Credit: EMLpotography, FlickrDisney Springs has been in a state of continuous retail and dining evolution for as long as most regular visitors can remember, and the pace of that evolution has accelerated noticeably in recent months. The CrazyShake by Black Tap pop-up, which generated significant social media attention during its nearly three-month run at the former Sprinkles location, closed at the end of May. Cole Haan has been teasing its arrival at the shopping district. The Ghirardelli Soda Fountain and Chocolate Shop is preparing for a significant relocation and overhaul that will reshape one of the most recognizable storefronts in the Marketplace district. The broader retail landscape at Disney Springs is shifting in multiple directions simultaneously, which is both a sign of a destination that is actively investing in what it offers and a practical reality that guests who are planning shopping trips need to stay aware of before they arrive, expecting to find everything exactly where they left it.
The Marketplace Co-op at Disney Springs is a unique retail space that has historically served as an incubator for boutique shops and pop-up experiences. Unlike standard Disney stores, it allows for the introduction of new merchandise concepts and gathering guest feedback in a real shopping environment. Over the years, it has housed various specialized showcases, such as The Dress Shop and D-Tech On Demand, keeping its offerings constantly changing for visitors.
That rotating, experimental identity is part of what makes the Marketplace Co-op interesting as a Disney Springs destination. It is also part of what makes the current construction situation inside it worth knowing about before planning a visit around a specific shopping intention.
What Is Currently Happening Inside the Marketplace Co-op
Floor-to-ceiling black construction curtains have appeared inside the Marketplace Co-op, cordoning off a substantial central section of the store’s interior showroom floor. The curtain walls cover a significant portion of the interior footprint, suggesting that what is happening behind them involves more than a minor rearrangement of merchandise displays. The scale of the covered area points to either a structural layout refresh, an update to the building’s infrastructure, or the preparation of a brand-new merchandise collection and a themed storefront concept.
Disney has not officially announced which specific sub-boutique is being refreshed or what new concept might be moving into the cordoned space. The construction curtains are the announcement in the sense that they signal change is coming, but the specific nature of that change remains behind the black fabric for now.
The rest of the Marketplace Co-op building remains open to guests during the interior refurbishment. The adjacent Tren-D boutique and the perimeter merchandise displays throughout the space are accessible, which means the location has not closed entirely, and the impact on guests who were planning general browsing rather than a visit to a specific interior shop is limited. However, the substantial footprint of the construction zone means navigating the Marketplace Co-op right now involves working around a temporary indoor construction area that removes a meaningful portion of the shopping floor from the guest experience.
The Pattern of Change at Disney Springs
The Marketplace Co-op refurbishment is arriving as part of a broader wave of retail updates across the Marketplace district, reflecting either a coordinated refresh of the area or a coincidental convergence of independently scheduled projects, both of which are plausible explanations given how Disney Springs manages its tenant relationships and property updates.
The Ghirardelli Soda Fountain and Chocolate Shop, which has been one of the Marketplace district’s most consistent food and shopping destinations for years, is preparing for a relocation and significant overhaul that will change the physical footprint of one of the area’s most familiar storefronts. Nearby in Town Center, CrazyShake pop-up has closed, leaving the former Sprinkles location dark and without a confirmed replacement. The retail landscape on the Marketplace side of Disney Springs is going through a period of visible transition that will likely resolve into something more settled and more refreshed over the coming months, but that currently presents guests with a shopping district in the middle of becoming something slightly different from what it has been.
For guests who are making the trip to Disney Springs specifically for the Marketplace Co-op experience the advice is straightforward. The building is open and accessible. The perimeter merchandise and the Tren-D boutique are fully available. The central section is behind black curtains and whatever is being built or refreshed there is not yet visible or accessible to guests. Disney has not announced a timeline for the completion of the interior refurbishment or confirmed what will be revealed when the curtains come down.
What goes up behind those black curtains at the Marketplace Co-op tends to be worth the wait. The history of the location, from WonderGround Gallery through the runDisney showcase through every boutique concept that has cycled through its rotating floor plan, suggests that whatever Disney is building in that central section is something they considered worth the disruption to install properly.
The curtains are up. The shopping floor is navigable around them. And the Marketplace Co-op’s next chapter is taking shape behind black fabric at Disney Springs right now.
