Disney's New Store in NY's Times Square

Here's brief article on the planned Disney Store in New York's Times Square that's scheduled to open in Fall of 2010. It appears that it will be occupying the old Virgin Megastore that I've visited many times whenever I've been in Midtown Manhattan.

It also looks like Steve Jobs may have played a major role in getting Disney to revamped the stores and learn from the wildly successful Apple Stores.

Much of the credit for the new store design, according to an October New York Times article, can actually be given to Apple CEO Steve Jobs, who joined Disney's board in 2006, after the company bought Pixar Animation Studios. Just as he pushed for a certain design for the Apple stores, Jobs reportedly convinced Disney to fashion its own stores on a grand scale.

Jobs shared with Disney executives detailed information about the setup of the Apple stores and took them on a tour of Apple's research operations, the Times reported. Jobs also urged the company to first create a prototype store to work out any bugs, an effort that paid off by helping Disney build the right atmosphere and philosophy for the stores.

However, the new year also marks the closing of the World of Disney store on 5th Avenue. It was the first World of Disney store to be opened outside of a Disney theme park, and I think it was just out of place on 5th Ave. The Times Square location could be a lot more attractive, especially if they have enough things for everyone to do. I'd say put in something like The Sum of All Thrills from Epcot's Innovention. That should attract a lot of customers.

Zz.