Let's be honest about what has been happening at Disney Springs on the retail side. It has not been a great stretch. Shore, one of the original tenants in the Town Center section when the shopping district opened, permanently closed on May 1 after holding a clearance sale. Johnston and Murphy, a footwear and apparel retailer that had been part of the Disney Springs lineup, closed on May 7.
Francesca's closed its Disney Springs location earlier in 2026 as part of the chain's wider shutdown. Three stores gone in a short window, all in the same section of the same property, and the visible gaps in Town Center have been generating exactly the kind of conversation a shopping destination does not want to be the subject of.
But Disney Springs is not only losing stores. It is also gaining them. And a new announcement from a well known American footwear brand is the most concrete signal yet that the district is actively filling the space left behind by what has departed.
What Just Got Announced for Disney Springs
Cole Haan posted a coming-soon teaser on Instagram, confirming that the brand is heading to Disney Springs Town Center. The video shows an unseen traveler packing a suitcase with clothing items before sealing a rollaboard and placing a pair of tan Cole Haan sneakers on top. A caption reads Save Room for More before cutting to a small card on a luggage tag that reads Coming Soon Cole Haan at Disney Springs Town Center.
The brand posted this itself on its own official Instagram account. That distinction matters. A permit or an industry rumor sits at one end of the confirmation spectrum. A brand publishing a specifically worded coming-soon announcement naming the location on its own social media account sits at the other end. Cole Haan is not exploring Disney Springs. It is telling you it is coming.
Who Cole Haan Actually Is
Cole Haan is an American footwear and accessories company founded in 1928. The product range covers men's and women's dress shoes, loafers, sneakers, sandals, boots, bags, outerwear, and other accessories. The brand positions itself around what it calls future familiar, a combination of classic American style with comfort-focused design and modern materials.
It is a recognizable name that has maintained relevance across multiple generations and sits in a retail tier that works well for both the business traveler buying dress shoes and the theme park visitor looking for something that can handle ten miles of walking without destroying their feet.
For Disney Springs specifically, Cole Haan slots naturally into the footwear and lifestyle category that Johnston and Murphy recently vacated. Whether that is a coincidence of timing or something more deliberate has not been confirmed, but the fit is obvious.
What Is Still Unknown
An exact opening date has not been announced. The specific storefront within Town Center has not been identified. Whether the location will be a full-scale Cole Haan retail store with the complete product range or a smaller format with limited inventory has also not been confirmed. The Instagram announcement was the extent of what Cole Haan shared publicly, and Disney has not added anything beyond that.
The Bigger Retail Picture at Disney Springs
Cole Haan is not the only incoming tenant in the conversation. A permit recently surfaced suggesting that Vuori, the performance lifestyle brand, may be taking over the former Shore space, though that has not been officially confirmed. Six Ravens, the savory hand-pie concept from the founder of Gideon's Bakehouse, is opening in the former Art of Shaving space this summer, with the building's exterior nearly complete.
Three closures and at least three potential or confirmed arrivals in overlapping windows tell a more complicated story than a shopping district simply losing ground. Disney Springs is in a transition period, and transition periods look messy from the middle of them. What comes out the other side matters more than the individual moves along the way.
Cole Haan's arrival at Town Center is a meaningful addition. It is a brand with real recognition, a product range that works for the Disney Springs audience, and the kind of retail credibility that helps anchor a shopping district's identity.
No date. No storefront. But the luggage tag has Disney Springs written on it, and the brand posted it themselves.
That is enough to take seriously.
