The Disney Store was the perfect place to go Christmas shopping and brought magic to the Murraygate for two decades.
It has been missing from the high street for seven years.
Gone but not forgotten by big and little kids alike who fell under the store’s charm.
It was the place to buy products from Disney, Pixar, Star Wars and Marvel.
There would often be queues of people waiting to get in.
Fun was always guaranteed.
Mickey Mouse was honorary Dundonian
Walt Disney might well have known all about Dundee back in the day.
Dundonian Jimmy Macdonald became the second voice of Mickey Mouse, replacing Disney himself, from 1946 to 1976, so this was a full circle moment.
Macdonald was a one-man sound effects wizard.
In addition, Macdonald provided the yodelling, whistling and sneezing for the Seven Dwarfs, barks for Pluto, and the high-pitched voices of Chip and Dale.
The first Disney Store opened in March 1987 in the Glendale Galleria in California.
With 8,000 different items, there was everything you could imagine.
It was successful beyond even initial expectations.
Disney expanded rapidly.
In 1997 the hundreds of stores included two in Edinburgh and one in Glasgow.
Disney planned to make the magic work in Dundee.
Disney Store was formerly a shoe shop
A planning application was lodged in March 1997 to open a merchandise shop on the prime site on the corner of Murraygate and Commercial Street.
It was formerly the building that housed the famous G.L Wilson department store and, latterly, the Peter Lord shoe shop with its distinctive yellow frontage.
Monsoon and Accessorize would be opening alongside the Disney Store.
The Courier and Disney teamed up for a competition with some truly magical prizes.
Children could win the chance to have breakfast with Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse, Goofy and Pluto before the Disney Store opened on September 27 1997.
The best was still to come.
You could win a family holiday to Disneyland in Paris.
The perfect holiday – unless you suffered from travel sickness.
The winners would travel by coach from Dundee to Paris, including a journey through the Eurotunnel, before spending three nights in a two-star hotel.
There was £250 spending money thrown in.
The highlight was a full day at Disneyland with a character meet and greet.
A Paris sightseeing trip and Versailles visit was included.
All you needed to do was answer one question.
What is the capital of France?
Calls cost 50p to enter.
Mickey and the gang charmed sick children
Mickey, Minnie, Pluto and Goofy arrived in Dundee from Mouseton.
They dropped in for a visit to Ninewells Hospital.
They signed posters and handed out goodie bags in the children’s ward.
Children who were not well enough to meet the characters did not miss out on the fun.
Minnie made a special trip to the children’s high dependency unit.
There were smiles all round.
The following day they had breakfast with Courier competition winners.
There was great excitement when they arrived to open the Disney Store, which was swamped with youngsters queuing up to be the first through the door.
The event went down a storm with children.
The Courier said: “For someone who made his acting debut several decades ago Mickey looked in tip-top condition, as did his almost equally mature friends, Minnie Mouse, Goofy and Pluto.
“From its first handful of black and white films, made on a shoestring budget, Disney has grown into one of the world’s biggest and richest entertainment companies.
“Toys and other spin-off products can generate as much, or even more money, than the films they are based on and the Disney chain has been expanding rapidly in Britain to tap directly into the market.
“On Saturday the wisdom of that strategy was demonstrated when a queue of what you could have been forgiven for thinking included just about every child in Dundee under 10 gathered for the opening of the store in Murraygate.
“Such is Disney’s hold on older generations that even the hordes of parents present looked they were enjoying themselves too.”
They were.
What did you buy from the Disney Store in Dundee?
A floor depicting classic Disney characters greeted shoppers as they entered.
And people loved it.
It made buying presents for anyone under the age of 10 absolutely effortless.
Whether it was a character from a Disney classic like Snow White, Buzz Lightyear from Toy Story or princess costumes, the shop stocked it all.
It was a haven for children desperate to snap up the latest Disney memorabilia.
The cuddly toy mountain with characters piled high was a favourite.
Rooting around was always a highlight.
What would you have found on the shelves in 1997?
A special edition Intergalactic Buzz Lightyear action figure cost £32.99.
A snow globe featuring Winnie the Pooh, Cinderella or Mickey and Minnie Mouse?
That would be £25.
The Disney Mini Bean Bag was popular
The Disney Mini Bean Bag was the best-selling range in store in 1998.
Characters ranged from Donald Duck to Pluto and Simba.
Many children in Dundee will have fond memories of saving their pocket money to buy the latest must-have toy following the release of a new Disney film.
As well as the old characters, there were always new ones.
Princess Atta and Princess Dot from A Bug’s Life were popular in December 1998.
Prices ranged from £9.99 to £16.99 for a soft toy.
But you can’t beat the classics.
A Snow White mirror costing £9.99 arrived in 2001 to coincide with the VHS and DVD release of Disney’s very first animated feature film back in 1937.
Staff past and present celebrated the 10th anniversary of the Dundee store in 2007.
Its success continued.
High School Musical fancy dress was hugely popular.
The music was everywhere.
Members of the Tread The Boards Theatre Group performed numbers from High School Musical at the Disney Store in December 2007.
The Murraygate shop was known for its charity efforts.
The Disney store asked people to sponsor a toy which would be donated to a sick child in Dundee under the Bring A Smile For Christmas campaign in 2010.
What would you have found on the shelves in 2010?
Toy Story 3 merchandise was extremely popular.
The DVD was a Christmas favourite.
The popular shop was gone by 2017
The Disney Princess Designer Doll Collection arrived in 2011.
Demand was high.
Cinderella was followed by Ariel, Belle, Mulan and Snow White.
The magic of Disney never wears off, no matter how old you are.
There was despair when the store closed in July 2017 after the lease expired.
A deal to buy the building fell through.
Sadly, there was no fairytale ending.
The Disney flag was pulled down from the dome of the building.
The magic was gone from the Murraygate.
Conversation