Disney Store to shut 60 locations and focus on online sales

Walt Disney Co. plans to close 60 of its Disney Store locations throughout North America while the entertainment giant overhauls its online shopping platforms.

There are 300 Disney Stores worldwide, and the planned move will shut 20% of them this year. The decision comes as the COVID-19 pandemic has pushed more consumers to avoid in-person shopping and instead turn to online sales.

“We now plan to create a more flexible, interconnected ecommerce experience that gives consumers easy access to unique, high-quality products across all our franchises,” Stephanie Young, Disney’s president of consumer products, games and publishing, said in a statement.

Representatives of Disney declined to say which Disney Store locations would close or how many employees may be laid off.

The closures will not affect the Disney shops that operate within other retail outlets such as Target stores in the U.S. and Alshaya Group stores in the Middle East, Disney representatives said.