The Entertainment Studio Store That Vanished 25 Years Ago—and What Replaced It ...Saudi Arabia

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Living in Chicago my whole life, I have been lucky enough to have some pretty cool shopping experiences at my fingertips, especially in my childhood. We had one of the few American Girl Stores in the United States at the time, along with a massive Disney Store on the Mag Mile, and several big malls within driving distance. And for a couple of years in the late ’90s, you didn’t have to fly to Orlando, FL, for a fun, immersive experience either, with Disney Quest in Downtown Chicago, too. 

It might be the nostalgia talking, but it felt like there were many more whimsical and engaging events or spaces my parents could take me to as a kid in the ’90s and early 2000s than there are now. It makes adulthood feel even more like a loss of magic, with such a void of imaginative places available to shop at, eat at and play in. 

And when I consider that, I also remember memorable shopping trips to our favorite suburban mall, which included now-defunct stores like The Nickelodeon Store and the Warner Bros. Studio Store. Outside of smacking my head pretty hard into the entrance of the massive play place they had inside the WB store, it was one of my favorite places at the time. Which got me thinking: why did it close? Whatever happened to the Warner Bros. Studio Store?

The reasoning behind the store itself, along with why it declined and no longer exists anywhere—along with other similar shops like The Disney Store and The Nickelodeon Store, which suffered similar fates—are really interesting, and include a shifting retail landscape, lack of revenue and changing times. Read on to find out more about the once-promising Warner Bros. Studio Store and what led to its closure 25 years ago. 

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The Golden Era: Inside the 1990s Warner Bros. Studio Store

Evan Agostini/Liaison

From my preschool-aged memory, I remember walking into the Warner Bros. Studio Store to massive statues of iconic WB characters everywhere. From Superman and Wonder Woman mid-flight over shirt racks to Bugs Bunny in various outfits throughout the store, to even a Gremlin climbing the walls post-water form. The Disney Store in the same mall was similar in how detailed its decor was, but the WB store seemed bigger with a more eclectic mix of IP merch available—not to mention it had a play area that was Marvin the Martian’s ship. 

It wasn’t massive with tons of tubes and slides like the McDonald’s PlayPlace had. But the outside looked like something out of the Looney Tunes cartoons, and it was more “high-tech” with buttons that made fun sound effects inside along with a TV screen showing episodes of the beloved cartoon. There were many other interactive places like this throughout the store too. And if you were in one of the bigger stores, there were whole ACME lab setups. 

Evan Agostini/Liaison

A big online consensus now is “Why aren’t stores this cool anymore?” And that was kind of the point of creating this emporium of sorts in the first place.

A 1994 article in Billboard magazine noted that the Warner Bros. Store was part of a rise in “showcase stores,” following Disney, MGM and Nike. The reason for these companies wanting to establish their own corporate storefronts was to cut out the “middle man” of big-box retail stores. So instead of selling their products at department stores or places like K-Mart or Walmart, they sold them directly from their own brick-and-mortar stores to potentially gain more revenue. They were “designed to entertain” while also turning a profit and providing “testing grounds” for new products and “merchandising techniques.” They also reported that, while some of these shops—like Sony and Nike—were more for promotional purposes, the Warner Bros. and Disney stores were “profit-driven.” 

As Billboard reported, the first Warner Bros. Studio Store opened in 1991 at the Beverly Center in Los Angeles, CA. They grew to 61 storefronts by the end of 1993, with six of those shops being in the UK. 

At least for the flagship store in Times Square in New York City, the “project architects sought to marry Hollywood drama with New York City elegance, as well as replicate the excitement of a movie studio set.”

UPI reported in 1991 that the shop opened with 2,500 items that were store-exclusive; according to the Billboard article, by 1994 they had 3,000 items ranging from apparel, home accessories, books, videos, toys, posters, collectibles and more. At the store’s peak, it had 130 stores worldwide, per the Los Angeles Times.

One of the popular shops was located on the ground/underground level of the World Trade Center and was destroyed in the 9/11 terrorist attacks. A few statues from the store, including a Bugs Bunny figure, survived and are now on display at the World Trade Center museum. 

Why the WB Studio Store Vanished 25 Years Ago

Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

As the Los Angeles Times reported on July 7, 2001, all Warner Bros. Studio Stores were set to close. At the time all of the shops were shutting down, there were still 85 U.S. stores. 

According to Animation America, even though the store had major appeal to kids and adults, and they had some of the most notable IPs to sell imaginable—Looney Tunes, Scooby-Doo, Harry Potter, DC Comics, to name just a few—they overextended themselves in certain areas. Plus, once online shopping became a thing in the early 2000s, fragile brick-and-mortar businesses were feeling that the most, including the Warner Bros. Studio Store. As the Chicago Tribune reported in 2001, the store also seemed to hinge on the “wow” factor of almost bringing the extravagance of a theme park to your local mall. But “once you’ve seen it, you’ve seen it,” as one person told the publication. And with a high price tag to continue operating, and not enough revenue coming in, it ended up not being worth it in the end. 

But the nail in the coffin, so to speak, came when Warner Bros. merged with Time Warner, and then they merged with AOL. They cut lots of costs, jobs and more, meaning that their shop was one of the things on the chopping block.

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What Replaced It: The Evolution of Experiential Retail

As for what replaced it or where the legacy of this emporium lies, nothing from the studio ever came and took its place. Instead, in terms of selling merchandise to the greater United States (and not just at amusement parks or backlot studios), the company went back to selling its products through other major retailers. As you probably already know, you can walk into any Walmart or Target and find merchandise from one of their many characters, like Bugs Bunny, Batman, Scooby-Doo and more. 

And if you want your fix on WB collectibles, home goods, graphic t-shirts and kitchy merchandise (such as tumblers, hair accessories, etc.), you can pop over to a Hot Topic, Spencer’s or BoxLunch. Plus, you can browse any of the above stores’ websites online.

But in terms of interactive or immersive Warner Bros. shopping experiences, the company is now doing more experimental retail moments. In addition to more pop-ups in recent years, they also have brick-and-mortar stores for specific franchises, such as the Harry Potter store in New York City (or the one that just opened in Chicago). 

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Where WB Nostalgia Lives Today: Collectibles & Secondary Markets

Matt Winkelmeyer/Getty Images for Warner Bros. Studio Tour Hollywood

With all that said, there is still a literal Warner Bros. Studio Store that still exists. It’s located in their backlot studios in Burbank, CA, and is meant for people after they go on the Warner Bros. Studio Tour Hollywood. Any franchise that falls under the WB’s ownership has merchandise there, from Friends to Gilmore Girls to the Barbie movie, and more (on top of their iconic IPs like Looney Tunes, the DC Universe and more). It doesn’t look as immersive as the late-90s store that I remember, but the items they sell definitely fit the bill of exclusive and expansive items related to their characters. 

And considering they were sort of pushed out by the online shopping boom of the early aughts, it only makes sense that they have a WB Shop online where you can find anything from Practical Magic 2 to House of the Dragon and more. As Animation America pointed out, the studio seems to toy with pop-up stores here and there. And places like Universal Studios and Six Flags parks still have retail locations with similar things to offer. You can also always go to eBay for collectibles or nostalgic WB finds.

The Warner Bros. Studio Store was such a wonder for me at the age of 4, and nothing outside of amusement parks has really ever come close to it. As an adult, I guess it makes sense why it didn’t prosper or stay around longer. But it doesn’t make the nostalgia any less potent when seeing photos of and thinking about the defunct WB Studio Store. At least those of us who got to experience this emporium of sorts have the memories.

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