Credit: Inside the MagicDisney Springs has been going through a significant amount of retail and dining turnover in 2025, and the pattern continued last week with the sudden closure of one of the district’s most distinctive stores.
Johnston & Murphy, the premium footwear and apparel brand located in the Town Center section of Disney Springs, officially closed its doors on Thursday, May 7th. Guests shopping the area got about a week’s warning before the brand departed. Cast members confirmed they are packing up remaining merchandise to transfer it to other Johnston & Murphy locations, and the company has announced a new store opening in October at The Mall of Millenia in Orlando, where the Disney Springs staff will be relocated.
Johnston & Murphy is not a brand that needs introduction for anyone who follows American fashion history. The company has been custom-designing footwear for United States presidents for well over a century, with clients including Abraham Lincoln, John F. Kennedy, and Barack Obama. It is, in other words, a genuinely storied brand with deep roots in American culture, and its Disney Springs location drew guests looking for premium footwear, apparel, outerwear, and accessories for both men and women.
The closure adds to what has become a notable string of Disney Springs departures in recent months. Sprinkles Cupcakes closed on January 1st. Francesca’s clothing store closed on March 29th. Shore had its last day of operation on April 30th. Johnston & Murphy’s May 7th closure makes four significant retail and dining departures in the Disney Springs Town Center area in less than six months.
For guests who still want access to Johnston & Murphy products during an Orlando visit, the brand maintains stores at both the Orlando Vineland Premium Outlets and the Orlando International Premium Outlets on International Drive. The products have not disappeared from the market. They have just relocated away from Disney property.
What Is Replacing the Closed Businesses
Disney has not made formal announcements about permanent replacements for the closed stores, but there are some confirmed developments worth knowing about.
The former Sprinkles Cupcakes location is currently hosting a Black Tap Craft Burgers and Shakes pop-up, which is a limited-time arrangement rather than a permanent tenant. Gideon’s Bakehouse, the extraordinarily popular bakery already operating in Disney Springs, has announced that it is opening a new restaurant called Six Ravens later this year. Details about Six Ravens remain limited, but anything connected to Gideon’s generates significant guest anticipation given how reliably the existing bakery draws long lines.
The broader question of what fills the spaces left by Sprinkles, Francesca’s, Shore, and Johnston & Murphy has not been answered publicly. Disney Springs undergoes regular tenant turnover as part of the district’s evolution, and the current wave of closures is part of a pattern rather than an isolated event. What replaces these businesses will ultimately shape what kind of district Disney Springs is becoming, and that is a story that will take most of the rest of 2025 to tell.
Level99 and What It Means for Disney Springs
The most significant addition coming to Disney Springs is not a store or a restaurant in the traditional sense. Level99, a massive interactive entertainment venue combining physical challenges, puzzle-solving, social gaming, food, and drinks, is opening at Walt Disney World’s Disney Springs this summer. It is taking over the former NBA Experience building on the West Side, a space that has sat largely underutilized since the NBA Experience closed in 2020 following a difficult reception since its 2019 opening.
Level99 is designed around extended engagement rather than a quick stop. The Disney Springs location will be the company’s largest yet, featuring more than 60 life-sized mini-games and challenge rooms, more than 40 original art installations created specifically for the space, and a food and beverage program including handcrafted cocktails, rotating beers on tap, Detroit-style pizza, and wagyu burgers. The central two-story bar is designed with the kind of visual energy that photographs well and encourages guests to stay for hours rather than minutes.
The venue fills a gap that Disney Springs has had for a while: a large-scale interactive attraction oriented toward teens and adults rather than younger children. Cirque du Soleil’s Drawn to Life, Splitsville, and live music provide entertainment options at Disney Springs, but nothing in the current lineup matches the scale and interactive breadth that Level99 is bringing. Disney is reportedly hiring approximately 150 employees ahead of opening.
For the district’s overall traffic patterns, Level99 has the potential to meaningfully extend how long guests stay in Disney Springs on a given evening. Guests who spend several hours working through challenges and eating and drinking are guests who then walk past nearby restaurants, browse merchandise locations, and contribute to the energy of the district overall.
How This Affects a Disney Vacation
For guests with specific Disney Springs shopping destinations in mind, checking current operating status before visiting is more important than usual given the recent closure pattern. Johnston & Murphy, Shore, Francesca’s, and Sprinkles are all gone. The Black Tap pop-up is temporary. Gideon’s Bakehouse remains one of the most consistently in-demand stops in the district and the announcement of Six Ravens gives guests another reason to follow the Gideon’s expansion closely.
For guests planning evening entertainment at Disney Springs, Level99’s summer opening is the most significant new option arriving in the district in years. Once an official opening date is announced, it will be worth building into any Disney Springs evening plan, particularly for groups of adults or families with older children who are looking for something more interactive than dinner and shopping.
The broader pattern of closures and openings at Disney Springs is a natural part of how the district evolves, and the current moment is one where the outgoing businesses have not yet been fully replaced. The next twelve months will establish what the next version of Disney Springs looks like.
Before your next Disney Springs visit, check current store and restaurant listings on the official Disney Springs website or the My Disney Experience app to confirm which locations are operating. The recent closure run has changed what is available in Town Center and it is worth verifying before you make specific plans around a shop or restaurant. For the Level99 opening, follow Disney Springs official channels for the announcement of an opening date when it comes.
