Beleaguered toy retailer Toys R Us is preparing to liquidate its bankrupt U.S. operations, it has been claimed.
Bloomberg is reporting that the move comes after the company - which was declared bankrupt last September - failed to find a buyer or come to any deal regarding restructuring its massive amounts of debt. The report comes from sources close to the company, who wish to remain unnamed.
It is understood that while the situation is still ongoing and hope isn't totally lost of a buyer stepping in, a complete shutdown of the U.S. side of the business is highly likely.
Upon entering bankruptcy last September, Toys R Us was planning to introduce a more efficient business model and scale down its existing debt repayments. A fresh $3.1 billion loan was secured to keep the stores running, although 180 of the company's 800 U.S. outlets were shuttered.
Toys R Us was founded in 1948 by Charles Lazarus as Children’s Bargain Town, and has grown to become the largest specialist toy retailer in the United States. The firm's current issues stem from a $7.5 billion leveraged buyout in 2005 by Bain Capital, KKR & Co. and Vornado Realty Trust which saddled the company with crippling amounts of debt.
The ongoing success of its business enabled Toys R Us to keep its head above water and manage this debt, but in recent years it has seen its market share eroded by online retailers like Amazon and superstores like Walmart.
The news comes after it was confirmed that the company's UK operation had gone into administration after failing to find a buyer.
Thanks to Agent721 for the tip!
[source bloomberg.com]
Comments 90
End of an era. Toys R Us and Kiddie City were childhood staples.
Company just couldn't keep up with the trends sadly. Most kids went electronic, but more importantly online stores offered the content they offered at least 10%-30% cheaper IME.
The only thing TrU offered was some exclusive stuff, but that's assuming you wanted that or didn't go to ebay anyway. It was a nostalgic experience as a kid regardless.
thats a shame to see
Even though I haven’t shopped there in years, this still makes me sad for some reason. Weren’t they the last major toy-exclusive store in America?
Really sucks but it's a sign of the times. I've already witnessed large retailers like Montgomery Ward, Venture, Circuit City, etc... So this really isn't that surprising.
It's their own fault. Like many companies the last 10 to 15 years or so haven't changed with the times. Toys R Us was likely to have what you're looking for but at a price. Just about everything minus video games seems to have a mark up price. Anywhere between 3 to 10% of most other stores online or not.
I do have fond memories as a kid and later on a teenager buying games there but I haven't bought a vg there in years unless it was a buy 2 get one free deal.
@Equinox it's always so encouraging to see people scoffing at a situation where someone, somewhere is about to loose their job. I'm sure they will take small comfort in your high and mighty opinion of this business, while they suffer severe anxiety on how to pay rent and eat.
Toys R Us was the king of overpricing their inventory. That and refusing to get with the times. Sad to see them go, but totally understand why.
I never really received many gifts from there anyway. Usually was too expensive. I always did want things from there through xmas catalogs. I did shop there a little when I was older and able to buy some of my own things, games and such. It was okay, nothing special though since I mostly wanted games.
Premium prices is their greed in disguise. They had to fall at some point.
Wow. Kinda can't believe it! Before dedicated game stores like EB, Gamestop, etc., this is where I would beg my parents to take me to get games! I remember buying Ocarina of Time with Christmas money there. Sad to see it go!
What killed Toys'R'Us was unnecessary loans they couldn't pay back and fiscal irresponsibility. Their sales were actually doing fine.
I first heard about this leak yesterday and told my kids. My son was so upset because he loves Toys R Us. Wait and see what happens for all of us because of you consumers that use Amazon for all of your purchases. If you think that they will continue to offer amazing prices when they have no competition then you are out of your mind. They will make Toys R Us prices look like bargain basement when they have everyone in a bind.
As a kid Toys R US was like a dream place. The only one near us was over an hour away and my sibling and I almost never got to step foot in it. XD Its where mom would go to buy stuff for us for Christmas once the JC Penny catalog thing wasn't much of a thing anymore.
The last two decades just haven't been kind to TRU. Society has changed and so have children. One of my fondest experiences as a kid is walking the aisle of paper tags for videogames and getting my new game at a counter. It's all I had in the 80s and 90s.
