disney store closure is gonna hurt that also. for us, when our boys were little, we'd go to the movies at concord mills near charlotte, after the movie, we'd walk the 100 yards in the mall to the Disney Store, and boom, there are all sorts of things from the movie we just saw.
(i cant tell you how many lightning mcqueens we have hiding around our house)
every time we went to the mall, movie or not, we went to the store, and almost every single time, it was crowded with a line to buy things.
to me, closure of the disney store was another "bean counter" move. Sure they get more profit margin off of the target stuff, but why cant they do both? the disney store offered a little bit of magic to its base, that helped push you to booking that vacation.
I dont have the numbers in front of me, so i admit i could be talking out of my butt, but i do not think the disney store was losing money.
You get that generation by taking them to the movies, then taking them to a "mini emporium".
They've cut the little things.