A typical Incredible Universe store was 185,000 square feet (17,200 m2) of sales floor and warehouse, stocking around 85,000 items.

Many internal corporate philosophies of Disney theme parks were borrowed; in an Incredible Universe store, retail departments were "scenes," employees were "cast members," customers were "guests," uniforms were "costumes," and so forth.

Incredible Universe was created with the intention to compete with rapidly growing electronics superstores like Circuit City, Best Buy, and CompUSA that were taking market share from Radio Shack.

[3] They featured a large rotunda area with a stage where sales presentations, product demonstrations, autograph signings, and even occasional musical acts were performed.

Initially believed as a means to generate more business, inclusion of restaurants in the general shopping area had the unforeseen side effect of lowered revenue due to poor loss prevention strategies; improved loss prevention strategies practiced by Walmart and Best Buy can be noticed due to where they have placed the restaurants contained within their stores.

[citation needed] During this time, however, with the growth of other retail outlets such as Best Buy, the market became more competitive, and the expense of operating such large facilities resulted in an overall lack of profitability for the entire enterprise.

Only six were ever consistently profitable; these six stores (Arlington, Dallas, Phoenix, Wilsonville, Sacramento, San Diego) were sold to California company Fry's Electronics in 1996,[4] which itself ceased operations in 2021.

The Westbury, Long Island store was converted into a Target and no longer has the 'signature' look (bowed front) of an Incredible Universe.

The Columbus, Ohio location was converted into a Garden Ridge (now At Home), while the northern half of the parking lot was used to build a Dave & Buster's.