Jaime Torres Valadez / El Diari del Pas
Friday, March 12, 2021 | 06:00
The Walt Disney Company, the entertainment giant, announced the closure of at least 60 stores located in different cities across the country, including one of the two located in El Paso, Texas, its executives have reported.
The one located in Sky Vista Mall, was first in settling down in this city. It was visited by thousands of buyers both local and from Northern Mexico. Now only the ‘The Outlet Shoppes in El Paso’ store will remain in the Northwest.
“Now is the time to say goodbye,” reads a sign posted at the store’s entrance and emphasizes that purchases can be made at the online store: official.shopdisney.com.
“I feel sad because I see how so much loved and recognized shops in the city are going,” Evangelina Ruiz said, after learning of the closure. The store offers a 30 percent discount on the occasion of their farewell on their purchases, in addition to the gift of a $ 10 coupon to those who visit and purchase their items at the physical store.
While there will still be one branch left in the city, consumers showed melancholy as did the employees who will end their work cycle this month.
According to the company, the closure of dozens of stores, including seven located in the state of Texas, is scheduled for March 23 this year or earlier.
The Walt Disney Company recently announced that it is drastically reducing the size of its chain of stores in North America by approximately 35 percent. And it will do the same in other parts of the world.
For some years now, and even more so with the coronavirus pandemic, shoppers have opted to purchase their merchandise online, which has motivated the company to place more emphasis on e-commerce in the near future.
“Here we have come for years to buy so many toys from the magical world of Disney, first for our children, then for our grandchildren and now for our great-grandchildren we will have to go to the other,” said another with regret. of customers while waiting in line to enter.
Like her, consumers purchased their toys, stuffed frogs from Disney characters, creative crafts, puzzles, costumes, and even DVDs of their favorite movies to have fun at home.
The store has been packed since the announcement of closure but the order and capacity controlled by staff who maintain the security protocol to prevent the spread of the coronavirus has prevailed.
A total of seven branches will be closed in Texas: three in San Antonio; two in Houston, one in Laredo and one in El Paso.
The other stores to close in the country are in Arizona (3); Baltimore (2), Colorado (1), California (9), Chicago (2), Indianapolis (2), Kansas (1), Miami (2), New York (2), Oregon (1), New Jersey (1 ), Missouri (1), Pittsburgh (2) and Tennessee (1).
Stephanie Young, Disney’s manager, told the media that during the pandemic, the business moved to the Internet, after stressing that the group recently had more than 300 “Disney Stores” with flagship branches around the world, even in Times Square in New York.
Although Disney initially did not provide any information on how many jobs will be lost due to the closures, Mickey Mouse Group had already announced that it would lay off about 32,000 workers in the first half of fiscal year 2021.
Disney’s amusement parks and cruises in particular are also suffering tremendously from the pandemic. Prior to the crisis, Disney still had more than 100,000 employees in that division, it was said.
Journalistic data indicate that at its peak in 1999, there were nearly 800 Disney stores worldwide. More than two decades away the chain wants to significantly reduce its presence in the classic retail sector and focus on expanding its digital trading platform.