Reuters is reporting that the Walt Disney Co. has been unable to unload its money-losing chain of retail stores.  Five months ago the Mouse House decided to dump its extensive retail empire (see 'Disney Yanks Its Chain'), but so far there are no takers and it is unlikely that any buyers would want to acquire Disney's retail holdings at this time of the year, when it is already far too late to retool for the holiday season.  While a Disney spokesman was quoted by Reuters as saying that the process of shedding the stores could take up to a year, several analysts indicated that Disney may end up shutting the stores down quietly as Time Warner was forced to do with its Warner Brothers Studio Stores, when the giant media conglomerate was unable to find a buyer (see 'That's All Folks').

Disney's retail empire, which began with a single store in Glendale California in 1987, was a big hit in the 1990s when themed retailing and themed restaurants were in vogue.  Flush with early success and driven by the need to increase sales by opening new outlets, the chain expanded to 522 stores in North America alone by 2000.  In the past three years Disney has pared that number to 369, and has plans to reduce its North American holdings to about 300 stores.  Disney has managed to sell its Japanese outlets, but still has more than one hundred stores in Europe to unload.