Now online competition, digital downloads, and deep discounts at other retailers are always available. My house shops more at Target then TRU for toys today. And Target usually gets stuff way before TRU too.
I don't want to see it go, but that's the cost of business. Compete or become obsolete.
first children's palace.
now toys r us.
it's a war on my childhood i tell ya.
"Toys R Us was founded in 1948 by Charles Lazarus as Children’s Bargain Town, and has grown to become the largest specialist toy retailer in the United States. The firm's current issues stem from a $7.5 billion leveraged buyout in 2005 by Bain Capital, KKR & Co. and Vornado Realty Trust which saddled the company with crippling amounts of debt. "
That right there is horrible. Gobble companies up, spit them out, don't care about the fallout.
Toys R Us was where I got a lot of my N64 games including Ocarina of Time. Hate to see it go.
Bought my Switch Pro Controller there last year, which was the first time I had actually bought something from TRU in years. Still sad to see it go. Many great memories of TRU when I was a kid. My grandmother took my sisters and I there a lot.
Sad to see it go, but the Toys R Us store my town had closed shortly before I moved here several years ago so I only sparingly got to visit them as a kid in the 80's and 90's. I will say if they do go under this year, my final memory was driving an hour to the closest one with a friend a couple years ago just to get one of the large Yarn Yoshi amiibos they had that were exclusive to them.
@JHDK Children's Palace was my jam back in the day. First place I ever saw a TG-16 up and running. I miss those days so much.
One ironic thing about all this is that TRU was partnered with Amazon at one time to handle their toy department. I think in the early/late 00s, they had a falling out (with TRU initiating the breakup).
Now imagine if they stayed partners with Amazon all this time... even more so now that Amazon is trying to get their feet into local retail (like Whole Foods).
I worked two Christmas seasons at TRU back in the early aughts. Kinda sad to see it go.
I feel bad for the people employed by Toys R Us, but I'm also a little surprised they're still around. I haven't seen or been in one for many, many years.
Toys R Bust
Actually can’t believe they are going out of business as they really are part of the furtniture. The reports of the amount of debt must have made finding a buyer who would take that on nearly impossible. Sad times
I don't have much love for Toys R Us, myself. Still, it's a shame to see. Seeing Bain Capital in the article tells me all I need to know. They sunk KB Toys as well. Yes, Toys R Us may have been poorly managed. It may have charged too much. It may have been at a disadvantage when it came to electronics. It may have had problems competing with online stores. But all of that is secondary when financial firms like Bain intentionally target them and bury them under massive debt. The reason for that debt is to pay fees to the financial firms that bought them.
@Prof_Yoshtonics Haha! Good stuff!
@Araquanid Retail stores can't compete with Online stores. It's impossible. To be successful, you have to have your stores at premium shopping locations and that costs incredible amounts of money in rental space.
Online stores just dump their warehouses in the cheapest possible locations and can so easily undercut retailers.
Only retail stores that aren't struggling are Electronics Stores and Clothing stores, since with those kind of products people like to see / try it out in person, before making a purchase.
Toy's'rus should have put a much stronger focus on their Online store much sooner.
In Europe they somehow did and that's why the European chain surives.
@Ryu_Niiyama: "That right there is horrible. Gobble companies up, spit them out, don't care about the fallout."
@sdelfin: "Seeing Bain Capital in the article tells me all I need to know." " But all of that is secondary when financial firms like Bain intentionally target them and bury them under massive debt."
@sdelfin @Ryu_Niiyama @NIN10DOXD Congrats to all of you for reading the linked to article, or being aware on your own. They were still selling toys, but interest payments on $7.5B with a B, well that's too many toys to sell, but the stores weren't ghost towns. I did like this summary 1 of you gave:
"What killed Toys'R'Us was unnecessary loans they couldn't pay back and fiscal irresponsibility. Their sales were actually doing fine."
I read the linked to Bloomberg article comparing TRU to the US gov't and what's going to happen w/ lower income from taxes but higher interest rates from the Fed on debt. Not to go off topic and derail the thread, but 1 of you 3 must see the scary similarity
Kind of surprised to see them compeltley go under though, the toy stores I've been in were a wreck it felt like, but Babies R US has very little competition for baby shower gifts. I thought they would find a way to merge the 2, maybe shut half the stores and co-brand the rest.
