The Disney Store on London's Oxford Street closed its doors indefinitely this week after a launch event for Lorcana's Curator's Collection: Heroines Edition spiraled into what staff described as a scene of aggressive and violent behavior from scalpers and resellers.
The card collection, featuring popular Disney characters like Ariel, Elsa, Anna, Jasmine, and Mulan, had drawn massive crowds. Photos shared on social media showed players queued for at least four city blocks outside the location nearly 12 hours before the store opened on July 17. Footage captured the scale of the turnout across multiple Disney retail locations worldwide.
On launch day, chaos erupted. Witnesses reported that scalpers coordinated to overwhelm the queue, pushing to the front and driving away legitimate collectors. One observer on social media described scalpers and gangs exhibiting "violent, aggressive behavior" and "taking over the queue."
In response, the Oxford Street location canceled the event and locked its doors. The store posted to its official social media account stating the location would remain closed "until further notice" and promised to announce how customers could purchase the collection at a later date.
The London store was not alone in struggling with demand. Downtown Disneyland in California saw similar crush conditions, with footage showing park-goers packed around retail areas. Videos from Disneyland Paris captured the same frenzy, with resellers visibly rushing through the park to secure stock before it sold out.
Disney has not issued a public statement about the disruptions or plans to manage future launches. The silence has left players frustrated as the scalper problem continues to plague multiple trading card games.
This isn't unique to Lorcana. One Piece and Pokemon card buyers face identical challenges, with resellers cornering supplies and flipping them at inflated prices. Some retailers have taken preventative steps. Bic Camera's Tokyo location began screening potential buyers with a quiz before allowing them to purchase Pokemon TCG products, attempting to filter out bulk resellers.
The Lorcana situation underscores a broader tension in the trading card hobby between legitimate collectors and profit-focused resellers willing to disrupt retail experiences to secure inventory.
Author Emily Chen: "When a card launch requires riot control, the hobby has a real problem that retailers and publishers need to fix fast."
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