I'm behind on posting this, because, I honestly forgot about it. But, it's one of those things that shows you just how much Disney has lost some of it's retail magic. It used to be that Disney was the company that other companies went to for help in creating cool retail experiences. Companies sent employees to Disney University to learn the Disney way and bring it back to teach other people. Now, Disney has to reach out to other companies to create retail magic. Kind of a shame, if you ask me. Of course, I admire what Apple has done at retail, but they've got a real challenge ahead of them.
Now, I worked retail at Disney for a few years out of college. I was what they called a "cross-u," meaning I worked in retail for the first half of my shift and then headed to a parade (check out Some Lessons from My First Job if you'd like to see what I did and what lessons I learned back then). We were the kings of experience back then and everyone came to us for advice.
The challenge with Disney retail is that the reason people bought so much merchandise is as an artifact of their Disney experience. So, they'll buy a bunch of t-shirts and stuff so that when they get home, they can remember their Disney theme park experience. The problem with the Disney stores is that buying things there aren't part of a total experience. You're not buying a memory.
So, it'll be interesting to see what Jobs & Co come up with for the Disney stores. It's certainly going to be a real challenge and I hope they come up with something that makes the stores work for them.
Disney Draws on Steve Jobs and Apple for Retail Store Makeover - Mac Rumors.