High Hopes for Third Store : Disney Plans South Coast Plaza Foray

South Coast Plaza is getting a goofy addition to a tenant roster laden with such gilt-edged names as Louis Vuitton, Gucci and Ralph Lauren.

The House of Mouse--better known as the Walt Disney Co.--will open its third Disney Store, this one at the Costa Mesa mall in mid-November. Disney has leased 2,800 square feet for its first Orange County outlet. Appropriately, the shop will be located near the mall’s merry-go-round.

The company thinks the newest shop--despite its proximity to the original Disneyland with all of its shops--could outsell the other Disney Stores located outside its theme parks: a 5-month-old Glendale Galleria store and a month-old Disney Store in San Francisco. That would mean annual sales averaging more than $1,000 per square foot, said Stephen Burke, Disney’s director of business development.

Merchandise will be supplied by more than 50 Disney licensees and range from Goofy bathing suits to Mickey underwear, golf balls and $2,700 watches.

To help boost sales, the newest Disney Store will be a fantasyland of its own. Seven feet above the merchandise display, a surfboard that has crashed out of the wall will rock back and forth in fake waves. Three-dimensional figures of Goofy, Donald and Daisy will be filming a movie in a surf-scene sound stage. And a ‘50s diner counter will be the store’s service counter.

“The whole store is a display,” said Burke. He added that Disney is looking for more Southern California sites and that “there are a lot of malls in Orange County we can go into” if the South Coast Plaza venture proves successful.