With a day off, my wife and I ventured up to Upper Canada Mall and to the Scarborough Town Centre today to see what the crowds were like and if there was any new merchandise available at the Disney Store.
First and foremost, the crowds were sizable. Both stores reported wait times of 2 hours or more with the capacity limits and demand causing large bottlenecks at getting into the stores. Hopefully, over the next few days the crowds will thin out and store guest flow will return to more manageable levels.
Now for the merchandise. As expected, there is still a large amount of merchandise from the pre-Christmas closures on the shelves, although less than you may think. There is some new merchandise, as well as some that was just starting to hit the shelves prior to the store shutdowns which may be new to you (such as several interesting Beauty and the Beast collectible items).
New merchandise is starting to make its way onto shelves with Stitch Crashes items arriving as well as items from the Disney Castle Collection and Disney Flair collections. Collectible keys are also up-to-date on the shelves.
As far as the sale items, there are definitely some deals to be found, although it will require some digging. Many spirit jerseys with limited quantities are now reduced to between $35-$60 on the clearance racks, ornaments just over $5, and other similar seasonal merchandise priced to clear.
As far as pending closures, those are still up in the air, with many cast members unsure of (or at the very least unwilling to share information about) whether the store is slated to close.
Personally, I think that the decision, which was poorly announced on social media, and seemed unorganized at best, will be reversed due to the lack of logistical infrastructure to support e-commerce in Canada. That said, time will likely tell us what the result will be.
Until that day, I'd suggest that if you're looking for limited edition items, it's worth the trip. If you're not collecting those items, it may be worth giving it a few days for the crowds to thin.
