Wednesday, September 22, 2010

The Warner Bros. Store -- 5th Avenue, New York City, 1995























































                                                                                                                                                                  
In the mid 90's, the "Animaniacs" cast, including Yakko, Wakko and their sister Dot, received star billing and the full window-display treatment at the flagship Warner Bros. Studio Store on 5th Avenue in midtown Manhattan. 

Time/Warner made some crazy moves when it merged with AOL in 2000.  One of the nuttiest of those moves, and one they would regret, was closing the studio stores. 

16 comments:

  1. I dunno, it did allow me to get the "I'm Mad" storyboard litho for half-price...

    Still, it probably was a smart move for WB ultimately. The AOL merger just highlighted how overloaded with debt the company was, and all the global real estate just wasn't part of their profile. Even Disney is gradually shutting down their stores.

    On the other hand, I'd love to see Warner Archives on demand DVD service include more animation. The rest of A! and TTA (or at very least How I Spent My Summer Vacation), Road Rovers and Hysteria! would be a perfect fit for the service, if they are concerned about numbers of units.

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  2. They actually came to realize it was NOT a smart move. They lost millions in revenue after closing the stores, revenue they never recouped.

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  3. That looked like a pretty awesome store. Too bad I never got a chance to go to it :(. I did manage to check out the Nintendo World Store and NBC Store in 2008.

    5th Avenue, isn't that really close to Rockefeller Center?

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  4. Agreed. One of the reasons Warners pursued the Harry potter property so strongly was they planned to sell HP merchandise exclusively through the stores once the films opened. When AOL announced they were closing the stores because they didn't want to be in retail, it left Warners with plans several years of Potter merch that never materialized. And of course, neither did the profits they were counting on.

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  5. THAT. IS. SO. COOL.

    I went to one in dallas in 1995, that's where I met Rob, Jess, and Tress when I was 9. Cherished memories there...

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  6. It's too bad I never got to actually go in one...seeing as I was practicaly a baby at the time...

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  7. Patrick and Alec, same here...never been in one.
    But then again I've never even been in the USA either^^'

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  8. There was also not one but two Warner Bros stores in Melbourne, Australia (where I live). The first one was at a Westfield Shopping Mall and the second was at the Crown Casino Entertainment Centre. There were great places for kids and cartoon enthusiasts to visit, but they closed down the same reason the stores closed in the US.

    I also think the Crown Casino/WB store struggled in its last days as they had to resort in selling Disney and Simpsons merchandise.

    Luckily I took a photo of the Animaniacs statue before the Crown/WB store was turned into a restaurant. I miss 'em too.

    Damn Time Warner. They ended the Animaniacs era, killed WCW, took over New Line Cinema and made a crappy Freddy Krueger remake.

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  9. Patrick, Alec, Wissle
    I echo that. I wish I was old enough to appreciate such a thing at the time. I would have LOVED to have bought some cells, or some story boards. Did they sell the character layouts? and Backgrounds

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  10. You're practically a baby now Alec :p

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  11. Well seeing as most of the original fans of A! are now adults,that does make sense as I am teenager compared to the adults who are MUCH older than I am,thus making me feel so young...

    Also (explain to me if I'm wrong),but according to wikipedia,there is a WBSS that reopened in Queensland,Australia and also a few in China:

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warner_Bros._Studio_Store

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  12. Correction...in Victoria,Australia,there is a WBSS that reopened.

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  13. I wonder if the cells that they soled were NEAR this expensive

    http://www.vegalleries.com/newwbhb.html

    I love how you can see the photographers face in one of them.
    These sure do look good after all these years. Aren't cels made of celuloid? I figured that the would be warped and crinkly

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  14. as an ex employee... it was a majorly stupid thing, that directly effected Disney store locations, as there was no competition when the WBSs' closed disney store became less and less...

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  15. Good point, Evan -- competition does make rivals try harder. Closing the retail stores at that time was a poor choice by the powers-that-were at Time-Warner-AOL.

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  16. When I was 7 I cry and throwing a tantrum when the WB store closed on Fairlane, so far Me & my Family when there 2 or 3 times, Before it closed...Memories, Tom, Memories!!

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