Going to be a lot of upset pregnant people if all of the BRU go under, which I'm assuming they will if the company does.
You skipped the ND but came back for this @Captain_Gonru you have some messed up priorities. I watched the linked to vid, and everything does sound more official w/ the British accents, and some comment in here said they heard the rumour yesterday, so there must be something to it. I know that sucks for you, and I still think it's odd, but they haven't been able to get out of their own way for years now.
Her'es a Gogol search, apparently this news was all over the place starting late last night.
https://www.google.com/search?q=toys+r+us+bankruptcy&oq=toys+r+us+ban&aqs=chrome.2.69i57j0j35i39j0l3.6731j0j8&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8
This makes me so sad. My earliest memories of (window) shopping for games are in a Toys R Us when their GameBoy isle was the heart of my desire. They're still where I buy my day-one games and where I got my Switch on launch morning. I shall purchase a Toys R Us t-shirt, to commemorate my interaction with the company. I was a Toys R Us kid no doubt.
No one buy toys anymore. Kids today play with their phones and tablets, sooner or later these toy companies are going bankrupt.
@Equinox
I take it you don't like American corporations? That's cool and all but I'm sure if you'd be losing a job you wouldn't like anyone considering it "good". I'm sure a lot of good people will be out of a job which will cause hardships for a crap ton of families. But I'm glad you find enjoyment in that.
All these damn Wall Street hedge funds buying companies they have absolutely no business in being in. I really hope this doesn't affect the Canadian side of the business. I used to work for Toys R Us Canada through my high school years. It was such an incredible place to work, magic really. And I still shop there, buying things from Babies R Us for my newborn niece and nephews. And of course, it's pretty much the BEST place in the country to buy Legos. Walmart cannot compete, their toy sections are always a mess and only ever half-stocked...or worse. Walmart is such trailer-park trash, I never shop there. I really hope Toys R Us Canada can remain in operation.
First Circuit City Now Toys R Us. Seem like the places I got some of the best memories and weekly/holiday sales are going away. Still remember getting a good portion of wave 1 amiibo, including the rare ones like Marth and Wii Fit Trainer with 3 for 30 sale the first week of release.
With retail stores rent and maintenance becoming more expensive and online stores becoming more convenient on both side, I wouldn't be surprised if GameStop start closing some of their stores down because of the times.
Not that I want that to happen but it's hard not to think it when most vocal people boast about getting their physical game on Amazon for a cheaper price than stores and digital with 20% off and free shipping to boot.
@rjejr It sucks that this kind of thing can happen. That you can pick up a healthy company (maybe not booming but still healthy) and then suck it dry like a leech and then move on while everybody else is like "see they didn't keep up with the times!" while the company is like "crippling debt! Send Help!" It's like watching a person with student loans, just on a corporate scale. And nobody cares that the largest foot print of brick and mortar toy stores is gone (90s kid so I worshiped at the hall of the Geoffrey the Giraffe lol) and that so many people are going to lose jobs. This would impact Babies R Us a well if I'm not mistaken. Which also sucks for parents.
Sad news. To a kid in the 90s, Toys 'R Us was a wonderland. I still remember hearing a golden ring from a distance and rushing to the far end of the aisle to the Sega Genesis kiosk and my first taste of Sonic 3.
@Capt_N I certainly have no problem with you or anyone else having a good opinion of the store, and it sounds like you have a good reason. In my case, I grew up with a handful of toy stores around, both chains and small shops. Most of my fond memories are attached to those. It felt like they offered a better consumer experience, to me. And the last time I was in a Toys R Us, it was a bit of a mess, but that's just one store.
@sdelfin: No offense taken, & I appreciate your insight. Thanks!
Sadness!!!
@Nincompoop Do u have any kids? I ask because that's a ridiculous statement u just made... Yes the times, they are a'changin' but toys aren't dead. Just sky-high priced dedicated toy stores are. Stores like Wal-Mart and Target will continue to make bank off of regular old toys for years to come.
