The Disney Store Co. confirmed this week that it will close its store in downtown Salt Lake City's Crossroads Plaza when its lease expires Dec. 28.
Store spokeswoman Maria Gladowski said the company has been closing underperforming stores worldwide. The Disney store operates 368 stores in North America and 528 worldwide.
"We have been closing underperforming stores, generally as their leases expire, while also looking at all options for the Disney Store chain in North America and Europe — including a potential sale of the chain," Gladowski said. "In the case of Crossroads, we have a store just 11 miles away (Fashion Place Mall) which remains open and will service Crossroads guests."
The 3,400-square-foot Crossroads Plaza store opened on Nov. 1, 1990. Its closure is the latest of several lease-related closures at Crossroads. Earlier this month, The Gap Inc., which operates The Gap, Gap Kids and Baby Gap at Crossroads, confirmed its three stores will not renew their leases, which expire on Dec. 31.
Including its two department stores, Mervyn's and Nordstrom, Crossroads has more than 600,000 square feet of retail space. With the Gap closures, and now the Disney store, another 22,400 square feet of that retail space will be vacant.
Despite the disappointing news, Barry A. Smith, general manager of Crossroads, told the Deseret Morning News at the time the Gap closures were announced that the mall had an 80 percent occupancy rate, and that the mall was expected to see $100 million in sales this year.
Neither Smith nor representatives from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which owns the mall, would comment on the Disney closure.
E-mail: jnii@desnews.com