The Walt Disney Company China has unveiled plans for the company's first store on the Chinese mainland that, once built, will also be the largest Disney Store in the world.

Slated to open in early 2015 in Shanghai, the 53,000-square-foot Disney Store will be located in the city’s Lujiazui financial hub and will feature a state-of-the art retail space (approximately 10,800-square-feet) and a Disney-themed outdoor plaza area.

The interior of the store will be designed using Disney's standard store format, allowing families to interact with characters and stories from across Disney, Pixar, Marvel and Star Wars.

The plaza will feature Disney-themed landscaping, a first for any Disney Store in the world, and will have the capacity to host outdoor events, providing a destination hub for family entertainment. It will also be an important site where fans can track the progress of the Shanghai Disney Resort, which is targeted to open at the end of 2015.

"We are enormously proud to be building Disney's largest store in the world in China," says Stanley Cheung, executive vice president and managing director, The Walt Disney Company, Greater China. "Disney has combined the retail concept with storytelling, fun and innovation and will provide families with a uniquely immersive entertainment destination featuring our best-loved stories and characters."