@JohnBlackstar
It's already been happening. Over last year or so I've seen a lot of products go up in price from what they were before. And don't get me started on there new amazon delivery service. It's just some random guy in his 87 Toyota stuffed with packages who has no care for your items at all . I've had two items not delivered that said they were in the last year and numerous other issues. As Amazon keeps making millions upon millions they are just getting cheaper and cheaper.
I was a kid of the late 80's early 90's era so I was definitely a Toys "R" Us kid. I understand why they are going under but it's just sad to me to see all these places being shut down. I would get so happy every time I had that little ticket in my hand. I'll never forget calling to see if they had Donkey Kong Country when it was sold out everywhere. Store by my house had 3 left and they couldn't place them in hold, you have no idea how hard I begged my mom but finally we got down there and I literally got the LAST ONE!!! I vividly remember running to the game rack pulling the last little ticket out of the pouch and raising above my head with a shout of pure joy. I literally felt like Charlie Bucket when he got the golden ticket. Those are memories I'll never forget
And for everyone curious bout Babies "R" Us they are in same exact boat. My daughter is a little under 2 years old so we would go to Babies r us all the time. Bout last 6 months though stock has gotten pretty bad and they are shutting down by the end of May the cashier told me. It really sucks beacause lots of good people are losing jobs which is not a new occurrence in this internet day and age unfortunately but it doesn't make it any less sad.
What a dark dark day that will be! Such a shame! First Kay B Toys now these guys wow...
@Nincompoop what are you talking about? Do you even have kids? I don't know one family with a child that doesn't have a playroom or bedroom full of toys. when it comes to Christmas & birthdays especially, most people get kids toys not electronics & a tablet.
@Equinox One of the dozens of giant American corporations closed....to be replaced by one of the one dozen American/Chinese mega corporations. Not a positive trade in my opinion.
Soon there will be one single player in any given industry, worldwide. Or maybe the global one and the Chinese local version (if the Chinese one isn't the global one already.)
Toys R Us created a lot of memories. It'll be gone, but never forgotten. Tell Blockbuster I say hi, Toys R Us.
@Ryu_Niiyama "This would impact Babies R Us a well if I'm not mistaken. Which also sucks for parents."
Best case scenario. Walmart buys them all up and opens up Walkids. "Tots to teens and the in-betweens". Something like that.
Who knows, maybe Amazon will buy them all up and go big on B&M. World's a funny place.
@NEStalgia Remember everything American is bad...because it's American. Nobody else does the same practices or worse (looking at you China...nobody's answer should be suicide nets and this is coming from an advocate for the right to end one's own life.) in their business and employee dealings. America has a WHOLE lot of issues but it's funny how we are painted as some sort of monster under the bed.
@Captain_Gonru "that will now be more difficult to afford"
If you're buying games b/c they are cheaper at TRU you are doing it wrong, that place is not good on prices ever. I know your'e opposed to online but BB or Walmart seems the way to go. Or wait a few months and Target clears out everything.
And speaking of Target, have you noticed the switch to the yellow clearance stickers? I hate those things, they make me not want to buy stuff, like somebody did #1 on them. Please speak to your peeps at Target and tell them to ditch the yellow stickers, go back to the red ones. It's costing them money.
@rjejr You know I feel like Amazon is considering the B&M space. I doubt they would do huge things but I keep seeing the pop ups and the lockers and the trucks and I think they are trying to figure out some way to merge the two models.
@Ryu_Niiyama Indeed...not sure where the "everyone hates America" meme comes from as though faceless global corporations that happen to set up HQs here so their executives can enjoy the life of princelings have anything to do with America at all. More times than not those "American" corporations actually are predominantly Chinese corporations anyway....the HQ may not be in Shanghai, but much of the investment, and thus the board and policy decisions, is. It's terrifying how much of the "global economy" they actually own (whether they can actually afford it or not and have paid with real money rather than smoke and mirrors is another question) but it explains a lot about what has directed the way our society actually works. Their hand is in the pot at all levels to the point that we're operating as a territory.
