Why Did the Disney Store Exist in the First Place?
Younger Placers (LaughingPlace.com readers) may not be able to fathom this, but there was a time before the Disney Stores could be found in every mall in North America. The first one opened in 1987. How did they come about in the first place? You may remember that there was major shake-up of Disney’s executive management in 1984. Team Disney was looking for new ideas to make the most of the company’s resources, and a call for ideas from the employees of the corporation resulted in the Disney Store. The store would be a mall store stuffed with Disney merchandise, the kind of stuff you might have only been able to get by going to Disney parks or purchasing it through a catalogue. It is no coincidence that the first one opened in Glendale. In the early 1980s, Disneyland Park switched from the ticket book system to the unlimited use passport. The ticket book system meant that people from all over southern California could drop in to Disneyland Park for some shopping without paying a high a
