House of Blues at Downtown Disney closes and moves across the street to Anaheim mall

This past Monday was a quieter one for Downtown Disney. Not because of the lack of tourists, but because of the closing of a concert venue. The House of Blues closed its doors the night before.

Sunday night, the place was packing capacity crowds as the final bands performed for the last time on the concert stage. For 15 years, the “Mouse House” as it was commonly known as played host to artists big and small including the late legendary guitarist B.B. King, and Justin Timberlake.

The problem with having such great acts was that tickets sold out regularly due to the limited space. That will now change as House of Blues execs have announced the new, bigger Anaheim location: across the street from Disneyland. “We’re excited about the future, but bittersweet about the past,” said Ron Bension, president of House of Blues Entertainment to the OC Register. “We had a great run on the Disney property, but we’re really excited about having this new venue coming on board in a few months that will incorporate everything we’ve learned over the last 15 years in Orange County and everything we’ve learned as a company over the last 25 years.”

The Anaheim GardenWalk will be the home of the new House of Blues venue complete with a bigger space for band and their fans. While the GardenWalk does afford them to host bigger crowds, the GardenWalk itself might not be the most popular place apart from the concerts.

The outdoor mall came during the economic recession back in the early 2000s and had many vendors leave and stores close as a result to poor business. The competition between GardenWalk and Downtown Disney is still little due to the fact that Downtown Disney is attached to the Disney theme parks which provide consistent and plentiful traffic.

It’s the hope of Anaheim GardenWalk leaders that House of Blues will revamp the fledgling mall and bring back business to the mall standing in the shadows of Downtown Disney.

As for what will replace the House of Blues at Downtown Disney – how about a two-story Starbucks?!

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