@rjejr Retail is cyclical and online doesn't work in many many situations, BUT the problem isn't really retail, it's real estate. Real estate has SKYROCKETED to the point that residential real estate is unthinkable for most people (thus your "rental millennials") and commercial real estate is nearly a joke. Part of that was the banks that build absurd pad sites everywhere for ridiculous sums driving up the total values of the areas, and then decided they didn't need the branches anymore and abandoned them. Retail is tight enough. Paying commercial real estate and running retail is senseless.
@Ryu_Niiyama Yeah, it's like they're not sure what they want to do, open up big superstores like Walmart and Meijer or little bookstores like B&N or medium sized supermarkets, but they do seem to have their feelers out. They've just started paying taxes in Penn, which I think was a big reason for them staying online only, but that's mostly in the past now, I've been paying NY taxes for many years now on Amazon.
Now, I don't realistically see Amazon buying up 800 huge stores, that was just a joke, but 5 or 6 maybe, or a dozen, in the bigger markets, I think could happen. They'd want to make it a destination like the Apple or MS stores. I think it's more a matter of how big and how many than if. They aren't stopping at Whole Foods. And their pharmacy ambitions are out there as well.
Either way I won't miss TRU. I do all my B&M at Target, online on Amazon and grocery at several nearby food chains, I'm good. Though it would be nice to see the stores filled and not empty, empty is bad for everyone.
I just took my youngest there last weekend. My wife was against it but I told her it will most likely be one of the last times we're able to take our children to a dedicated toy store. This saddens me greatly.
Kids these days already grow up way too quick. Now you take away the magic of going to a toy store on your birthday, or making a list at Christmas time based off of a recent visit.
@Captain_Gonru Did I tell you I bought a Mr. Resetti there on clearance a couple of weeks back? I blamed you b/c your' the AC fan but Ressetti is cool. Can't go wrong with a mean ole' yelling guy.
I'll actually be in Target tonight, I'll check out the amiibo section but it's been the same 30 or so AC amiibo since AC:aF released 2 years ago. But I'll look just in case.
@rjejr I actually disagree with you for once! None of these big companies are going to buy any old storefront. If they're spending money, they want shiny and brand new. Here in PA, there are vacant department stores, store fronts and slightly older grocery stores that no one is interested in. They've been empty for years but that hasn't stopped brand new stores from popping up down the street!
@NEStalgia Sounds like you skipped the covers of the tabloids today and hit up the FT.
Real estate is crazy expensive to rent, but if you can buy it up cheap from say a company going out of business, well there's your in. Not that anybody needs 800 TRU stores, I'm sure most are out in the middle of nowhere, but there are some regions of the country with people with money to spend. Wherever those 473 Whole Foods stores are probably.
Aww. You will be missed
@rjejr Oh I got that you were joking but Amazon is weird...I feel like I'm on the cusp of wall-e or demolition man where in the future everything will be one store.
@dkxcalibur That's such a truism. Everywhere there's empty buidlings but every new store wants to build only new custom sites, so the old stores sit there vacant forever, while ever more land is cleared to build giant new ones, leaving the old things to rot until all available undeveloped land is consumed. This obsession with "new everything" is massively destructive.
Meanwhile old shopping centers that were perfectly nice spend untold millions putting up these new facades and going "upscale" with their retailers with these HUGE fake-front risers. The shopping center my Toys R' Us was in was a nice, clean timeless still fairly new looking design from the 80's...looked really nice. Then 3 years ago the shopping center evicted half the stores, doubled rent, allowed the supermarket to expand and where a variety of stores like a bird enthusiast shop, deli, Hallmark store, etc were, were replaced with TJ Maxx, Ulta Beauty, and other upscale stores, plus chain very-overpriced-business-lunch restauraunts. The "beautiful" expensive stone veneer on the shopping center has been crumbling from the 3 year old walls all over the pavements more every year. The 30 year old polished bricks underneath never had such issues.
@rjejr Oh the stores will be filled, they'll become "fitness centers" and "medical diagnostics" facilities.
As for Amazon, Whole Foods isn't exactly going swimmingly (go figure, buying an already indebted flailing niche food chain that appeals to hippies and hipsters, turning it into a mass market low margin food store, applying warehouse inventory models, and finally trying to use them as sorting depots for food delivery isn't a good business plan, who knew? )
@rjejr I'm more likely to check FT than tabloids (other than NL) ever
The problem is none of these stores were owned by TRU, or few of them. They just lease or rent, like all retailers in 2-10 year contracts. The shopping centers own the real estate, and charge per square foot what their own mortgages mandate. TRU leaves and some real estate equity firm holds the bag (and claims the tax write offs) for the next decade.
