increasing its presence in some Target stores.
CNBC and other news outlets report that Target, which has about 1,900 stores in the U.S., began opening Disney shops in select locations in 2019.
With an expansion announced Monday, more than 160 Target stores will sell Disney merchandise, from toys to costumes, by the end of year.
There currently are 53 small shops inside Target stores and an online store at Target.com/Disneystore, according to www.themainstreetmouse.com. They include Target on Sisk Road in Modesto.
A list of the other 100-plus additional Targets that will get Disney shops was not available.
This story was originally published August 23, 2021 at 7:38 PM with the headline "Disney store closures include these two California sites. What are your options?."
