Disney Springs…are you doing okay?
Disney Springs
From the crowds you’ll see, it appears the shopping and dining district is doing just fine. With pop-up shops that attract hours-long waits, seasonal snacks that we can’t get enough of, and exciting dining opportunities for upcoming holidays, there’s no way to suspect anything strange is happening at Springs…right? WRONG. We need to talk about how many permanent closures have happened recently because it’s more than you may expect.
In the past two years, tons of Disney Springs shops have closed their doors forever. For some, new stores have taken their place, while others continue to sit empty. First was the Sosa Family Cigars Shop located on the West Side of Disney Springs. They closed their doors for good on January 3rd, 2023, and by the fall, Bowes Signature Candles had taken its place. The closure of the store ended a nearly 25 year partnership between Disney and the company, which was a little shocking, to say the least.
Sosa Family Cigars
Next came the UGG store, which closed its doors in mid-February of 2023. The UGG store had opened with the Town Center district of Disney Springs in May 2016. There wasn’t much fanfare about this — we happened to notice the quiet closure on one of our walks around the area. Soon after, we saw that Lululemon had construction walls up and was moving into the space.
Ugg Store
Following this, the Melissa Shoes store close to the center of Disney Springs closed its doors in May 2023. It specialized in jelly shoes and other accessories made from recyclable materials, and the store was replaced by Alex and Ani (but we’ll get to their fate in a second). Disney just announced that a new Pura Vida store will be coming to Disney Springs in the former Melissa Shoes store spot, but we don’t yet know when it will be open.
Old Home of Melissa Shoes
On January 1st, 2024, with very little notice, the Alex and Ani store that took the place of Melissa Shoes closed its doors as well. This came following the shuttering of 20 out of the 27 physical stores located around the country, including the company’s headquarters in Rhode Island. It had only recently moved into its larger Disney Springs spot, making this one a little more of an unfortunate goodbye.
Alex and Ani
Earlier this year, The Art of Shaving store officially closed on January 2nd, 2024. This store was located in The Landing section of Disney Springs, near STK and Sanuk, for nearly 10 years. As of now, all these months later, Disney has still not announced a replacement for the store.
Art of Shaving Disney Springs
And finally, we have the Sanuk store, that just closed its doors in August, with no announcement of what we can expect to replace it. The store was one of the first to open with The Landing section of Disney Springs in 2015 (this was the area formerly known as Pleasure Island, which closed in 2008).
Sanuk closed
So Disney…what the heck is going on? While we’re happy some of these stores have reopened as new offerings, and we understand that some of these closures were due to the owners’ decisions, not Disney, we still think it’s a little strange to see all these closures happening so close to each other. It reminds us to stay on our toes and to enjoy the shops we have while we can, because one day they could be gone before we can say goodbye!
Disney Springs
As always, stay tuned to DFB for all the latest Disney Springs news!
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Personally, I do not shop the Beverly Hills section of Disney Springs. I hate that the Disney buses drop us off there. A lot of walking back to World of Disney and the stores that we can afford. DVC and locals may be able to shop in the high end section.
It’s probably just coincidental that their contracts were up at the same time though who knows which side decided not to renew. We got Xmas gifts at Art of Shaving last year , a nice store, but Uggs is the one I’m most upset about….
Always support local businesses. You don’t know what you got till it’s gone.