@dkxcalibur Good point about the old stores, most TRU stores are probably near their end of life and looking pretty ragged. The couple near me that were remade into the half TRU half BRU look ok though.
But I do think there is something to be said for a retail presence. Amazon just bought up 473 Whole Food stores. I'm guessing those are in better neighborhoods, mostly /c there isn't one in mine. Nor is there a Trader Joes. But I suspect some of those TRU stores are usable. I've always liked the medium size 1 floor design of the stores I've been in. Though I've also been in some weird ones, and the 1 in Manhattan was a tourist attraction, not a store.
But I think a few of those could serve a purpose for Amazon, the nicer newer ones in the right neighborhoods. I know they just started yet another battle with Google, no Youtube on my TV, and they are dropping NEST products b/c they've invested in Ecobee. Never heard of Ecobee myself, but they make things.
https://www.digitaltrends.com/home/amazon-invests-in-ecobee/
Things that need to be sold in a store setting b/c they work together in a home. We all know about Echo and Alexa, but I think showing the it working with the Show device and the thermostat and whatever other unnecessary tech device my home is supposed to have, requires a store layout and a salesman to explain all this stuff.
They could do it in Whole Foods, have an Alexa aisle, but I think if this wired home future stuff is going to take off it needs a dedicated floor space. Not 800 stores, nor even 400, but it needs store to be shown off in.
Target has been stumbling the past 2 years since the security hack, maybe Amazon smells blood in the water? Kohl's sucks, Macy's is dead to anyone under 50, everybody hates Walmart, I think there's room for a few big Amazon stores, enough people are drinking the Prime Kool-aid.
@Ryu_Niiyama In the future all department stores will be Amazon and inside everyone one will be a Taco Bell.
Yeah, I know the creepy feeling. We have an Echo, Alexa knows and hear's everything. She's actually my main speakerphone, so Bezos hears it all.
@NEStalgia "fitness centers" and "medical diagnostics" facilities.
Yeah, half of the 800 will be probably be fitness centers, a quarter med centers, the rest empty for years to come.
Didnt' know Whole Foods was doing poorly, people gotta eat, and less people can afford to eat out, I would think Amazon would find a way to make it work, but I really haven't been following it that closely.
@rjejr Whole Foods is an overpriced hipster food chain appealing to Prius owners specializing in "organic" and "fair trade". It's not a normal supermarket for normal people. And as such....it wasn't doing so well.....which is why it was up for sale to begin with.
If you want chicken breasts from free range, grass fed, hormone free, cruelty free, pure breed sustainable fair trade chickens from France, you shop at Whole Paycheck. Otherwise you shop elsewhere. So...most people shop elsewhere.
Enter Amazon, who tried to drop prices and commoditize it (i.e. turn it into a more normal store.) The result is a disaster. They applied their warehousing inventory control systems. The net result is the hipsters can't stand the place anymore, inventory is a wreck, and normal people still aren't interested. The Priuses go to Trader Joes, and the rest of us go wherever we were going before, anyway.
They got the instant footprint they wanted to compete against Walmart in food, but what they got was exactly what it said on the label....they tried putting a different label over it and hoped it would work. Now it's going to be a launch point for Amazon Grocery delivery......did they really need to buy an ailing luxury food chain for that?
Ahh it's good to be a monopoly....you can waste money like that.
I guess battery, credit cards, and warranty attachments did not save this company.
@NEStalgia "Ahh it's good to be a monopoly....you can waste money like that."
We're talking about a company that's looking to spend $5 billion, $5,000,000,000, on a 2nd, not a first, but like a 2nd summer vacation home, HQ. They could probably buy a couple of small islands for that. Or, you know, pay their employees more.
This is where I'd normally put a link but I have a sneaking suspicion you don't need one.
I don't think spending other peoples money is a problem for them.
@rjejr I'm drinking the Prime Kool-Aid just so I don't have to go out to those store you list!
....but I do frequent Target.
@Equinox you're insane, one of those watch the world burn types.
This is a stifling of competition and absolutely not a return of business to smaller retailers. In fact this signals the further consolidation into mega corporations which will either last eternal, or bring down the American economy if and when they are shuttered.
A shame. It was always such a treat to even go to the store. That's where I got my Mew for Pokémon FireRed (on a save file that I very stupidly deleted a couple years ago; now I have to get an Action Replay device to get Mew back).
It's sad to see what were once staples of American retail, from the aforementioned Toys "R" Us, to K-Mart (and its owner, Sears), to RadioShack, going down the tubes. It truly is the end of an era, and one that will be missed. =(
This is a sad farewell indeed.
I never really had much of an experience with the stores, but it's only too apparent that it was a staple.
I miss bookstores.
Sad to see them go. As a person who grew up in the 80s & 90s, Toys R Us was a huge part of my childhood. Loved to just walk the isles and see the thousands of toys they had. Unfortunetly they didn’t change with the times. They didn’t even have an app for the longest time, then when they finally got one it was a buggy mess. Then the dropped it altogether and forced you to their website (which was also awful). Pricing was OK but hard to compete with Walmart on price or Amazon with their 2-day shipping. Hopefully they have some great Switch sales and I can make one last shopping trip there
@NEStalgia Not sure if you were aware of this or just got some lucky timing but I'm all about synchronicity, zeitgeist, collective unconscious, whatever you want to call it. We just referred to it as "the flow" in my beat generation hippie, but not hipster, days.
https://www.cnbc.com/2018/03/10/sticking-gyms-in-ailing-malls-wont-work-and-heres-why-jan-kniffen.html
@dkxcalibur There's not much you can't get between Amazon and Target. If Target had gas stations like some of the other big stores that would just about cover it.
Gunstar Super Heroes
Discount Bin.
5 dollars.
Thank you Toys R Us
Here in the UK (where they've also gone bust) they've failed to modernise and paid the ultimate price. People will go to toy stores if they offer a unique experience (eg. Build-A-Bear Workshop) ..it just wasn't a 'go to' destination any more, unfortunately - and you can only really put it down to poor management and a lack of ideas
The last bastion of mainstream toy stores is disappearing... Sure you can go online and buy stuff. But going to the store and playing was half the fun!
I never understood why Walmart was a treat. Is it price? Every Walmart I’ve been to doesn’t have a great enough toy section (no matter how big) to bring down a whole store dedicated to toys. Or maybe it’s my thirty something self talking. I grew up with Toysrus being my main go to place for games. I have many great memories. The anticipation of waiting for an employee to come from the back with my game after I purchased it. Seeing all the systems and games piled up inside that room. All the systems on display behind that glass on the top self.
@Ryu_Niiyama they also bought K&B toys back in the early 2000s when the economy wasn't doing well.
If these shut down in Australia, there will be no toy stores left. Kmart sells horrible plastic Chinese imports, and there is nothing else. Won't affect video games (thanks JB) but for the kids, there will be no where left. Only a handful of independent stores, like Toyworld which is hideously overpriced.
So when should I get in line for 75% off all Switch games?
@MKSM
Thats business, unfortunately.
I have fond memories of getting NES games there and taking the paper ticket to the counter.
@outsider83 walmart thrives for a ton of reasons sadly. Price, location (many walmarts go where other stores won’t), connivence (need food, clothes and a new tv? One stop) and culture. walmart started its pitch as a store for the “average” family (ymmv on what they mean by that) and there are a lot of people that consider themselves and take pride in being “average” so they will avoid the “hippy” stores as if walmart isn’t a corporation like anything else and they won’t shop local but will complain how the “average” person is losing everything. Meanwhile half the stuff in a Walmart is imported.
Are we just going to ignore the fact this has nothing to do with Nintendo?
@Arminillo good score!
@Paddle1 How so?
@outsider83 It's just kinda random since it has nothing to do with Nintendo.
Though it reminds me when looking to get a Wii U Toys R Us was one of the few stores that still had Wii U in stock (this was at launch), but it was the basic model so had to look elsewhere.
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